Washburn Law Clinic Students Win Motion to Reconsider
Representing a young, single mother, Washburn Law Clinic students on February 6, 2002, won a Motion to Reconsider a trial court ruling that erroneously gave the father a substantial reduction on the amount of his child support, based on the misconception that the father would never be able to claim the child as a tax dependent because he had not been married to the mother.
Heather Jensen, supervised by Prof. Sheila Reynolds, developed the legal argument and wrote the trial brief, demonstrating that under the Internal Revenue Code, when parents have not been married to each other, only the parent who pays the majority of support in any given year is allowed to claim the child as a tax exemption. In the clinic's case, because the high income father will be paying far more than half the support, he will be entitled to claim the child as a tax deduction and should not be given a reduction on his child support.
Glen McBeth, supervised by Professor Lynette Petty, argued the motion, resulting in the court restoring the full amount of support due under the Child Support Guidelines. The Court commented that as a result of the law clinic raising the issue and explaining the tax law, the Kansas Child Support Guideline committee has been contacted to revise the statewide guidelines to clarify the tax considerations for parents of children who have not been married.
