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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA husband who paid less than $200 of the child support he owed will now have to cover more than the arrearage amount after the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled the wife is also entitled to interest.
William Kaiser paid $175 on the $7,056.40 he was found to still owe in child support. This left the balance due to his ex-wife, Jill McKibben, at $6,881.40.
McKibben filed a motion for enforcement of child support. She requested Tipton Circuit Court not only make a finding as to the amount of the arrearage but also to assess the interest at 1.5 percent per month. Although the trial court ruled Kaiser had to pay the balance, it denied McKibben’s request for interest, in part, because the children were already emancipated and she had waited five years to collect the arrearage.
The Court of Appeals reversed in Jill (Kaiser) McKibben v. William Kaiser, 18A-DR-687, and remanded with instructions for the court to calculate the interest at 8 percent per year from the date of the trial court’s order.
Citing Caldwell v. Black, 727 N.E.2d 1097 (Ind. Ct. App. 2000), the unanimous panel found post-judgment interest is statutorily mandated for money judgments.
“Based on that statute, this court held that Caldwell, ‘as a judgment creditor,’ was ‘entitled to the general post-judgment interest rate, currently eight percent per year, as provided in’ Indiana Code Section 24-4.6-1-101,” Judge Edward Najam, Jr., wrote. “… Therefore, like in Caldwell, Wife is a judgment creditor and she is entitled by operation of law to the general post-judgment interest rate.”
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