As of this year, child support has changed in Georgia. Previously, each parent’s income was the primary items used in calculating child support. The Georgia Child Support Calculator would take the parties’ gross income, do some magic, and spit out a number dependent on how much each parent made. It’s a serious over-simplification, but for these purposes and the changes made this year, perhaps an over-simplification is necessary. The law can be very over-bearing and unnecessary, and sometimes it is better to come at it from a less academic viewpoint.
When it comes to supporting children, Georgia Courts look to create nearly the same financial circumstances for that child had the parents remained together in the same household. Now, up until January 1, 2026, the “household” that the Courts were trying to make whole for the child, was the custodial parent’s home. So, the parent who would be paying child support (non-custodial parent) wouldn’t get any credit for their household. In a split parenting situation where one party has the child more often than the other, that non-custodial parent still financially cares for that child when they are exercising their visitation rights. So how do we account for the money spent on the child(ren) while they are in the care of the non-custodial parent?
That is where the Parenting Time Adjustment comes into play. Just as the Georgia Child Support Calculator previously conducted its magic regarding the parties’ gross income, it has continued to do so here. Now, the Georgia Legislature has made it law to take the non-custodial parent’s time spent with the minor child into account when determining child support. The Calculator starts with an assumption that the non-custodial parent will be spending 0 days with the minor child. The more time the non-custodial parent then spends with the minor child, the Calculator provides for a graduated adjustment based on the number of days spent with the children in conjunction with the parties’ gross income.
There are 365 days per year, half of that being 182.5 days, and the Georgia Courts require there to be a custodial parent and a non-custodial parent. That means that the minimum amount of time the custodial parent can spend with the child(ren) would be 183 days, and the non-custodial parent has the opportunity to exercise a maximum amount of 182 days per year spent with the child(ren). Starting at 0 days, the closer a non-custodial parent’s visitation with the child(ren) approaches 182 days, the larger the non-custodial parent’s Parenting Time Adjustment will be.
In calculating child support, we still start off at the original calculation only including the parties’ gross income. Then, depending on the time spent with the minor child (ren), there is an adjustment away from that presumptive amount of child support originally calculated with just the parties’ gross income. Depending on the number of days spent with the child(ren), the non-custodial parent’s child support obligation will be adjusted downward. The closer the non-custodial parent gets to those 182 days, the lower their child support obligation will end up being. However, as you can imagine, since this is now attached to the number of days the non-custodial parent spends with the minor child, establishing that number of days in a child custody matter now has a direct impact on the financial support attributed to a child.
This is a semi-controversial update since it can both be beneficial to some non-custodial parents while allowing others to manipulate their involvement with their child(ren). Uninvolved parents can now attempt to bargain for time with their child(ren) against lowering their child support obligation. Meanwhile, other non-custodial parents who are genuine in their quest to spend as much time with their child(ren) as possible are alleged to only be seeking that time in order to lower their child support obligation.
On either side, as parties negotiate over custody and visitation issues, there is now a direct line to how that affects the financial support for the child(ren). That can conflate the issues, ultimately leading to unintended misunderstandings between the parties. In trying to fix the issue of the non-custodial parent paying more money for the child(ren) while they are in their care, the legislature created unintended consequences that lead to unnecessary tension in the divorce and child custody processes. I do believe this is an overall better way to account for the non-custodial parent’s time spent with the child(ren), but, like most things in the law, it is, unfortunately, imperfect.
Over the next several years, we will see how all this plays out.
– Douglas Parks
