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Georgia’s New Child Support Guidelines: Income Shares *

Step by Step Process of Calculating Child Support

*Effective Date is January 1, 2007

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Purpose of Income Shares• Captures actual child-rearing

expenses at various levels of parental income and then pro-rates these expenses between both parents

• Requires consideration of the income of both parents

– Allows child to share in the financial resources of both parents

– Allows child to receive the same proportion of parental income that he or she would have received if the parents lived together

– Each parent is responsible for his/her pro-rata share of the child support obligation

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Basic Concepts of SB 382(in order of how calculated)

• Adjusted Income• Combined Adjusted

Income• Child Support Obligation

Table• Basic Child Support

Obligation• Adjusted Support

Obligation• Presumptive Amount of

Child Support

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Tools for Calculation of Support

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Tools for Calculation of Support

• Worksheets– Child Support Worksheet – to be used in all cases for

calculation of the child support obligation. There will be accompanying schedules which allows you to do the calculations for specific categories.

– Electronic Worksheet—to be used in electronically calculating child support. Several versions will be available depending on the user. The litigant’s version will be a question driven, guided version, prompting information from the user. There will also be a downloadable Excel version.

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ELECTRONIC WORKSHEETTo access the Electronic Worksheet created to assist in calculating

child support, which will provide both consistent calculations and forms--You can find the electronic worksheet on or before January 1, 2007 at:

• http://ocse.dhr.georgia.gov/portal/site/

DHR-OCSE/ (the Office of Child Support Services Constituent Portal) or

• http://www.georgiacourts.org/childsupp.html (the Child Support Commission Website)

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Step 1: Determine the Gross Monthly Income of both the Mother and Father.

Each parent enters the amount on Schedule A.

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Gross Income Calculations

• Gross Income– From all non-exempt sources – same is in

current Guidelines– Both parents of the child – Do not consider

income of a non-parent custodian– No deductions for federal income taxes or

FICA contributions, except for self-employed parents – these taxes are taken into consideration within the child support obligation tables

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Gross Income Calculations– Willful and Voluntary (Under)Unemployment –

• Similar to the ground of deviation found in the current Guidelines

• Determination now applies to both parents• Applies to any intentional act of the parent• Statute contains list of factors to guide court

– Imputed Income –• Similar to current process• If no other reliable evidence of parent’s income or income

potential, court may impute 40 hour workweek at minimum wage

• Upon motion to the court, either parent may later (within 90 days) provide reliable evidence of income

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Specific Factors for the Court to Consider When Determining Willful or Voluntary Unemployment or Underemployment:

1. Parent’s past and present employment;2. Parent’s education and training;3. Whether unemployed to pursue training or education is

reasonable in light of Parent’s responsibility to child and whether the training or education will benefit the child;

4. Parent’s ownership of valuable assets and resources that appear inappropriate for income being claimed;

5. Parent’s own health and ability to work outside the home; and

6. Parent’s role as caretaker of child of that Parent.

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Step 2: The Gross Income of either Parent may be reduced based upon one or more of

the following reasons and calculated on Schedule B:

• Is either parent self employed?If so, adjust each parent’s monthly gross income by reducing the gross income

by 6.2% of OASDI (up to the maximum amount), and 1.45% for Medicare.

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•Has either parent been paying preexisting child support orders?

– If so, reduce the monthly gross income by the amount of monthly current support the parent has been paying consistently for a specific period (12 months if order has been in effect that long)

– If less than full payments have been made, use the average of the current support actually paid.

– Does not include amounts paid on arrears

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•Is either parent supporting his or her children living in the home, who are not the subject of the case before the court

or any other child support order?• If so the court may in its discretion find:

a) the failure to consider the parent’s other child in the home would cause a substantial hardship to

the parent; and

b) such adjustment is in the best interest of the child in the current case, and

calculate a Theoretical Support Order.

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Step 3: Add each parent’s adjusted income to arrive at the combined

adjusted income amount.

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Step 4: Go to the Child Support Obligation Table and Locate the Dollar figure which

Corresponds with the Combined Adjusted Income Amount and the Number of Children

for whom Support is being Determined.

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Basic Child Support Obligation

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Step 5. Divide the Combined Adjusted Income into each Parent’s Adjusted Gross

Income to Calculate each Parent’s Pro Rata Share of the Child Support.

