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HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
New child support guidelines
Dear Readers, Happy
New Year! Now that we
have rung in the new year,
I thought it might be a good
idea to return to a discus
sion of our new child sup
port guidelines.
These new guidelines
mark a different approach.
They force a mathematical
calculations correlating to
the number of children and
both parents’ gross income.
The parents’ “Combined
Adjusted Gross Income”
yields a “Basic Child Support
Obligation” from a table cre
ated by the “Child Support
Commission” and adopted
by the Georgia Legislature.
Each parent is expected to
reasonably contribute to
these calculations, so the
parents are entitled to “self
support” protections, but
they are also not allowed
to be “voluntarily” unem
ployed.
This means that noncusto
dial parents with very little
income may pay less in child
support and custodial par
ents who don’t work may be
expected to contribute more,
also reducing the child sup
port award.
In calculating gross
income, each parent is enti
tled to a credit equal to the
actual amount of child sup
port paid pursuant to a “pre
existing” order. If there is
no such order in place, and
there are children living in
the parent’s household for
which the parent has a legal
obligation to support (e.g.,
not stepchildren or grand
children), the parent is cred
ited with 75 percent of a
“Theoretical Child Support”
calculation made using the
same guidelines. If a par
ent has children, the chil
dren are NOT living in the
Getting involved in school
ByJ.H.Weil
Contributing Writer
Being realistic in today’s
society, it appears to be
getting harder and harder
for parents to be involved
with school. In many cases,
with both parents working
and with job distance from
home requiring parents
to leave early and return
home late, time to sup
port the school directly is
limited. School personnel
understand the pressure
parents are under as many
are in the same situation
- not enough time to fulfill
all responsibilities.
With that in mind it is
important to support your
child’s school as much as
possible. Some show of
support requires you to go
to school and some you
can do from your easy
chair while relaxing. That
sounds good doesn’t it?
As a show of support, try
to do the obvious.
Go to your child’s school
open house at the start of
the year. During the year
go to at least one or two
PTO/PTA meetings. That
will show your child, the
teacher and the school you
are interested and will
make an effort to show it.
During the year, if there
is not a set conference
times, schedule a confer
ence with your child’s
teacher. Tell your child
you are meeting with the
teacher because you are
interested in what they are
doing in school. We sched
ule oil and filter changes
for our cars; so you can
schedule at least once to
meet with the teacher.
If your child is in a class
room, play or does some
special project that will be
on display at school, make
an effort to go see it. This
recognizes your child and
teacher’s effort - they’ll
both appreciate it.
If you have the time, vol
unteer to help at school.
Even an hour every week
or two helps the school.
It is a visible sign to your
child that you support the
household with the parent,
and there is NO pre-existing
order, than there is NO child
support credit afforded to
the parent.
Added to this BCSO are
“adjustments” or “devia
tions.” Adjustments are
made by law; deviations are
Jim Rockefeller
Columnist
Insurance premiums, or
Uninsured Health Care
Expenses.
Each of these, if applica
ble, are added to the BCSO
to obtain a final figure for
the BCSO. So, adjustments
are shared between the par
ties and will substantially
raise the amount of child
support paid.
Once adjustments are
made to the BCSO, a “pre
sumptive award” of child
support is made based on
each parent’s “pro rata”
contribution to the BCSO.
Thus, if the custodial par
ent (the primary caretaker
of the child) earns $2,000
per month, and the non-cus
todial parent earns $3,000
per month, the non-custo
dial parent is responsible for
three-fifths of this amount
(or 60 percent) of the calcu
lated BCSO.
Deviations are, potentially,
more numerous, are discre
tionary, have to be justified
in writing by the fact-find
er, are applied singularly
to each parent’s individual
school.
If you work five days a
week and don’t have time,
perhaps you can volunteer
as a worker for PTO/PTA
projects that are held on
Saturdays.
As the teacher asks,
work with your child at
home. You can help review
for tests, check homework
to be sure it is done, talk
to your child about what
went on at school that day,
ask them to go over some
thing they learned in a
specific subject. Just don’t
say: “What did you do
today?” They will say: ”A
bunch of stuff” or, “We did
not do anything”. They did
”do something”. You’ll just
have to work with them
to get them use to telling
you.
I have heard some par
ents say: ’’Well, it is the
school’s responsibility to
teach and discipline them.
They get paid for it. Don’t
call me.”
Well, the fact is the school
is only as strong as the par
ent support. School teach
ers, principals and other
school personnel need your
support and help. They
need to be confident that
you are behind their efforts
to educate your child. Now
if you don’t like something
about some aspect of the
school, make an appoint
ment to see about your
concern. Don’t sit at home
and stew or talk about it in
front of your child.
You are a partner in your
child’s education. 1 have
seen firsthand the impact
of parental support and
non-support on the child’s
school effort, behavior and
general attitude toward
school. It is a factor you
have direct control over.
Whether you are at
school in person or sitting
in you recliner you can
support the school.
J.H. Weil is a former
teacher I elementary school
principal and substi
tute teacher in the public
schools. He can be reached
at 478-218-2690.
