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.

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.