Wow! A Major Change In The Child Support Laws

For years, child support has been determined primarily by the Tennessee Child Support Guidelines. Until recently, calculating a child support obligation was very simple. The parent paying child support was required to pay a percentage of his or her net income on the following basis: one child - 21%; two children - 32%; three children - 41% of the payer's net income. The guidelines were often criticized for not considering many issues, such as: prior child support orders, the residential parent's income, and other important matters.

In January 18, 2005, the Guidelines changed drastically when Tennessee adopted the Income Shares Approach to calculating child support.

What is the difference and how does it work?

The income share approach requires the court to consider the income of both parents when setting or modifying child support. The court first decides which parent is the primary residential parent (custodial) and which parent is the alternate residential parent (non custodial). The court then determines the gross income of both parents by adding the parents' incomes together. Each parent's Percentage Income (PI) is then calculated. For example; if the father is making $65,000.00 and the mother is making $35,000.00, then the father's PI is 65% and the mother's PI is 35%.

Under the Income Shares Approach, child support pays only for food, clothing and housing. All other needs of the child (medical, dental, health insurance, school plays, class trips, football, dance lessons, etc.) are paid by both parties according to their PI. For example, if the father's PI is 65% and the mother's PI is 35% and the child's medical bills cost $100 per month, dad would pay 65% of the medical bills and mom would pay 35%. Of course, these expenses must be agreed to or found by the court to be necessary for the child. Clearly, medical insurance, day care costs, uncovered medical bills are necessary expenses for the child.

The Income Shares Approach allows for credits against your gross income for other children that you support. A parent receives 100% credit against gross income for the amount that is paid pursuant to a prior child support order. For other children that a parent supports, but does not pursuant to a court order, he or she is entitled to a credit of up to 75% of what a child support order would be, depending on the circumstances.

Allowances are also made to increase or reduce child support depending upon parenting time that the alternate residential parent is exercising. Adjustments are made if the alternate residential parent has more than 121 days with the child or less than 53 days with the child.

An existing child support order may be modified to take advantage of the Income Share Approach if: 1) there is an increase of 15% in the alternate residential parent's gross income; 2) there is a change in the number of children that the alternate residential parent supports; 3) the child becomes disabled; and 4) after January 1, 2006, a variance of 7.5% exists in the alternate residential parent's gross income (rather than the current 15%).

The bottom line is that rules for child support have dramatically changed. These changes will often significantly change the amount of child support that is required to be paid. Unfortunately, the new rules are much more complicated.