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Child Support Guidelines
Theory, and Practice

Guideline Economics offers an alternative to the Income Shares and Percentage of Obliger Income methods of calculating child support commonly used in U.S. and many countries. Our method is based upon the actual costs of children and sound economics.
     The principles of can also be used to vary a presumptive award in individual cases.
     This site provides a wide array of information and research on the many methods of calculating child support. Some are fair and reasonable, many are not. You decide how child support should be calculated.

CLE Seminars on GA Child Support Deviations

Georgia lawyers: 5 regular CLE hours. (Public welcome.)
   Can you develop and argue convincing numbers for Schedule E? Can you rebut someone else’s?
  Tuesday, February 19, 2008, State Bar Building, Atlanta.
Brochure (full details and registration form)
Sample Segment
Sample: Warnings about the Worksheets

News

Group Files Suit to Stop Child Support Increase:
Fathers & Families has filed suit in Boston Federal District Court to stop the January 1, 2009 implementation of child support guidelines that would foundlessly increase child support substantially. Details here.

Top Child Support Issue of 2009:
Stopping arrearage after income loss. Go to News and select Top 2009 Issue: Arrearage.

University of New Hampshire to Study Child Support Guidlines
Family Studies professors Malcolm Smith and Michael Kalinowski are part of an interdisciplinary team of UNH policy analysts and researchers who have received a contract from the State of NH to study economic and policy guidelines used to establish child-support payments. They are joined by Reagan Baugman, assistant professor of Economics, as part of an nterdisciplinary team of UNH policy analysts and researchers team that hopes to submit its initial report in March of 2009.

Georgia Changes from Percentage of Obligor to Income Shares
Georgia takes a small step forward January 1, 2007 when it replaces its child support guidelines based on percentage of obligor's income (which fails to take into account the custodial parent's income), with an Income Shares model. Many child support amounts will change. For FAQs on the new law, click here.

Features

A primer for child support guidelines

Prepared independently for Montana’s child support review panel. For more details and comments by R. Mark Rogers go to Montana.
The Economics of Child Support Determination
These presentation slides in PDF show the factors that need to go into child support guidelines and awards. Given by R. Mark Rogers to the Fathers and Families Conference in Detroit, June, 2005.
Reservists
Many reservists have a sudden loss in income and need to modify child support obligations or face heavy arrearage.  For details go to News & Information and select “Reservists.”
Law Professor Admits No Economic Basis for Child Support (PDF)
University of Texas law professor Jack Sampson, coauthor of The Sampson & Tindall Family Code Book, admitted to the July 12, 2006 hearing of the Texas House Juvenile Justice Committee that the state’s child support guidelines are totally arbitrary. No economic data was used to set the guidelines. He was forced to admit this after listening to this testimony.
Child Support Schedule and Parenting: Time Adjustment Issues (PDF)
Though a submission to the Georgia Child Support Commission, this paper's examination of allowances in child support awards for the division of parenting time is relevant and useful to any jurisdictions.
New Hampshire Commission Describes High Cost of Excessive Child Support Awards (PDF)
The New Hampshire Child Support Review Commission’s 2004 report. A state legislative committee describes the high public cost of excessive child support awards.
Why Would a Custodial Parent Hire a Child Costs Expert?
A PDF document.

High Income Families
Those who earn more than $60,000 a year, or where both parents' combined income is over $100,000, are at greatest risk for excessive child support awards.

Critique of PSI's Income Shares (PDF)
This thorough critique of Policy Studies Inc.’s Income Shares model for child support was presented on March 31, 2006 by R. Mark Rogers to the Alabama Administrative Office of the Courts and the Alabama Guideline Review Panel. Also available as a PDF of the PowerPoint presentation.
The Law And Economics Of Child Support Payments
This recent book is a collection of papers by R. M. Rogers, Sanford Braver, and others and provides important citation material. They find that child support guidelines currently in use in the U.S. typically generate awards three to four times what they would be if based on economically sound cost tables and a true equal duty of support for both parents. See the full description [MSWord.] Available at the publisher's web site and (least costly) Barnes and Noble.