Child support laws in Georgia are changing

Last year, HB221 was passed and signed into law by Governor Perdue. The bill changed Georgia's approach to calculating child support from a "percentage of income" model, where the support was established as a percentage of the gross income of the obligor, to an "income shares" model, where the incomes of both parents are included in the calculation. The law had an effective date of July 1, 2006, and assigned to the Georgia Child Support Commission the task of creating the chart of Basic Child Support Obligations, based on current economic data.

The Commission completed its work in December 2005, and Senator Seth Harp has introduced SB382, which incorporates that chart and other changes to HB221. The bill is presently pending in the Georgia General Assembly.