Caps on Income and Percentages in TN Child Support

Caps on Income & Maximum Percentages in Tennessee Child Support

Caps and Maximum Percentages in Child Support in Tennessee

In Tennessee, a parent who owes child support will generally find their child support “capped” based on income at around $180,000 per year or so.  That doesn’t mean additional expenses (or other “add-ons”) won’t increase the overall support obligation, though.  It just means the parent receiving support will be required to carry the burden of proving the children’s needs for support to be awarded above the capped income amount. If you are trying to figure out how these caps might apply to you, work through several different scenarios using the child support worksheets to determine exactly how they may apply given each parent’s income and the nights the children spend with each parent.  Also, talk with your lawyer about Tennessee case law and examples of parents having to pay more than the caps for expenses like educational travel for children of affluent parents.

Mason Interviewed on Tennessee Father Owes Child Support for 21 Children

Tennessee Father Owes Child Support for 21 Children

Memphis divorce attorney Miles Mason, Sr. comments on Tennessee child support in the news.View the WREG Interview of Memphis divorce attorney Miles Mason, Sr. regarding father of 21 children not paying child support in Juvenile Court case. Sabrina Hall has the story.Here is the link to MemphisDivorce.com, the story, and video from WREG News Channel 3: Memphis Father of 21 Sometimes Pays As Little As $6 A Month.

Memphis divorce attorney, Miles Mason, Sr., JD, CPA, practices family law exclusively with the Miles Mason Family Law Group, PLC in Memphis, Tennessee serving clients in Germantown, Collierville and the west Tennessee area.  To learn more about Tennessee child support laws, read and view:

• Tennessee Child Support & Divorce Law Answers to FAQs
• How to Modify Child Support in Tennessee
• Tennessee Child Support Law Video Series
• Tennessee Child Support Resources
• Top 6 Tennessee Child Support Strategies

TN Guidelines: Health Insurance, Medical Expenses & Child Care

Tennessee Child Support Guidelines: Health Insurance, Medical Expenses & Child Care

The Tennessee Child Support Guidelines sets the support amount owed.  The children’s health insurance premiums, uninsured medical expenses, and work-related child care costs (which should include after-school care) are added as separate components within the calculation and the amounts are individual to each family. This makes sense because there is no way to average these costs among families in Tennessee.  Plus, child care costs vary greatly among facilities, as any parent may attest.

If the alernative residential parent (ARP) is paying the health insurance premium, don’t forget to exclude that from the wage assignment to prevent double payment. But, any amounts paid by a step-parent are excluded from the calculation.

Modifying Child Support in Tennessee

How to Modify Tennessee Child Support

Modification of Child Support under the Tennessee Guidelines

Modifying TN Child Support 

Modifying child support in Tennesee can be very tricky to figure out.  Determining what a 15% change requires may mean guessing at the other parent’s income.  Then, a parent must factor in whether the number of overnights actually had by each parent is close to what the parenting plan states.  If the nights are different, that can make the determination challenging.  Exactly what numbers a court may use can be impossible to predict.  So, you may need to run numbers on different scenarios to see how different court interpretations may impact whether or not there is a 15% change which is required for modification.