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Determining Child Support | Atlanta Family Law

Scott Shaw | 690 Views | 11/02/2015

Determining Child Support

Hello my name Scott Shaw founder and principal of Shaw Law Firm, LLC. A law firm I founded in 1995. Child custody along with divorce and other areas of family law are our only area of legal practice. We do not accept any other types of cases. In this video I will be discussing does it matter how much your spouse or significant other make for purposes of determining child support?

This question applies whether you will be the party paying support or the party receiving support. As the answer is the same for both sides. This is the most common questions I’m asked and the answer is with the caveat that was discussed below, no. A Georgia Supreme Court made this clear in it’s recent BLUMENSHINE v. HALL decision. What the court specifically stated without ambiguity is that the trial court could not consider the income of the father’s new wife when determining father’s child support obligation. This is because father’s new wife had no legal obligation to support father’s children from a prior marriage. It is hard to be clearer. Only the payer of child support has an obligation to pay child support and any person the payer of child support lives with, even if it is his or her new wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, significant other they have no legal obligation to support this children. Since that person has no legal obligation to support this other person’s children that person’s income is utterly not relevant for purposes of calculating child support. This is true even if you marry a millionaire.

Factors Involving Income

Say Donald Trump. Your rich spouse’s income will not be taken into consideration in determining you child support obligation. That does not mean that your rich spouse is irrelevant to the case but just that his or her income will not be considered in setting the child support amount. Having a rich spouse is relevant however for multiple reasons.

For example, if you decide not to work because your spouse earns enough money so yo don’t have to work or you voluntarily take a lower paying work than you are capable of because you just don’t need the money. In such a case the court can impute income to you in the amount that you would earn if you had to work to support yourself and your children. Your rich spouse may also be paying for your living expenses. Like your house, car, groceries, clothes et cetera. In such a case the fact that you do not incur these expenses can be used to try to justify an upward deviation of child support.

Exceptions

There are other exceptions that I can think of arguing as well. But in the end no matter how much money you husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, significant other makes it would be utterly irrelevant in determining the amount of child support that the court orders. This is true whether or not you are the paying party or the party receiving child support. This rule is so prominent that at Shaw Law Firm we even object to any discover request regarding our client’s spouse’s income. Your spouse’s income is irrelevant and not the other parties business and we will object to any discovery to those documents. I am Scott Shaw and if you have any questions about this I welcome your telephone calls and inquires. Thank you.

By: Scott Shaw

Determining Child Support | Atlanta Family Law

Determining Child Support

Hello my name Scott Shaw founder and principal of Shaw Law Firm, LLC. A law firm I founded in 1995. Child custody along with divorce and other areas of family law are our only area of legal practice. We do not accept any other types of cases. In this video I will be discussing does it matter how much your spouse or significant other make for purposes of determining child support?

This question applies whether you will be the party paying support or the party receiving support. As the answer is the same for both sides. This is the most common questions I’m asked and the answer is with the caveat that was discussed below, no. A Georgia Supreme Court made this clear in it’s recent BLUMENSHINE v. HALL decision. What the court specifically stated without ambiguity is that the trial court could not consider the income of the father’s new wife when determining father’s child support obligation. This is because father’s new wife had no legal obligation to support father’s children from a prior marriage. It is hard to be clearer. Only the payer of child support has an obligation to pay child support and any person the payer of child support lives with, even if it is his or her new wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, significant other they have no legal obligation to support this children. Since that person has no legal obligation to support this other person’s children that person’s income is utterly not relevant for purposes of calculating child support. This is true even if you marry a millionaire.

Factors Involving Income

Say Donald Trump. Your rich spouse’s income will not be taken into consideration in determining you child support obligation. That does not mean that your rich spouse is irrelevant to the case but just that his or her income will not be considered in setting the child support amount. Having a rich spouse is relevant however for multiple reasons.

For example, if you decide not to work because your spouse earns enough money so yo don’t have to work or you voluntarily take a lower paying work than you are capable of because you just don’t need the money. In such a case the court can impute income to you in the amount that you would earn if you had to work to support yourself and your children. Your rich spouse may also be paying for your living expenses. Like your house, car, groceries, clothes et cetera. In such a case the fact that you do not incur these expenses can be used to try to justify an upward deviation of child support.

Exceptions

There are other exceptions that I can think of arguing as well. But in the end no matter how much money you husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, significant other makes it would be utterly irrelevant in determining the amount of child support that the court orders. This is true whether or not you are the paying party or the party receiving child support. This rule is so prominent that at Shaw Law Firm we even object to any discover request regarding our client’s spouse’s income. Your spouse’s income is irrelevant and not the other parties business and we will object to any discovery to those documents. I am Scott Shaw and if you have any questions about this I welcome your telephone calls and inquires. Thank you.

By: Scott Shaw