Tennessee’s New Child Support Guidelines.ppt

Tennessee’s New Child Support Guidelines Income Shares Purpose Captures actual child-rearing expenses at various levels of parental income and then pro-rates these expenses between both parents Basic Concepts Custodial Parent is now referred to as the Primary Residential Parent (PRP) Non-Custodial Parent is now referred to as the Alternate Residential Parent (ARP) Two parenting situations Standard – one PRP/ARP for all children Split – two PRPs/ARPs for all children Definitions PRP – the parent with whom the child resides more than 50% of the time ARP – the parent with whom the child resides less than 50% of the time Definitions Standard Parenting – all children under the order have the same PRP and the same ARP Split Parenting – one parent is the PRP/ARP for at least one child under the order and the other parent is PRP/ARP for at least one other child under the order Tools for Calculation of Support Tools for Calculation of Support Worksheets Child Support Worksheet – to be used in all cases for calculation of the child support obligation Credit Worksheet – to be used when calculating credits for a parent’s qualified other children Worksheets are Excel - based and perform all necessary calculations Calculation results on the Credit Worksheet are automatically transferred to the Child Support Worksheet Tools for Calculation of Support Child Support Schedule – provides the child support obligation for various levels of parental income and number of children – always round up to the nearest increment of $50 Gross Income Calculations Gross Income Calculations Gross Income From all non-exempt sources – same is in current Guidelines Both parents of the child – Do not consider income of a non-parent caretaker No deductions for federal income taxes or FICA contributions, except for self-employed parents – these taxes are taken into consideration on the Child Support Schedule in each child support obligation Gross Income Calculations Willful and Voluntary (Und