Understanding Tennessee Child Support
In Tennessee, child support is computed by formula. Every court that sets or modifies child support uses the same formula.
The number of days a child spends with each parent is usually determined first. A common parenting schedule, where one parent has the child every other weekend, on alternating holidays, and four weeks in the summer is approximately 85 days.
Each party's gross income is then considered. For self-employed, net business income is used.
Gross Income includes:
Wages and salaries, including bonuses and overtime
Commissions, fees and tips
Income from self-employment less ordinary and reasonable business expenses
For military members: Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH), Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) and Variable Housing Allowance (VHA)
Fringe benefits that reduce personal living expenses, such as a company car
Any other income
Variable income such as commissions, bonuses, overtime pay, dividends, are averaged over a reasonable period of time and added to a parent’s fixed salary or wages to determine gross income.
Adjustments that account for each parent’s share of the child’s health insurance premium costs, uninsured medical expenses, and work-related childcare costs are then added. Only the amount of the insurance cost attributable to the children who are the subject of the support order will be included.
Childcare expenses necessary for either parent’s employment, education, or vocational training are averaged for a monthly amount and entered on the Worksheet.
If uninsured medical expenses are routinely incurred so that a specific monthly amount can be reasonably established, a specific dollar amount will be added to the basic child support obligation to cover those established expenses.
The child’s uninsured medical expenses including, but not limited to, deductibles, co-pays, dental, orthodontic, counseling, psychiatric, vision, hearing and other medical needs not covered by insurance are not generally included in child support.
These expenses will be paid proportionally by the parents as they are incurred.
