Quick answer: Georgia uses an income shares guideline in O.C.G.A. 19-6-15, applied to each parent’s monthly gross income. Gross income is reduced by half of self-employment tax and preexisting support orders, the two parents’ adjusted incomes are added, and the Basic Child Support Obligation is read from the table at the closest $50 row (from $800 to $40,000 of combined income). Each parent pays a pro rata share. Since January 1, 2026, the noncustodial parent’s share is reduced by a mandatory parenting time adjustment based on court-ordered parenting days raised to the power 2.5, child care and health insurance are added pro rata, and a low-income adjustment caps the obligation of a parent with a very low income at 19% to 28% of income.
How the Georgia guidelines work
- Gross income and adjustments. Monthly gross income from all sources, less one-half of self-employment taxes and preexisting orders (Schedules A and B).
- Basic obligation. The table amount for the combined adjusted income and the number of children, using the closest $50 bracket.
- Pro rata shares. Each parent’s income divided by the combined income.
- Parenting time adjustment. Reduces the noncustodial parent’s share. See the parenting time adjustment.
- Additional expenses. Child care and the children’s health insurance premium, divided pro rata, with credit for amounts each parent pays (Schedule D).
- Low-income adjustment. A cap for a paying parent with a low income. See how the low-income adjustment works.
The full walk-through, with a worked example, is in how Georgia calculates child support.
What is new in 2026
For orders under the statute as amended effective January 1, 2026, the former parenting time deviation became a mandatory adjustment (Schedule C) and the former low-income deviation became an automatic low-income adjustment. The Child Support Commission’s official calculator performs both automatically, and the calculator above follows the amended statute and reproduces the Commission’s own worked example to the cent.
Child support across Georgia
The guidelines are a minimum basis and a rebuttable presumption in every Georgia court, from Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, Columbus, Macon or Athens. The court may deviate on the grounds in subsection (i), with written findings. A petition to modify requires a substantial change in either parent’s income and financial status or the needs of the child, and generally cannot be filed within two years of a final order on a previous petition by the same parent.
Frequently asked questions
How is child support calculated in Georgia?
Georgia combines the parents' monthly adjusted gross incomes, reads the Basic Child Support Obligation from the statutory table at the closest $50 bracket, splits it pro rata, reduces the noncustodial parent's share by the parenting time adjustment and adds child care and health insurance.
What is the Georgia parenting time adjustment?
A mandatory reduction of the noncustodial parent's share based on court-ordered parenting days: the basic obligation times the noncustodial days raised to the power 2.5, divided by the sum of both parents' days raised to the power 2.5.
What is the Georgia low-income adjustment?
A cap that limits a low-income parent's obligation to the lesser of the presumptive amount and the low-income adjustment table amount, which is 19%, 24%, 25%, 26%, 27% or 28% of income for one to six children at $1,500 a month or less.
What is the Georgia child support table range?
Combined adjusted gross income from $800 to $40,000 a month. Above $40,000 the basic obligation is set at the top row and the court may consider an upward deviation.
Does Georgia use gross or net income for child support?
Gross income, reduced by one-half of self-employment taxes and preexisting orders to get adjusted gross income.