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Alimony – Maintenance – Child Support
How Alimony, Maintenance & Child Support Works
Let’s Start with Alimony
Alimony, sometimes referred to as “spousal support,” is payment that goes towards maintaining the well-being of one spouse to another in a divorce. The payment can be in the form of a lump sum, but it is commonly paid in periodic installments. The general principle behind alimony is that divorce should not impoverish either spouse; alimony’s purpose is to help each spouse maintain the same lifestyle they enjoyed during marriage.
Alimony is awarded to a spouse in the event of the following three conditions:
- If a spouse cannot make a sufficient living
- If a spouse is the primary caretaker for a child
- If a spouse lacks sufficient assets to support themselves
Alimony is not optional once it is ordered by the court—once it is set, it must be paid. In the state of Georgia, alimony is calculated through a mathematical formula for couples who have a combined annual income of $75,000 or less. The formula is as follows:
Alimony Payment = 40% of Higher Earner’s Monthly Gross Income – 50% of Lower Earner’s Monthly Gross Income
Courts will typically subtract from the gross income any spousal or child support that already exists for either spouse outside of the current marriage. For couples with combined incomes over $75,000, temporary alimony agreements can be set by the court as well. Deviations from the formula are possible, but they must be justified according to the three conditions mentioned above.
How Does Alimony/Maintenance Affect Me?
Good alimony agreements are ideally, mutually-agreed upon, and they ensure that no spouse suffers financially from a divorce. It is important to remember that alimony is not punitive. The idea is to create two financially-stable households out of one. However, without good legal representation and experienced guidance, alimony agreements can be range from overbearing to negligible, neither of which helps bring peace to a divorce.
How Does Child Support Work?
Child support is financial payment that goes from a noncustodial parent to a custodial parent. The purpose of the payment is to aid in the care and upbringing of the child. Child support is legally required in the state of Georgia, based on the principle that all legal parents are obligated to support their children. This is true even when one parent does not have physical or legal custody—the obligation to pay child support only ends when the child is an adult, or the parental relationship is legally terminated.
Georgia courts abide by an Income Shares Model to calculate child support payments. This model calculates the amount of money that would have been spent on the child had the marriage continued. It then takes this amount and splits it between the parents according to their respective incomes. The process for calculating child support payments is long and rather complex. It involves calculating your adjusted gross income, which actually takes different factors into account that your taxable adjusted gross income.
Courts then apply your AGI to a Basic Child Support Worksheet, and you will be required to pay that amount until your child is 18 and out of high school, or 19 and a full-time high school student. The process can be helped by an attorney who knows how child support is calculated and what an AGI entails in this case.
How The Law Offices of Michael D. Reynolds Help
Our family law attorneys believe that every child should be supported by their parent, but we also know that an unfair agreement can put an unjust financial strain on a child support payee. A good child support agreement is crucial to the financial and emotional health of the family—our experienced divorce lawyers know how to find mutually-beneficial solutions for our clients in Columbus, Georgia and beyond ensuring that their children are supported.
If you are crafting a child support agreement, or require modifications to a current agreement, contact The Law Offices Of Michael D. Reynolds. We can develop the solution that is best for your family.