When you have children, your relationship with your spouse does not end with the final divorce decree. You will need continued contact with your spouse about child support matters involving any children. For their sake, you want to keep the lines of communication open with your former spouse. Communication is essential to ensure that your children do not suffer unreasonably due to the results of a child support case.

The child custody and support attorneys of GSRM Law have spent three decades helping families throughout Tennessee with their child support issues. We know how sensitive these matters can be for all parties involved, and we provide each client with the personal attention they need to reach an acceptable agreement for their children. Our talented child support lawyers will work hard to ensure your children’s well-being is considered first in any decision.

What is Child Support?

Child support is money paid to the custodial parent for the children’s support, maintenance, and education. Voluntary gifts and payment of rent, which benefit the child when the child is with you, may not be considered legal child support. The court does not require the custodial parent to account for the support. Child support ceases with the child’s emancipation by state law or can continue as agreed by the parties.

How Do Courts Determine Child Support?

Tennessee has guidelines by which courts determine support. These Tennessee child support guidelines contain tables that consider the gross incomes of both parents paying support and the number of children. Arrangements with an equal time sharing arrangement are calculated differently, as a child support order will try to strike a balance between both parents involved.

In the same way that an agreement is determined based on different factors, child support orders can also be enforceable by various means. Our law office can help ensure that your court order guarantees that the other parent pays a fair amount in support. If they refuse, tactics such as wage garnishment, liens on property, or other means,  can be utilized to collect the child support amount they owe. These child support payments are not dischargeable in bankruptcy, but unpaid support may be collectible for only a limited time by statute.

Factors in Determining Parenting Time and Decision-Making Authority

Issues involving minor children consist of two distinct concepts—decision-making and timesharing.

Decision-Making

Whether it is one or both of the parents responsible for making decisions affecting the children, our firm will help decipher and support your legal needs. Our law firm knows that both custodial and non-custodial parents love their children and work together to ensure a happy resolution of basic expenses..

Parenting Time

How much time a child spends with each parent is essential. This is why court orders will put a parenting plan in place. Timesharing refers to the time each parent will spend with the children. 

How the Court Decides Child Custody

The court determines custody based on what it believes to be the children’s best interests. The court considers all relevant factors, including the following, as set out in TCA 36-6-106, where applicable:

• The love, affection, and emotional ties existing between the parents and child;
• The disposition of the parents to provide the child with food, clothing, medical care, education, and other necessary care and the degree to which a parent has been the primary caregiver;
• The importance of continuity in the child’s life and the length of time the child has lived in a stable, satisfactory environment; provided, that where there is a finding, under T.C.A 36-6-106(a)(8), of child abuse, as defined in T.C.A 39-15-401 or T.C.A. 39-15-402, or child sexual abuse, as described in T.C.A. 37-1-602, by one (1) parent, and that a non-perpetrating parent has relocated to flee the perpetrating parent, that such relocation shall not weigh against an award of custody;
• The stability of the family unit of the parents;
• The mental and physical health of the parents;
• The home, school, and community record of the child;
• The reasonable preference of the child when the child is twelve (12) years of age or older;
• The court may hear the preference of a younger child upon request. The preferences of older children normally are given greater weight than those of younger children;
• Evidence of physical or emotional abuse to the child, to the other parent, or to any other person; provided that where there are allegations that one (1) parent has committed child abuse, as defined in T.C.A. 39-15-401 or T.C.A. 39-15-402, or child sexual abuse, as defined in T.C.A. 37-1-602, against a family member, the court shall consider all evidence relevant to the physical and emotional safety of the child, and determine, by a clear preponderance of the evidence, whether such abuse has occurred. The court shall include in its decision a written finding of all evidence and all findings of facts connected thereto. In addition, the court shall, where appropriate, refer any issues of abuse to the juvenile court for further proceedings;
• The character and behavior of any other person who resides in or frequents the home of a parent and such person’s interactions with the child; and
• Each parent’s past and potential for future performance of parenting responsibilities, including the willingness and ability of each of the parents to facilitate and encourage a close and continuing parent-child relationship between the child and the other parent, consistent with the child’s best interest.

Notwithstanding the provisions of any law to the contrary, the court has jurisdiction to make an initial custody determination regarding a minor child or may modify a prior order of child custody upon finding that the custodial parent has been convicted of or found civilly liable for the intentional and wrongful death of the child’s other parent or legal guardian.

Modification to Child Support or Custody

Until the child is an emancipated adult, the child support order can be modified. Tennessee law states that proper court orders can modify parenting time, child support payments, and parenting plans. And this can happen whenever the family law court deems it appropriate to have a change or update. The same factors used in making the initial award are considered for modification, and getting any child support obligation modified requires a significant difference in circumstances. This is why an experienced child support attorney may need to sort through a modification hearing.

These factors could result in a shift in the primary residential arrangement, time allocation, or an increase or decrease in the support obligation. Remarriage of either parent does not automatically result in a change of circumstances.

Child support and custody can be a complicated situation that needs a deft hand to guide you through the process.