PHILLIP T. WHITEAKER, Judge.
Our standard of review for an appeal from a child-support order is de novo on the record, and we will not reverse a finding of fact by the circuit court unless it is clearly erroneous. Hall v. Hall, 2013 Ark. 330, 429 S.W.3d 219; Brown v. Brown, 2014 Ark.App. 455, 440 S.W.3d 361. In reviewing a circuit court's findings, we give due deference to that court's superior position to determine the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be accorded to their testimony. Brown, supra. Moreover, it is the province of the trier of fact to resolve conflicting testimony. Crismon v. Crismon, 72 Ark.App. 116, 34 S.W.3d 763 (2000). As a rule, when the amount of child support is at issue, we will not reverse the circuit court absent an abuse of discretion. Id. However, a circuit court's conclusion of law is given no deference on appeal. Id. With these standards in mind, we turn our attention to the facts of this case and the decision of the circuit court.
Curry and Troutman were divorced in 2005. At the time of the divorce decree, Troutman was ordered to pay $762 per month in child support for the parties' one child. In the years since the decree, the circuit court increased Troutman's child-support obligation twice: to $3,095 a month in 2011, and to $6,005 a month in 2012. In each instance, the court based its calculations on the fact that Troutman was self-employed, and his income was determined by considering his reported wages from his previous two years' tax returns. See Ark. Sup. Ct. Admin. Order No. 10(III)(c).
In 2014, Troutman filed a petition to modify the divorce decree, alleging that, since the last order modifying the amount of child support, there had been a material change in circumstances in that he had experienced a reduction in his income of more than 20% or $100 per month. Troutman asked the court to decrease his child-support obligation to the amount recommended by the family support chart based on the average of his net income from 2012 and 2013. Curry denied that a material change in circumstances had occurred.
The evidence before the circuit court can be fairly summarized as follows. Troutman is a general contractor and is the owner and sole shareholder of Boulder Construction ("Boulder"), which is structured as a subchapter S corporation. In the tax year of 2012, Boulder had ordinary business income of $706,024, and Troutman reported $717,137 in total personal income. In the tax year of 2013, Boulder experienced a loss of $171,892, and Troutman had a loss of $118,387. During the tax year of 2013, however, Boulder reported $785,392 in deferred income, and the company made a $554,745 distribution to Troutman as the sole shareholder of Boulder. Curry requested that both the deferred income and the shareholder distribution be taken into consideration for purposes of calculating child support. Troutman disagreed with this proposition.
To assist the circuit court with the task of determining Troutman's income, both Troutman and Curry introduced the testimony of accountants, who each described
Troutman's accountant and expert, Reese Parham, disagreed. He urged the court to continue to use the tax-return data as the methodology in its child-support calculations, as it had in the past, and to reject the distribution and deferred-income methodology. Parham explained that he used the "completed contract" or "project completed" accounting method for tax purposes for Boulder, just as he did for other contractors and construction companies of similar size. Under this accounting method, Boulder's deferred income from 2013 would be taxed in 2014. Likewise, Parham rejected Keen's calculation of Troutman's income by including the $554,745 distribution, noting that the cash for the distribution had been earned in previous years and thus had already been subjected to taxes and calculations for child-support obligations.
Based upon this evidence, the court disregarded the distribution and the deferred income and calculated Troutman's child-support obligation the same way it had been calculated in previous years — that is, by taking Troutman's income from the previous two years' (2012 and 2013) income tax returns.
After the court's decision from the bench was reduced to a written order, Curry filed a timely notice of appeal. She now urges to this court that (1) the circuit court erred in finding that there had been a material change in circumstances that warranted a reduction of Troutman's child-support obligations, and (2) the circuit court erred in its calculation of that reduction.
Although Curry enumerates two separate points on appeal, her arguments are sufficiently intertwined that we treat them together. She complains that the circuit court erred in finding that a material change in circumstances had occurred to warrant a modification in Troutman's child-support obligation and, based on the same reasoning, that the circuit court erred in its calculation of Troutman's income. In essence, she argues that the
It is axiomatic that a change in circumstances must be shown before a court can modify an order for child support. Hall, supra; Hill v. Kelly, 368 Ark. 200, 243 S.W.3d 886 (2006). In addition, the party seeking modification has the burden of showing a change in circumstances. Hall, supra. In determining whether there has been a change in circumstances warranting adjustment in support, the court should consider such matters as a change in the income and financial conditions of the parties, the financial conditions of the parties and families, and the child-support chart. Id. The supreme court has made it clear that a finding that a material change in circumstances has occurred is subject to a clearly erroneous standard of review. Id.
