A Georgia court may deviate from the presumptive amount of child support for a reason the statute does not list, but only if it finds the deviation is in the child’s best interest and makes the written findings every deviation requires.
What the Statute Says
OCGA 19-6-15(i)(2) lists the specific deviations, and OCGA 19-6-15(i)(3) adds: “Deviations from the presumptive amount of child support may be appropriate for reasons in addition to those established under this subsection when the court or the jury finds it is in the best interest of the child.” A nonspecific deviation goes on Schedule E with the findings described in our post on required findings for deviations, and the best-interest finding is not optional. In Crook v. Crook, 293 Ga. 867 (2013), a court cut a father’s support to $1,000 a month as “a Deviation because of shared custody and history of the parties.” The Georgia Supreme Court reversed: the parties’ “history” was not a statutory ground, and as a nonspecific deviation the order failed because, on the child’s best interest, “[t]here was no finding in this regard either.”
Not a Way Around the Specific Deviations
In Parker v. Parker, 293 Ga. 300 (2013), the Supreme Court said “the better practice” is “not to include within nonspecific deviations factors that are set forth in the statutory list of specific deviations,” though it declined to impose “a hard-and-fast rule” and let a court dividing two children between two households weigh each parent’s support of the other child. The Court of Appeals drew the line in Nelson v. McKenzie, 364 Ga. App. 533 (2022). Private school tuition has its own deviation for extraordinary educational expenses, prorated between the parents, but the trial court used a nonspecific deviation to fix the father’s contribution at a flat $1,500 a month with no explanation beyond calling the school “costly.” That was reversible error.
Contact Us
This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!