What is a Child Support Deviation in Georgia?
Georgia Child
Support is calculated using the combined amount of the mother and father's
yearly income. Georgia uses an Online Child Support Calculator, which combines
the mother and father's yearly income and pulls from the Basic Child Support Obligation
Table, based on the number of children eligible for support.
There are two ways
the presumptive Child Support obligation may be reduced in Georgia: mandatory
Child Support Adjustments and discretionary Child Support Deviations.
Adjustments to Child Support (Mandatory Deviations)
Child support adjustments are sometimes referred to as mandatory deviations. The four adjustments
which must be taken into consideration when filling out the Online Georgia
Child Support Calculator are parenting time, work related child care, low income, and health insurance premiums for the child(ren) involved.
These four adjustments account for each parent's yearly expense for parenting time, work related child care, low income, and health insurance premiums, and may cause the presumptive child support
amount to increase or decrease. While
work related child care is normally
included in the Child Support Worksheet, Georgia law does permit an exception
to allow a variable childcare expense to be handled outside of the worksheet.
This exception would instead require each parent to pay a pro-rata percentage
of the childcare expense outside of child support.
Discretionary Deviations (Non-Mandatory Deviations)
Child support deviations are granted at the discretion of the judge and may increase or decrease the presumptive amount of child support. Deviations may include but are not limited to: high income, other health related insurance, life insurance, child and dependent care tax credit, travel expenses, alimony, mortgage, permanency plan or foster care plan, extraordinary expenses, and nonspecific deviations.
If you are
interested in learning more about Child Support Adjustments or Deviations,
please contact one of Meriwether & Tharp's experienced Georgia divorce
lawyers to discuss the specifics of your case.