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The dispute over income
An Indiana dentist who challenged a child support order of $964 a week has won a partial victory before the Indiana Court of Appeals. Christopher Chisler, a dentist and owner of several dental practices, argued that the trial court overstated his income by counting distributions from his businesses and by treating a $130,000 Tesla Cybertruck purchased by one of his companies as a personal benefit. Krysta Chisler, arose after Chisler and Krysta Chisler divorced in 2022. The trial court calculated his weekly income at $5,950, a figure that included distributions from his businesses and the value of company-provided vehicles.
The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed parts of the support order, reversed others and sent the case back for further proceedings, as reported by Justia U.S. The appeals court agreed with him on the vehicle issue, but it upheld much of the lower court’s approach to his income and support calculation. The case, Christopher T. Chisler v. Their marriage produced one child, and the dispute later focused on whether Chisler’s business income, company-purchased vehicles and other financial arrangements should count toward his child support obligation. Law and The Indiana Lawyer. Read more about it here: Chisler owns or has interests in several dental businesses, including Greenwood Modern Dentistry, Fishers Modern Dentistry, Midwest Dental Partners and C&C Holdings LLC. On appeal, Chisler challenged several elements of that calculation. He argued that the court wrongly treated distributions from his businesses as income, improperly denied certain deductions, and wrongly included the Cybertruck as part of his available resources, as per the reports. He also disputed the court’s handling of health insurance premiums, arrears, educational expenses and attorney fees. The appeals court found sufficient grounds to include business distributions in his income calculation. It also rejected some of the deductions Chisler sought, while affirming the overall structure and amount of the child support order. But the court did not accept every part of the trial court’s reasoning, particularly on the Cybertruck.
One of the most unusual questions in the case involved a Tesla Cybertruck purchased by Fishers Modern Dentistry for $130,000. The trial court included the value of that vehicle in Chisler’s income for child support purposes, treating it as a benefit provided by his company. The Court of Appeals reversed that part of the ruling. It found that the trial court had not adequately explained why the Cybertruck should be counted as income or as a personal benefit to Chisler. The court remanded the issue for a fresh assessment of whether the vehicle actually provided Chisler with a measurable economic benefit that should be included in his child support calculation.
