Q: Does Tennessee not consider how much you have to pay out to live before taking child support out? Rent, phone bill etc.

A: Tennessee is a shared income model that compares the parties' relative gross income, the number of days each has with a child and a few other things such as health insurance premiums. The cost of living for each parent is already considered in the formation of the guidelines. We have to use the child support calculator promulgated by the Tennessee Department of Human Services. A good reference is the State's Child Support Site at

https://www.tn.gov/humanservices/for-families/child-support-services.html

On the site it has all the information regarding the determination the amount of child support as well as access to the calculator we are required to use.

Good Luck to you.

A: The short answer is "no"- as the previsous answer indicates, living expenses are considered, and that is part of the computer formula, BUT the support is a priority expense. The computer determines the amount you pay, and it is up to you to figure out how to live on what is left.

A: Let me clarify, I did not say that in the computation of a child support order that a person's living expenses were imputed into the calculation. What I said, however in-artfully, was that at the time of the creation of the guidelines, the bean counters that came up with the guidelines purported that such considerations were taken into account. John Ford was the major sponsor of the push to create the guidelines, an action that came back to haunt him for the very reasons the question poses.