88 A.D.2d 954 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1982
— Appeal by petitioner, as limited by her brief, from so much of an order of the Family Court, Rockland County (Miller, J.), dated December 16,1980, as, after a hearing, denied her application for an upward modification of child support. Order reversed, insofar as appealed from, on the law and the facts, without costs or disbursements, and petition granted to the extent of fixing child support in the total sum of $175 weekly. During the course of the parties’ divorce action, an oral stipulation of settlement was dictated in open court on February 27-28, 1980. The parties were thereafter granted a judgment of divorce which was entered on April 21,1980. The stipulation, incorporated but not merged in the decree, required Mr. Laitman to pay a total of $100 weekly for the support of the children, Debra and Robert, then aged three and nine, respectively. The stipulation also provided that any subsequent application for upward modification of child support was not to be governed by the rule in Matter of Boden v Boden (42 NY2d 210), but was to be “determined solely upon the basis of changed circumstance and changed need.” In May of 1980, Mrs. Laitman instituted this proceeding seeking child support in excess of the amount provided in the stipulation. In support of her petition, she relied on the loss of her employment and the increased needs of the children. One of the primary issues is whether, considering the fact that the loss of her jobs occurred before entry of the judgment, Mrs. Laitman has established a change of circumstances. When the stipulation was entered into, Mrs. Laitman was earning $14,400 annually working as an apartment rental agent and a telephone saleswoman. In March of 1980, after the stipulation and inquest but before entry of judgment, she was laid off from both jobs because of a slowdown in business. Although Mrs. Laitman subsequently received unemployment benefits of $125 weekly, she testified that she had made unsuccessful efforts to