The question of whether there has been a material change in circumstances is governed by Arkansas Code Annotated section 9-14-107(a)(1) (Repl. 2015), which provides as follows:
Curry argues that Troutman failed to demonstrate that he experienced a material change in circumstances because the financial information, taken together, indicates that he had access to much more cash than his tax returns reflected. She bases this contention on Keen's testimony that Boulder's 2013 Schedule M-1 showed that Boulder possessed $785,392 in deferred income and that Troutman had accepted a $554,745 distribution from Boulder in 2013, although neither of these figures was reflected on Troutman's 2013 individual income-tax return, which showed a loss of $118,487.
Curry alleges three ways in which the circuit court's findings regarding a material change in circumstances were incorrect: (1) the court erred in relying exclusively on Troutman's 2012 and 2013 reported individual income and failing to consider all sources of funds available to him; (2) the court erred in finding a material change in circumstances despite the absence of evidence regarding Troutman's income for 2014; and (3) the methodology employed by the court in calculating Troutman's income gave Troutman too much discretion and control over demonstrating whether a material change in circumstances had occurred.
Taking the first two of these arguments together, we find Curry's contentions to be unavailing. In determining an appropriate amount of child support, courts are to refer to the family support chart contained in Supreme Court Administrative Order Number 10, which provides a means of calculating child support based on the payor's net income. Browning v. Browning, 2015 Ark.App. 104, 455 S.W.3d 863; Cowell v. Long, 2013 Ark.App. 311, 2013 WL 1919581. Pursuant to Administrative Order No. 10(III)(c), for self-employed payors like Troutman, "support
Regarding Curry's third contention, she complains that the circuit court erred in refusing to consider other sources of income. In matters of child support, the definition of income is intentionally broad and designed to encompass the widest range of potential income sources for the support of minor children. Montgomery v. Bolton, 349 Ark. 460, 79 S.W.3d 354 (2002); Stuart v. Stuart, 99 Ark.App. 358, 260 S.W.3d 740 (2007). However, caselaw has specifically held that the definition of income for purposes of support may differ from income for tax purposes. See Stuart, supra; Huey v. Huey, 90 Ark.App. 98, 204 S.W.3d 92 (2005); Delacey v. Delacey, 85 Ark.App. 419, 155 S.W.3d 701 (2004); Brown v. Brown, 76 Ark.App. 494, 68 S.W.3d 316 (2002).
Curry "recognizes that retained earnings and company assets do not equate to income for child-support purposes." Despite her acknowledgment, she nonetheless cites Anderson v. Anderson, 60 Ark.App. 221, 963 S.W.2d 604 (1998), and Pannell v. Pannell, 64 Ark.App. 262, 981 S.W.2d 531 (1998), as holding that a child-support obligor cannot, in essence, utilize the retained earnings or deferred income of a subchapter S corporation to minimize or reduce the amount of income available to pay child support. See Anderson, 60 Ark.App. at 230, 963 S.W.2d at 609.
However, Curry never alleged below that Troutman was abusing his subchapter S corporate structure to hide assets or minimizing his income by excluding retained earnings or deferred income, and the circuit court certainly never ruled on or made any findings on this particular argument. It is well settled that this court will not consider arguments raised for the first time on appeal, McWhorter v. McWhorter, 351 Ark. 622, 97 S.W.3d 408 (2003), and an appellant must obtain a ruling from the circuit court on an issue in order to preserve an argument for appeal. Hanks v. Sneed, 366 Ark. 371, 235 S.W.3d 883 (2006). Because the trial court did not rule on the claim, this court has nothing to review. See Lucas v. Wilson, 2011 Ark.App. 584, 385 S.W.3d 891 (when there is no ruling by the trial court on an issue, there
To the extent that Curry complains generally that the circuit court erred in excluding from its income calculation the $785,392 listed on Boulder's Schedule M-1, we disagree. Parham described this dollar figure as representing deferred income. Parham explained that, given Boulder's accounting method, which used the "completed projects method," the money would appear on Troutman's 2014 income in some fashion, depending on the actual results and actual profits derived from the projects that were completed in 2014.
We therefore find no merit to Curry's argument that the circuit court erred in finding that Parham demonstrated a material change of circumstances. His gross income, according to his 2012 and 2013 income-tax returns, clearly changed by more than 20% or $100 per month. Pursuant to Arkansas Code Annotated section 9-14-107(a)(1), this constituted a material change of circumstances sufficient to support the modification. See Cowell, supra.
In her second enumerated point on appeal, Curry argues that the circuit court erred in its calculation of Troutman's income for purposes of child support. Because she acknowledges that her analysis of this issue is identical to the analysis of her previous point on appeal, and because we rejected that argument as set out above, we decline to address Curry's second point in any further detail.
Affirmed.
Gruber and Hoofman, JJ., agree.