The pro rata share is expressed as a percentage

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Pro Rata Shares

• Multiply each parent’s pro rata percentage by the Basic Child Support Obligation amount to determine each parent’s child support responsibility, which is expressed in a dollar amount.

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Step 6: If there are any Health Insurance Premiums or Work Related Child Care

Costs, Insert these Costs on Schedule D

– Mandatory Additional Expenses• Child’s healthcare premium

– Expense attributable only to child for whom support is being calculated

– Prorated between the parents based upon their respective incomes.

– Added on to basic child support obligation

• Work-related childcare– Projected over next 12 months and averaged for a

monthly amount– Expense due to employment of either parent – Added on to the basic child support obligation– Prorated between the parents

• If parent is already paying these costs, credit the parent who is paying or will pay the expense

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Step 7: If there are no Deviations, the Noncustodial Parent

Owes the Custodial Parent the Presumptive Amount of Child

SupportThe noncustodial parent owes the

custodial parent the Presumptive Amount of Child Support, which is the total of his or her pro rata share of the Basic Child Support Obligation and the mandatory additional expenses of health insurance and work related child care costs.

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Step 8: If there are Deviations, the Presumptive Amount of Child Support may

be Deviated Upward or Downward, if Applicable, and Entered on Schedule E.

• Any deviated amount from the Presumptive Amount of Child Support must be supported by the Court’s written findings or a jury’s special interrogatory findings.

– The Order shall include written findings of fact: reason for deviation, guideline amount and findings in support of deviation

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Specific Deviations

Extraordinary ExpensesCategory consists of possible Extraordinary Educational

Expenses, Extraordinary Medical Expenses and Special Expenses.

• May be added to the Basic Child Support Obligation as a deviation.

• Expenses are in excess of average amounts estimated in the Child Support Obligation Table and are highly variable among families. Thus, considered by the court or jury on a case by case basis.

• If deviation is allowed, a monthly average of these expenses shall be based on evidence of prior or anticipated expenses, pro rated between the parties and entered on Schedule E. A seven percent threshold applies to the Special Expenses Deviation.

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Other Specific Deviations Suggested in the Statute

• High Income—Court may consider upward deviations to attain an appropriate award of child support for high income parents consistent with best interests of the child. ($30,000/month plus).

• Low Income—Court may consider low income as a basis for a deviation from the guidelines. May consider a self support reserve.

• Travel Expenses—Court may consider the substantial costs incurred to visit child.

• Alimony.• Permanency Plan or Foster Care Plan—Court may

consider a deviation to assist in accomplishing a Permanency Plan for the Child with the goal of returning the Child to Parent(s).

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More Specific Deviations(Deviations from the Presumptive Amount of Child Support)

• Other Health Related Insurance—vision, dental

• Life Insurance

• Child and Dependent Tax Care Credit• Mortgage—Noncustodial Parent is providing shelter for child at

no cost to Custodial Parent

• Parenting Time Adjustment

Or, any deviation the court or jury finds may be appropriate and in the best interest of the child (a non-specific deviation).

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Modifications• Modifications

– Generally require a significant change in circumstances of parent’s financial circumstances or the needs of the child.

– No petition to modify may be filed by either parent within a period of two (2) years from the date of the final order on a previous petition to modify filed by the same parent. A few exceptions apply.

• Attorneys’ Fees – In proceedings for modification, court may

award attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses to prevailing party as the interests of justice may require

– Where non-custodial parent fails to exercise visitation as ordered and custodial parent prevails in upward modification, court may award reasonable attorneys’ fees to custodial parent

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Step 9: After Adjusting the Presumptive Amount of Child

Support for any potential Deviations, the resulting Dollar Amount equals the Final Child Support Order amount. The

amount will be entered on the Child Support Worksheet.

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Step 10: At the bottom of the Worksheet, specify the percentage of the allocation of uninsured health care expenses between the parents

• Either at the pro rata amount or as otherwise ordered by the court. These expenses are not part of the support awarded but indicated here for future reference when the uninsured health care expenses become due.

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Treatment of Expenses

Uninsured Health Care Expenses

-- Includes uninsured medical expenses, such as health insurance co-payments and deductibles, as well as expenses not covered by insurance.

-- The court has the option of dividing these future expenses by the pro rata responsibility determined earlier, or by allocating another percentage, as deemed appropriate.

-- This is not included in the support calculation, but listed as a separate category on the Worksheet.