Child support is a childs right

Concluding that the trial court "misunderstood the scope of relief ordered" in the court's prior opinion, the court reversed the order denying the defendant-wife's motion to reinstate child support arrears that accrued before 4/28/04. The court also affirmed the order denying her motion to assess surcharges on all reinstated arrears, and remanded for further proceedings consistent with the court's opinion. In Laffin, the court held that a reciprocal alimony provision in the parties' consent divorce judgment, which provided that any child support obligation imposed on the plaintiff-husband after the exhaustion of a credit would result in a reciprocal alimony obligation imposed on defendant, in the same amount was "void as against public policy, because parties cannot bargain away their children's right to support." The trial court's orders of 4/28/04 and 5/19/04 were vacated because they enforced the void provision. The court determined that "defendant is entitled to relief extending back to April 28, 2004, the date the void order was entered." The case was remanded to the trial court for a "determination of plaintiff's appropriate child support obligation, retroactive to April 28, 2004." The court noted that it did not state that defendant was entitled to relief only from 4/28/04 to present. The court granted relief extending back to 4/28/04, because that was the date upon which the trial court first entered an order enforcing the void reciprocal alimony provision. The clear meaning of the court's opinion was that plaintiff's child support obligation was reinstated as it existed on that date. The court was reinstating the status quo before the trial court enforced the void reciprocal alimony provision. That status quo included not only the child support payments from that point forward to the present, but also plaintiff's child support arrearages that existed before the 4/28/04 order. On remand the trial court shall determine whether any interim child support arrearages existed for the period before the divorce judgment was entered, and if so, those arrearages shall be included in the total calculation of arrearages that were part of plaintiff's child support obligation before entry of the 4/28/04 order. Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.