TN: Fathers "might" pay less CS?

More dads could pay less child support

By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer


Some noncustodial parents - usually fathers - could pay less child support
under new state guidelines set to take effect later this year.

The guidelines give noncustodial parents credit for factors not previously
considered in calculating child support, such as the custodial parent's
income. It also gives noncustodial parents more credit for other children
they have to support.

The guidelines also lower the payments for noncustodial parents who have
more days of visitation and are therefore paying more of the children's
living expenses in their own homes.

In some cases, however, the custodial parent will end up with more support
than is currently received, especially if he or she has been paying for many
outstanding expenses.

Fathers'-rights advocates are applauding what they say is a significant step
toward fairness. But the guidelines are drawing fire from women's groups.

The impact on Tennessee children could be ''devastating,'' said Mary Frances
Lyle, a general counsel for the Tennessee Women's Political Caucus. Lyle and
others say that the new guidelines will slash payments and that they
resulted from lobbying by fathers'-rights groups.

Fathers' groups, however, say that Tennessee's current method of calculating
child support is unfair, alienates fathers from their children, and creates
combative custodial arrangements.

The current system ''relegates fathers to a system of being the financial
engine and mothers to a caretaker role,'' said Anthony Gottlieb,
president-elect for DAD of Tennessee.

The number of families that could be affected by the new guidelines is
disputed. That's because the new guidelines generally will apply to people
with existing child-support orders only if one parent or both ask a court
that they be allowed to enter the new system and meet the qualifications.

Many parents with existing child-support arrangements, according to the
Department of Human Services, will not because they don't want to attract
its attention as the agency in charge of collecting child support in this
state. (As many as half of all people who owe child support in this state
are behind in payments, DHS Assistant Commissioner Mike Adams said.)

Also, the guidelines will apply to all child-support agreements signed after
the new rules go into effect. That could be as early as Nov. 1, officials
said.

The state tracks more than 219,550 child-support cases statewide. Last year,
it collected $384 million in payments, up from $340 million the year before.

Lyle, however, said that most people will qualify for the new system and
that there will be a stampede because it will reduce child-support payments
in many cases.

But Rutherford and Cannon County Circuit Court Judge Don Ash - who served on
a state child-support task force with Lyle - said support orders in about
three-quarters of divorce cases will wind up being roughly the same under
the new formula. He thinks the biggest changes will be in cases where the
person who pays child support makes much less than the parent who lives with
the child.

The women's political caucus, which said the changes will drive women and
children into poverty, is mounting a campaign to stop the new guidelines.
The group has threatened to go to the legislature and has sent a letter to
Gov. Phil Bredesen, many politicians and prominent women.

They could have a big fight on their hands with DAD and other groups. In the
middle is DHS, which has based the new guidelines on a shared-income model
used in 33 other states. The model considers parents' incomes and expenses
to decide on child support.

DHS said the new guidelines provide the fairest way to calculate child
support and that children will win. That's because the system is designed to
preserve the standard of living that the child had before the divorce.

Gottlieb of DAD said one problem with the new guidelines is that too many
people with what he called unfair child-support orders don't automatically
get into the new system.

The changes won't be automatic for parents who have support orders under the
old guidelines. They have to go back to court for a new agreement or get DHS
to modify support orders. Even then, parents don't get into the new system
unless they can show a judge or DHS that child-support payments or the
amount owed would change by at least 15%.

Sound off

The Department of Human Services is holding public meetings to seek comment
and answer questions about new child-support guidelines. To view the new
guidelines: www.state.tn.us/humanserv/rules.htm.

Here are the times and places for Middle Tennessee meetings:

Cookeville - 6:30 p.m., May 20, Putnam County Department of Human Services
Conference Room, 269-E South Willow Ave.

Nashville - 6:30 p.m., May 24, Citizen's Plaza state office building, 400
Deaderick St., second-floor board room

Columbia - 6:30 p.m., May 25, Maury County Department of Human Services
Conference Room at 1400 College Park Drive, Suite B.

Child support in Tennessee

In Tennessee, child-support agreements are approved by state courts as part
of divorces or by juvenile courts when parents aren't married. The
Department of Human Services becomes involved for various reasons, including
nonpayment of child support, if one of the parents is seeking welfare
benefits or if a parent who owes support cannot be found.

Sheila Burke can be reached at 664-2144 or .