Stultz v. Stultz’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

26 state decisions

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 26 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[a]lthough the Poynter court is arguably correct in asserting that a majority of jurisdictions hold that a social security recipient parent is entitled to a credit for social security payments made to a child, we find ample case law holding that such a credit is not automatic and that the presence of social security benefits is merely one factor for the trial court to consider in determining the child support obligation or modification of the obligation. We find this position to be most consistent with our state's strong emphasis on trial court discretion in determining child support obligations and our regular acknowledgement of the principle that child support modifications will not be set aside unless they are clearly erroneous. In this case, we cannot say that the trial court's decision to deny the credit was clearly erroneous. In its findings and conclusions, the court took cognizance of all the relevant factors in determining the modification of the decree, such as Mr. Stultz's retirement and thus reduced income, as well as the children's receipt of social security benefits due to his retirement. After reviewing these factors, the court reduced Mr. Stultz's child support obligation commensurate with his reduced income after retirement. The court also found that in this case, the controlling factor in its decision as set forth in Indiana Code § 31-1-11.5-12(a) [now Ind.Code § 31-16-6-1] was the standard of living the children would have enjoyed had the marriage not been ”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. J.M. v. D.A. · In Re the Marriage of Lang

2. “[Iln those situations where the trial court concludes that it is appropriate to give a Social Security recipient parent credit for Social Security benefits paid directly to a child, the trial court should in fact include the amount of the benefits in the recipient parent's adjusted income for purposes of calculating the parents' relative share of the total child support obligation.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Sherry L. Barrand v. Gary W. Martin · Thompson v. Thompson

3. “[J]ust like the parents of the children receiving social security disability, social security survivor's, and supplemental security income benefits in these three cases, the retired parent pays no additional premiums in order to entitle his or her child to benefits—the amount of social security contributions paid by the retired parent and his or her employer are the same whether the parent is married or single and whether he or she has children or not. Perhaps more significant, the retired parent's own social security retirement benefits are not reduced or changed by the benefits his or her children receive. It seems to us that what is going on here is that Congress has created an entitlement for the minor children of all social security participants who retire. But it is the children's entitlement, not the retiree's, and should not as a general rule diminish the legal obligation of retirees to support their children.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Brown v. Brown · Richard Eric Johnson v. Gillian Wheeler Johnson