Georgia’s current guidelines for calculating child support payments have only been in place since 2007. Previously, the amount of support was determined mainly by looking at the income of the noncustodial parent. Today, the incomes of both parents are considered to determine prorated shares of expenses and support for the child. This allows the child to benefit from the proportion of income she would have had if the parents lived together. However, in some cases in which the custodial parent has a high income, this results in smaller payments than the old guidelines would have produced.

A worksheet is used for the process of child support calculation. The gross income of each parent is entered, then each income is adjusted based on self-employment taxes and obligations to other children whether or not covered by another support order. These adjusted incomes are added to make a combined income figure and compared to a table to find the basic child support obligation that both parents owe to the child.

Once the basic support obligation is found, the worksheet calculates each parent’s share of the obligation. The share is expressed in terms of a percentage which is the same percentage to which that parent’s income contributes to the combined income. Now that we have each parent’s share, we can see what each parent owes to the child to add up to the basic child support obligation, and the noncustodial parent would pay his or her share to the parent with custody of the child.

But there is more to add. The worksheet next includes the costs of health insurance as well as child care made necessary by the custodial parent’s employment. These expenses are also prorated (just as the basic support obligation was prorated) and added to the shares of the basic support obligation. Now we have the real amount that each parent is presumed to owe to the child, and the noncustodial parent pays the custodial parent.

The real world is more complicated, of course. Deviations from these amounts can be entered on the worksheet, and the court must determine if these deviations apply to consider them for the actual amount of child support payments ordered. Possible deviations might take account of whether a parent’s income is particularly low or high, vision and dental insurance, alimony payments, extraordinary expenses, parenting time, and other deviations. Parenting time is a consideration of how much visitation time the noncustodial parent has with the child, meaning that with more visitation his or her payments to the other parent will be lower.

Finally, health care expenses not covered by insurance are considered on the child support calculation worksheet in a special category, and again we are looking at prorated shares. These expenses will not be part of the regular support payments, but they are to be paid when the actual expenses are due.

Accuracy

Completing the worksheet accurately requires a special effort to gather documents. Both parents need to gather their pay stubs, tax records, and documents that show other types of income and benefits. It may be difficult to keep track of records of various expenses, but this paperwork may be required to convince the court to apply deviations that a parent may ask for.

Special Problems

One common problem is that a parent may not produce enough of his or her income. With no evidence, this parent could have income imputed for purposes of the calculation, an assumption that the parent earns minimum wage for forty hours per week. But the other parent can ask the court for more time to gather evidence if he or she believes that this parent actually earns more than minimum wage. If the case involves a modification to a previous child support order and the paying parent refuses to provide documents, the court can assume that this parent’s income has been increasing ten percent each year.

Another problem is where the parent who is to pay child support is unemployed or earning less income than he or she should be able to earn. The court can actually consider this possibility and determine whether the parent’s decision not to pursue a better paying career is reasonable in light of the obligation to support his or her child. The parent’s education and actual employment history can be considered, and the court can order child support payments based on assuming a higher income for this parent.

There are also many cases in which a parent is working but earning a low income that makes it difficult to pay child support or provide for the child when receiving child support. If a parent makes less than $1,850 per month, he or she can be given a self-support reserve of $900 per month for purposes of income calculation (which is an adjustment to income). However, this process has limits to ensure that the child will be provided with food, clothing, shelter, and other basic necessities.

There are many other factors that can be considered in child support calculations, so a lot of information and documents need to be considered. The child support guidelines provide considerable guidance to courts looking at these factors.

On the web:

• Ten Basic Steps of Calculating Child Support (PDF presentation)
  
• Step by Step Process of Calculating Child Support in Georgia (PDF)
• Georgia’s New Income Shares Child Support Guidelines