Guidelines help make sure support amounts are fair. Child support guidelines are standards used to figure out the support needed for a child and the amount a parent has to pay. The amount of child support is based on guidelines defined in Florida law. Enforcing child support orders means getting the parent to do what the order says. However, that parent must be prepared to demonstrate to the court that their overtime pay should be averaged over an appropriate period of time, such that their income will not be appear exaggerated in light of their typical earnings.A child support order tells the parents what they must do to support their children.
SummaryĪ parent that receives overtime pay in Georgia must understand that any overtime pay they receive is included in their income for purposes of a child support calculation.
#FL CALCULATOR FOR CHILD SUPPORT TRIAL#
The application of this portion of the Georgia Child Support Guidelines lies within the discretion of the trial court judge. When income is received on an irregular, nonrecurring, or one-time basis, the court….may, but is not required to, average or prorate the income over a reasonable specified period of time or require the parent to pay as a one-time support amount a percentage of his or her nonrecurring income, taking into consideration the percentage of recurring income of that parent. § 19-6-15(f)(1)(D), which provides thatĪriable income such as…overtime pay…shall be averaged by the court…over a reasonable period of time consistent with the circumstances of the case and added to a parent’s fixed salary or wages to determine gross income. Evans, the lower “…court’s concerns regarding the uncertainty of ’s overtime payments are addressed by O.C.G.A. This discretion is intended to avoid an inequitable outcome that could otherwise result when a parent periodically receives substantial amounts of sporadic overtime pay.Īs stated by the Georgia Supreme Court in Evans v. In the Evans case, however, the Georgia Supreme Court also noted that the child support guidelines provide the lower courts with discretion to average such overtime payments over a reasonable period of time. This means that if a parent receives any overtime payments, no matter how small or irregular, the court is required to include such payments in that parent’s gross income when setting a child support obligation.
In reversing the lower court’s decision, the Georgia Supreme Court cited the relevant portion of the child support guidelines, which states that “…in determining the gross income of each parent in the process of setting the presumptive amount of child support, gross income ‘shall include all income from any source, before deductions for taxes and other deductions…whether earned or unearned, and includes, but is not limited to…overtime payments.’” Id. In this case, the lower court found that the non-custodial parent’s gross income was $5,000 per month, but refused to use that amount for purposes of that parent’s child support calculation because that income “includes a significant amount of overtime that is not guaranteed.” Id. Overtime Pay Case Lawįor example, in 2009, the Georgia Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s decision that refused to include a parent’s overtime pay in the child support calculation. A letter from your employer (or similar evidence) stating that overtime is not guaranteed will not exclude your overtime pay from your gross income for purposes of child support. The Georgia child support guidelines require that all income, of any kind, and from any source is included in a child support calculation. In Georgia, if you receive overtime pay, even sporadically, it will be included in your income for purposes of a child support calculation.
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