A Georgia child support order can include an adjustment that takes effect on its own, but only around a fixed amount, keyed to a financial change, and today only as a deviation with findings.
A Fixed Amount First
The order must state a “sum certain amount” of support. OCGA 19-6-15(c)(2)(A). In Newsome v. Newsome, 237 Ga. 221 (1976), an award of ten percent of the father’s salary, with no fixed sum, was reversed: a father with no income “would have no liability to support his children” despite his assets. By contrast, in Hayes v. Hayes, 248 Ga. 526 (1981), $300 a month plus fifteen percent “of any gross increase” in the father’s pension was upheld: “As long as a definite amount of alimony or child support is awarded an automatic future modification is not invalid.”
The Trigger Must Be Financial
In Scherberger v. Scherberger, 260 Ga. 635 (1990), a verdict ended the father’s duty to provide a home if the mother remarried; remarriage was “a faulty triggering device,” and the provision was void. A change in income is a valid trigger; the passage of time is not.
Under the Current Guidelines
A court-ordered add-on is a deviation. In Stowell v. Huguenard, 288 Ga. 628 (2011), an order required the father to pay 25 percent of any monthly income over his $3,500 base salary. The Georgia Supreme Court vacated it: a court may still include such a provision, but “it must treat it as a deviation, enter it on the Child Support Schedule E,” and make the required findings.
What Parents May Agree To
An agreed five percent annual increase was enforced in Kendrick v. Childers, 267 Ga. 98 (1996), and an increase “in direct proportion” to the father’s income in Bunnell v. Rogers, 263 Ga. 811 (1994), both covered in our waiver and settlement agreement posts. But an agreement is enforceable “only when made the order of the court.” Pearson v. Pearson, 265 Ga. 100 (1995).
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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!