Dalton v. Clanton’s Empirical Analysis
1989
Citation profile
15 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 15 later decisions — most recently May 2002
15 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 42 U.S.C. § 667 (§ 467 of the Social Security Act of 1935)
Relies on Wife (J. F. v. v. Husband (O. W. v. Jr.) · 498 So. 2d 1270 - Bernstein v. Bernstein · Husband M v. Wife D · Gregory J. M. v. Carolyn A. M. · William R.T. v. Bonnie R.T.
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The mathematical result which is the product of the Melson Formula can never be the basis of a child support order under the Delaware procedure, until that result passes the litmus test of the rebut-table presumption. When the calculation according to the Melson Formula is mixed together with the specific facts in a case, the result must be equitable. If the result is inequitable, the presumption is rebutted, and the support calculation pursuant to the Melson Formula must yield to the extent that is necessary to balance the equities in the case.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage“Parents are entitled to keep sufficient income to meet their most basic needs in order to encourage continued employment. Until the basic needs of children are met, parents should not be permitted to retain any more income than that required to provide the bare necessities for their own self-support. Where income is sufficient to cover the basic needs of parents and all dependents, children are entitled to share in any additional income so that they can benefit from the absent parent’s higher standard of living.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“§ 514. Determination of amount of support. In determining the amount of support due to one to whom the duty of support has been found to be owing, the Court, among other things, shall consider: (1) The health, relative economic condition, financial circumstance, income, including the wages, and earning capacity of the parties, including the children; (2) The manner of living to which the parties have been accustomed when they were living under the same roof; (3) The general equities inherent in the situation.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.