Subscribe today
Call 987-1823
contribution to the BCSO,
and directly impact the pre
sumptive award.
These deviations (up or
down) can include travel
expenses, low or high income
factors, extraordinary educa
tional or medical expenses,
or atypical visitation sched
ules.
Most of these deviations
mirror those under the old
guidelines, which were never
used, yet we can expect they
will be used more frequently,
given the new calculation
intensive process.
While time will tell exact
ly what these changes will
mean in practice, they seem
to primarily benefit the cus
todial parent. For example,
daycare will no longer be an
afterthought.
Under the old guidelines,
daycare expenses were
the custodial parents’ sole
responsibility, now they are
shared in the BCSO calcu
lation. Similarly, medical
expenses are shared pro rata
instead of 50/50. Yet, how
ever they shake out, these
guidelines appear to be much
more objective and math
ematical, than the more sub
jective old ones. Thus, we
can probably expect more
uniform results . . . whether
or not these results prove
fairer will have to await a
future column!
Warner Robins attorney
Jim Rockefeller is the for
mer Chief Assistant District
Attorney for Houston County,
and a former Assistant State
Attorney in Miami. Owner
of Rockefeller Law Center,
Jim has been in private
practice since 2000. E-mail
your comments or confi
dential legal questions to
ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.
com.
made by
choice.
There are
three cat
egor i e s
of adjust
men t s
- Parent’s
Work
Related
Child Care
Costs,
Health
Great expectations, sure, but are they realistic?
About six months into
my marriage, a friend
asked me to describe
the toughest adjustment I
had experienced in my tran
sition from bachelorhood
to married life. I told him,
“Saturday mornings.”
I meant it with all my
heart.
You see, my wife, Marilyn,
and I had two different
expectations for Saturday
mornings. She awakened
early with the day’s agen
da planned in her head - a
detailed agenda with many
items on it - and expected
my participation. I, accus
tomed to spending Saturdays
as a single male, had a much
simpler agenda, and the first
item on the list was sleeping
in. The other items were few
and typically mixed with a
generous dose of fun, such
as working out, watching
sports and just relaxing.
I know, I know ...“Look,
buddy, if your biggest adjust
ment was Saturday morn
ings you had it easy.” I don’t
disagree. But I tell that story
simply to illustrate a sig
nificant hazard - or, since
it’s Master’s week, bun
ker - for many marriages:
Expectations. All of us have
them and each must man
age them well in order to
maintain healthy marriages.
As a friend said to me at
the time of my engagement,
“Marriage is all about man
aging expectations.”
That doesn’t sound very
romantic and idealistic, does
it? But it’s often our expec
tations that lead to conflict
in marriage.
Highly respected counsel
or H. Norman Wright says,
“When people marry, they
bring with them a hidden
agenda of expectations ...
Unfortunately, these expec
tations create the hidden,
painful surprises that spring
up later.”
As we enter the season
when so many weddings
take place, I hope engaged
couples will take note of
this. Many marital problems
arise when blissful expecta
tions before the wedding are
LOCAL
Paradigm shifts - teaching leaders
Happy New Year! It’s
a great time to eval
uate “the way we
see our situations.” That’s
a definition of “paradigm,”
a term used in many orga
nizations to describe a
person’s perspective, view
point, belief, mindset, out
look, perception, under
standing, assumption, men
tal image, theory, model,
interpretation, or frame of
reference.
A paradigm shift occurs
when the way we see a
given situation changes
because we have learned
new information.
The fresh awareness
changes our perspective
and often causes us to take
different action, because we
now “see” the situation dif
ferently.
Memorable paradigm
shifts often occur when
we are not expecting new
information.
We are surprised at the
difference between the way
we had viewed the situation
before, maybe for a very
long time, and how we now
view the situation. We have
an “Aha!” experience. We
are stunned at the effect
the new information has
on us.
An example might help.
Maybe you’ve told racist
or sexist jokes for years,
and your friends laugh and
enjoy them with you. Then
someone tells a joke and
the punch line focuses on a
characteristic that partially
defines you and you feel
the sting.
The next day, you attend
a “diversity awareness”
training session.
As you listen, the pain
you experienced the pre
vious day sticks with you
and you understand the
unmet in the early months
and years of marriage.
“I expect him to stop
drinking.”
“Of course, she’ll lighten
up and allow me more time
with my buddies after we’re
married.”
“We’ll
always
reserve
time for
intimate
conversa
tion - just
the two
of us - on
Saturday
nights.”
Randy Hicks
Georgia Family
Council
“I expect
that we’ll spend Christmas
at my mother’s house.”
“We’ll go to church togeth
er every Sunday.”
For these kinds of impor
tant issues, let me make a
strong suggestion right now
for engaged couples: Get
good premarital counseling
and talk about these expec
tations now! Don’t wait.
Don’t assume they’ll be
resolved after the wedding.
Work through them now.
We must also remember
that our spouses have the
right to expect us to be faith
ful to our vows, honest in our
communication and diligent
in our care for one another.
