Georgia Child Support

For federal income tax purposes, support payments will be non-deductible by the paying parent.

Similarly, tax payments are tax-free to the recipient. Receiving parents should not claim these payments as income. Child support will be considered tax-neutral for tax purposes in Georgia.

When under a wage garnishment court order, support payments will be taken after taxes have already been applied to the money.

The Federal Tax Offset Program is authorized to collect past-due support payments from noncustodial parents by intercepting their federal income tax return. Any parent who owes more than $150 to a parent receiving financial state-assistance or $500 to a parent, not on financial assistance will be eligible for this program.

Paternity can be established through marriage, a voluntary acknowledgment or a court order. Both parents must sign the Voluntary Paternity Acknowledgement Form and file it with Georgia’s Office of Vital Records. Otherwise, a court order may be needed to establish paternity.

Fathers in Georgia who aren’t listed on the child’s birth certificate will be unable to enforce any legal rights to the child including visitation or custody until paternity is established.

Fathers who are not married to the mother in Georgia have no legal rights to their children, so they can’t force a non-consenting mother to submit to a paternity test. Potential fathers do have the option of seeking a court order to establish paternity when paternity hasn’t been established for the child.

When the father is deceased, establishing paternity will be much more complicated. It’s important to reach out to your local child support office to explain your situation, and a personal lawyer may be able to assist you as well. Courts may allow genetic testing to be conducted with the deceased’s DNA where possible or on living relatives of the deceased.

Without legal rights to the child, the mother will have the right to sole custody of the child. A father can’t force the mother to get a paternity test, but the father can petition the court for a court ordered a DNA test to establish paternity.

In Georgia, paternity must be established prior to the child’s 18th birthday.

It is possible to modify current child support orders in Georgia, but all modification reviews and agreements must go through and be approved in court.

The modification request is typically accepted when the parent or child has experienced a substantial change in circumstances since the order was entered into or last reviewed.

To submit a modification request, parents will need to complete the “Request for Review of Child Support Order” form and return it to their local child support office. Next, an evaluation of your case will occur. Parents will be contacted with further information regarding the requested change.

Appealing a child support order is an incredibly difficult task, and it’s unlikely to succeed without the help of a personal attorney.

Determining whether or not to enlist a lawyer for your modification request is a personal decision. An attorney isn’t always necessary when parents agree on the modification, but the process can be time-consuming and challenging when the modification is contested by the other parent.

Various enforcement measures will take effect depending on how behind the parent is on payments. After 30 days of non-payment, the parent can be subject to garnishment of wages, bank accounts, and tax refunds. After 60 days, courts may suspend or deny state-issued licenses.

When you haven’t received your court-ordered payment, immediately contact the caseworker assigned to your support case.

Once the caseworker is made aware of delinquency, a non-paying parent will be subject to a number of enforcement measures.

Federal law states that a willful failure to pay support is a crime. When delinquent payments exceed $10,000 or have been overdue for more than two years, the crime will be considered a felony.

In Georgia, child support agencies have the authority to negotiate or even waive overdue child support when there is a good reason for nonpayment and enforcement measures would cause unreasonable hardship to the parent.

Most support orders have a termination date on the child’s 18th birthday. Once this date is reached and all debts are paid off, parents may apply for a modification request to terminate payments.

Parents can apply for termination when the child has reached 18-years-old and has graduated from high school.  

Custodial parents can close a case at any time as long as they aren’t receiving financial assistance from the state and do not have any debts owed to the state.

Parents can stop making payments when their case has been closed, they have paid all outstanding debts and their obligation has ended.

The legal age of majority in the state is 18. Any orders entered into after July 1,  1992, may contain a provision to extend support until the child reaches 20 when they are still enrolled in high school.