There are two Excel spreadsheets attributed to judge Mac Davis, one is called the "Mac Davis child support calculator" and the other is called simply the "Mac Davis program". I got copies through my lawyer although at first he said, "You're not going to be able to get those."
The first appears to be an implementation of the formulas spelled out in the state statutes for child support and a judge apparently has little (if any) authority to deviate from the amounts thus calculated. That's only for [i]child support.[/i]
The second though, is referred to in the precedent commentary as an "aid" for determining the amount of any [i]spousal support (alimony),[/i] the amount of which a judge can apparently assign almost arbitrarily.
Both are just crude spreadsheets with formulas hidden behind some of the cells. There are no instructions. None of the cells are protected against accidental modification. And worse... when I ask various people who say they use it, "How do you know that you have a good copy of the 'program', that it hasn't been modified or damaged?" they don't even know what I'm talking about. One person got it from another who got it from someone else who got it from God knows who...
It would be [i]very[/i] easy for someone to accidentally enter a number into a cell which was supposed to have been calculated by a formula. Then the formula is deleted but the number remains. What if that spreadsheet is then given to another judge? Other parts of the calculations may depend upon that number and the final results would then be flawed. The judge, not being an accountant, may not notice even a serious error.
Reading the precedent commentary in the online version of the state statutes, I notice [b]MANY[/b] references to these spreadsheets erroneously referred to as "calculators". Apparently, a lot of people have crunched the numbers for themselves and have tried to object to the judges' use of these spreadsheets, especially with regard to spousal support.
Child support miscalculations can easily be shown by referencing the appropriate statutes. However if someone suspects miscalculation in spousal support they have nothing to contest other than this spreadsheet. The judge does not give them a digital copy of the spreadsheet so there is no way to check whether the judge may have used a "broken" copy.
All the notes in the statutes indicate that the judges' untrained use of this uncertified software has been upheld. This could easily be causing errors in the tens of thousands of dollars per case. (A $100 per month difference over 10 years at 4% is a $10,000 present value!)
This looks like it has been a problem for a long time.
Has anyone attempted to demand an electronic copy of the judge's spreadsheet?
Previous Topic
Index
