Q: My wife and I are filing an uncontested divorce. My question is, can we decide the child support payment?
Say the calculator says the payment would be 1200 a month and she only wants 500, will the court honor the 500 or will they make me pay the full amount
A: In my experience, the judges follow the guidelines ( appellate court decisions says the guidelines have the same effect as laws passed by the legislature). The Judges are under a statutory directive to insure the child support law is obeyed. The guidelines do permit deviations, but only for a very good reason, so if you decide to attempt to get the Judge to approve the deviation, do your homework and be prepared to explain. The full text of the child support guidelines is available online through the State of Tennessee website- department of childrens services ( DCS).
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