And every spouse has the
legitimate expectation that
their home will never be vio
lent or abusive.
For married couples who
are experiencing struggles
from these great expecta
tions, you may benefit from
seeing a professional coun
selor as well. It’s not a sign
of weakness but an indica
tion of wisdom. If your car or
your body experience prob
lems, don’t you seek expert
help to solve the issue?
Even my mundane exam
ple about Saturday mornings
shows where expectations
come from and how they can
become major obstacles to a
good marriage.
My expectations for what
Saturdays were supposed to
look like were shaped by my
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point in a totally new way.
Here’s another example.
At the beginning of the
movie “Butch Cassidy and
the Sundance Kid,” Robert
Redford is playing poker.
One opponent stands and
accuses him of cheating.
All the
rest back
away,
expect
ing a
gu n -
fight.
Paul
Newman
enters,
senses
the ten
sion, and
Dennis Hooper
Leaders Building
Leaders
suggests
that they leave. Redford
resists, insisting that he did
not cheat. After an unsuc
cessful effort, Newman
says “I can’t help you,
Sundance.”
The accuser stammers,
“I didn’t know you were
the Sundance Kid when I
said you were cheating,”
and he immediately backs
down. The card player just
experienced a paradigm
shift new information
that changed his perspec
tive, and obviously changed
his behavior!
As I work with leaders, I
encourage them to become
comfortable with paradigm
shifts.
You see, adults learn
differently from children.
Children don’t have a lot of
existing concepts in their
brains.
When you teach “1 + 1 =
2,” they don’t have a life
time of experience to refute
that information.
Adults, however, often
require a paradigm shift.
With so many years of see
ing the world a certain way,
experience, habits and per
sonality. During my child
hood, my family’s Saturdays
started slowly and consisted
of completing a few chores
and enjoying the weekend
away from school and work.
My wife’s expectations for
Saturdays were shaped by
her experience, habits and
personality. Her family got
started early and filled their
days with “getting things
done.” For her, Saturdays
were all about tasks.
Neither of us was wrong
for having our expectations;
but left unspoken and unex
plained, those expectations
created frustration.
If you’re married, you
might recognize some of
these other expectations!
How you manage them may
shape the way you and your
spouse feel about each other
and your marriage.
“I was expecting you for
dinner.”
“I’ve been away on busi
ness for a week. Is it unrea
sonable to expect a little
intimacy?”
“Since I’ve had the kids by
myself for a week, I thought
you would take over and let
me get out of the house to
run a few errands...or go to
a movie...ANYTHING!”
“I guess I was just kind of
thinking that we could sit
and talk about what’s going
on with us.”
“I thought you were going
to take the kids to their
games.”
Here’s the key to deal
ing well with expectations
and keeping them from
undermining the health of
your marriage - talk about
them. Talking about what
you expect provides you
with understanding and the
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we don’t easily accept a new
perspective.
Instead, we tend to defend
our existing understand
ing, even when we claim we
want to learn.
When I teach something
like “delegation skills,” I’m
working with individuals
who have been delegating
for years.
They think they know
how to successfully delegate
already, so my efforts at
providing a paradigm shift
are not always successful.
My life mission is to help
leaders change their per
spectives from leading fol
lowers to leading leaders.
That’s not always an easy
shift to make.
A common leadership
perspective is that the indi
viduals in the organization
exist to serve the leader,
following his or her direc
tives. The typical language
reflects this paradigm:
“These people work for
me.”
The best leaders, how
ever, realize that they exist
to serve those under their
authority the ones who
serve the organization’s
customers.
Leaders serve by provid
ing resources, direction,
perspective, and opportu
nity.
One of the best ways
leaders serve is to build
the skills of future leaders,
functioning as a role model
and providing an explicit
leadership development
process.
Dennis Hooper is a cer
tified leadership develop
ment coach who helps lead
ers build organizations
of excellence. E-mail him
at dhooper2@juno.com
or phone him at 478-988-
0237.
means by which you can
manage your own expecta
tions and well as those of
your spouse. But please take
note of this: Do not sit down
to discuss this topic with
the intention of getting your
spouse to fulfill all of your
expectations. This is hard
for me. I am so naturally
self-interested it terrifies me
at times - I can’t imagine
what it does to my wife! So,
I have to force myself to
enter such conversations by
asking, “What does Marilyn
need?”
How did Marilyn and I
resolve our little Saturday
morning issue? We talked
about it. We started plan
ning our Saturdays in
advance, negotiating how
we were going to get things
done while mixing in a lit
tle fun and relaxation. Our
Saturdays got started a little
later than she was used to,
busier than I was used to ...
and more satisfying for both
of us.
Now, 13 years and five kids
later, we still go over our
Saturday schedule on Friday
nights, dividing responsibili
ties and figuring out how, in
the midst of the busyness,
we’re going to carve out a
little time to relax together.
Georgia Family Council
is a non-profit organization
that works to strengthen and
defend the family in Georgia
by impacting communities,
shaping laws and influenc
ing culture.
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