Child Support

Child Support

The Georgia legislature has adopted guidelines for the courts to follow in awarding child support to the parties. The guidelines currently take into consideration the gross income of both parties when it calculates, pro rata, the share of contribution from each parent for child support. 

While the guidelines provide a framework for the amount of child support, the court is also authorized to consider such issues as additional expenses associated with child rearing, such as extraordinary tuition and child care/daycare expense. In addition, the court can consider pre-existing child support orders involving children from a previous marriage. Also, the court considers the time each parent may be spending with the child(ren) in cases of a joint physical custody or other extenuating circumstances. Thus, this process is often difficult to navigate without an experienced legal adviser. Your children deserve protection from a party seeking to exploit child support issues. As such, it is vitally important that the parties consult with an attorney when calculating the child support amounts. Ms. McCarthy is dedicated to maximizing the benefits offered under the new guidelines for her clients. She recognizes how important the issue of child support can be for the parties and that it is rarely an issue that either parent wants to revisit. Ms. McCarthy has extensive experience crafting agreements which can provide for changes in circumstances and anticipated expenses that minimize the need to revisit child support issues. She can also offers protection by ensuring that Income Deduction Orders are entered by the court enabling the money to be automatically deducted from a delinquent parent’s income check.