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Grahovac v. Grahovac6/8/2004
ed the child support and alimony. The mother appealed, asserting that the father did not demonstrate good cause to reduce the alimony and that there was no material change in circumstances warranting a reduction in child support.
Relying on Pope v. Pope, 251 Neb. 773, 559 N.W.2d 192 (1997), we found that the trial court erred in reducing the father's alimony obligation in Lambert v. Lambert, supra. In Pope, the Nebraska Supreme Court said that a petition for the modification or termination of alimony will be denied if the change in financial condition is due to fault or voluntary wastage or dissipation of one's talents and assets. While the financial condition of the father in Lambert had obviously changed, we found that such change was his fault or constituted his voluntary wastage of his talents because he chose to use marijuana. We stated that he used marijuana despite "knowing that it would put his livelihood in jeopardy and knowing that losing his job would affect his ability to meet his court-ordered financial obligations." Lambert v. Lambert, 9 Neb. App. at 668, 617 N.W.2d at 650. Therefore, we found that his conduct was blameworthy and that he did not demonstrate good cause to warrant a reduction in alimony payments, and we reversed the decision of the trial court.
In the present case, the trial court reduced Michael's child support and alimony obligations, based on a reduction in his income and an increase in Susan's income. Similar to the situation in Lambert, in this case, Michael's resignation or "early retirement," which reduced his income, was due to his own behavior-his alcoholism and his refusal to secure effective treatment. Michael admitted to being an alcoholic and said that he had had a conversation with his boss relating to his alcoholism, in which conversation his boss told him that "unless something big changes in your life, you know, two months from now I am going to have to terminate you." That his boss would tell him this likely should not have been a surprise, given that in May 1998, Physicians Mutual had offered Michael treatment, which he accepted but which did not produce a long-lasting effect. Michael admitted that in January 1999, he was a "practicing alcoholic," and that he knew if he did not quit drinking, he could lose his job. Nonetheless, shortly before Michael's resignation, he went on a 2-week "binge" during which he never went to work. The record shows that "early retirement" and "resignation" are merely euphemisms for "fired for excessive drinking." Further, in the year after Michael left Physicians Mutual, he had income of over $155,000 but ran up credit card debts of $30,000 and did not go to even one job interview. He ultimately ended up as a courier earning $650 to $800 every 2 weeks. If this does not describe waste and dissipation of one's talents and abilities, to the obvious detriment of his family, we have a hard time envisioning what would.
Similar to the facts in Lambert v. Lambert, 9 Neb. App. 661, 617 N.W.2d 645 (2000), in this case, Michael's financial position has clearly changed, but only due to his own fault by his voluntary wastage and dissipation of his talents and assets. Michael knew that if he continued drinking, he would lose his job. Even though Michael also asserted that he retired because his boss told him that Physicians Mutual needed to "clear out some of the older, higher paid guys and bring up some young blood," it is apparent from the record that Michael's employment ended because of his continued drinking. Therefore, the reduction in Michael's income was not from good cause, and he is not entitled to any reduction on such basis. However, the trial court based the modification on a substantial change in both partie
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