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Jackson v. Sanders

Although the trial court has discretion to apply O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15 subsection f 4 B, which allows the trial court to apply at least a 10 percent incremental increase per year of a parent's gross income for calculating the modified child support obligation if the parent failed to produce reliable evidence of total gross income, if the trier chooses to resort to that proxy, it must utilize the prescribed increment.

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We granted certiorari in this child support modification action to consider the construction of a particular provision of our child support statute, OCGA § 19-6-15 f 4 B, and its application in the context of the facts presented below. This provision is addressed to modification proceedings in which a parent fails to produce reliable evidence of income, thus impeding the trial court’s ability to fairly and reasonably calculate and allocate the parties’ respective child support obligations. We agree with the Court of Appeals that it was within the trial court’s discretion to apply OCGA § 19-6-15 f 4 B but that doing so required the court to utilize the increment prescribed thereunder – an increase . . . of at least 10 percent per year of the obligor’s gross income – in calculating the modified support obligation. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.

In November 2001, Appellant Doug Jackson Father and Appellee Lisa Sanders Mother divorced in Florida. The final judgment and decree of divorce required Father to pay Mother $1,005 per month for the support of their infant son, based on Father’s then-current annual salary of $250,000. Subsequently, both parties relocated to the Atlanta area, and a decree was entered in Cobb Superior Court in 2007, incorporating the same child support requirement.

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