ATLANTA CHILD SUPPORT
CHILD SUPPORT
Child support payments are a critical component of providing financial support for minor children. Whether you intend to pay support or receive it, an attorney will be instrumental in helping you understand your rights and responsibilities. Atlanta child support lawyer Bruce Steinfeld leverages over 30 years of focused family law experience to protect your interests. His overarching goal in every divorce is to help his clients resolve their issues quickly, inexpensively, and amicably.
Child Support Under Georgia Law
Georgia follows an "income share" model for child support. Under the income shares model, each parent's gross income is calculated. After making all appropriate deductions, the parents' incomes are added together. This is the combined adjusted income. This figure is used to calculate the basic support obligation (BSO). After this figure is calculated, each parent's pro-rata share of child support is calculated. The child's health care and childcare costs are also calculated on a pro-rata basis.
Judges can consider several reasons to deviate from the basic support obligation, based on the best interests of the children. These reasons include:
​
-
High or low parental income (monthly combined adjusted income of $30,000 or more is considered to be high income)
-
Extra health-related costs of the child
-
Travel expenses
Judges can use other reasons to deviate from the basic support obligation, depending on the facts of the case. For more information on this topic, feel free to review the Georgia Child Support Commission's website. Bruce Steinfeld will make a point to inform and educate you about how these laws apply to your situation. If deviating from the basic support obligations makes sense in your case, he will make a compelling presentation to the judge.