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IN THE SUPREME COURT

STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA

Wayne J. Cherney, Plaintiff, Appellee, and Cross-Appellant.
v.
Joyce A. VanHall, formerly Joyce A. Cherney, Defendant, Appellant, and Cross-Appellee

Civil No. 890222

Appeal from the District Court for Barnes County, Southeast Judicial District, the Honorable Gordon O. Hoberg, Judge.
AFFIRMED.
Opinion of the Court by Levine, Justice.
Kennelly Law Office, Fargo, for defendant, appellant, and cross-appellee; argued by W.J. Bill Kennelly and Paul Johnson, third-year law student.
Weiss, Wright & Paulson, Jamestown, for plaintiff, appellee, and cross-appellant; argued by James A. Wright.

Cherney v. Van HallCivil No. 890222

Levine, Justice.

Joyce VanHall appeals from an order modifying child support and Wayne Cherney cross-appeals from the order continuing custody of the couple's child in VanHall.

The crux of VanHall's argument is that the child support guidelines set by the Department of Human Services pursuant to NDCC § 14-09-09.7 before the statute was amended in 1989, are minimum amounts which a trial court may not reduce. In Heggen v. Heggen, 452 N.W.2d 96 (N.D. 1990), we held that an award of child support lower than that suggested by the guidelines was not clearly erroneous. Accordingly, we affirm pursuant to Rule 35.1(a)(7) and (2), North Dakota Rules of Appellate Procedure. The custody order is affirmed pursuant to Rule 35.1(a)(2), NDRAppP. Costs are awarded to neither party.

Beryl J. Levine
Gerald W. VandeWalle
H.F. Gierke, III
Herbert L. Meschke
Ralph J. Erickstad, C.J.