The appellate court affirmed the family court’s decision to exclude income from W’s limited partnership in child support calculations. The court held that income generated from an ownership interest in a limited partnership may be considered income in calculating child support. In this case, W had no control over the distribution and there was no evidence in the record showing a cash distribution (K1 line 19), so the court found the family court properly determined the income from the partnership, while taxable income, was not disposable income.
The appellate court’s dissenting opinion found the case should be reversed and remanded to make finding as to the income W received as a distribution. The dissent indicates the family court’s decision could have been an abuse of discretion if it did not include the partnership income because it found that partnership distributions should not be considered income.
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