As a board member of the Georgia Child Support Commission and a member of the Statutory Review Committee, I’m happy to finally announce new changes to Chapter 6 of Title 19, the Georgia Child Support Statute. The Child Support Commission, primarily through its various subcommittees and study committees, had been studying the Parenting Time and Low-Income issues for over five years. These groups along with economist, Dr. Jane Venohr, worked tirelessly to bring these changes to Georgia’s citizens. Many of the changes will not take effect until January 2026.
Here they are:
Parenting Time Adjustment: Georgia was one of only eight states that did not have a formula to account for parenting time when calculating child support. This new revision to the calculator will provide a built-in formula to calculate a parenting time “adjustment.” The formula will remove from a judge the burden of developing and applying his or her own methodology for determining a parenting time adjustment and at the same time, increase transparency, predictability, uniformity, and economic soundness in all cases that set child support.
Basic Child Support Obligation Table: Georgia’s current BCSO Table went into effect in 2007, over 18 years ago. The new table will lower the Basic Child Support Obligation amount for families in which the parents’ combined gross monthly income is $800 to $5,400 and raises it thereafter. The basic child support obligation table will now top out at $40,000 per month as opposed to $30,000 previously (will be effective July 1, 2024).
Replacing the Low-Income Deviation with a Low-Income Adjustment: This new adjustment provides a failsafe that prevents a final child support obligation from exceeding 19% of a parent’s adjusted gross income in cases with one child. The failsafe percentage increases if there are two or more children for whom child support is being calculated.
Treatment of VA Disability Benefits: This new provision will permit VA disability benefits paid to a child based on the noncustodial parent’s VA disability to offset the noncustodial parent’s child support obligation. Depending on the amounts of the child support obligation and VA disability benefits being paid to the child, this credit would significantly reduce the child support owed (will be effective July 1, 2024).
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