James Stowell and Kathleen Huguenard were divorced in 2005, and the divorce decree established child support and alimony. After experiencing a substantial change in employment, Stowell filed a motion to modify child support and alimony on August 27, 2008. After a bench trial, the trial court entered an order modifying the 2005 divorce decree by reducing Stowell’s child support obligation to $981.25 per month plus an annual payment of 25 of any gross commissions or other irregular income received above his $3500 monthly base salary. After a motion for new trial was denied, Stowell filed an application for discretionary review in the Court of Appeals, which transferred the application to this Court pursuant to our jurisdiction over divorce and alimony cases. Ga. Const. of 1983, Art. VI, Sec. VI, