Supreme Court remands for recalculation of child support

Posted Thursday, November 7th, 2024 by Gregory Forman
Filed under Miscellaneous

On November 6, 2024, the South Carolina Supreme Court opinion in the case of Gandy v. Gandy, remedies what would appear to be an obvious mistake from the Court of Appeals’ opinion. That decision, Gandy v. Gandy, 442 S.C. 340, 898 S.E.2d 208 (Ct.App. 2024), affirmed an award of custody to Mother that allowed her to relocate the children to New Orleans but reversed her rehabilitative alimony award.

Mother sought certiorari in the Supreme Court, seeking reinstatement of rehabilitative alimony or a recalculation of child support to reflect that she was not receiving alimony. The Supreme Court granted certiorari on the child support issue, dispensed with briefing and promptly “remand[ed] this matter to the family court for a trial de novo to recalculate child support.” (emphasis in original).

A few curiosities.  When the alimony award had been included in the family court’s child support calculation, why didn’t the Court of Appeals correct the obvious error of not recalculating child support when it removed alimony?  Why does the Supreme Court decision require a trial de novo to do a simply child support calculation?

The answer to the second question might be the Supreme Court wants to use current figures to calculate child support.  However, the expense of going through a new trial likely outweighs any benefit one party might receive from using current figures to calculate child support.  Further, either party could file a child support modification case if the financial circumstances have changed substantially.  One assumes the Supreme Court expects these parties to reach an agreement on child support without a new trial.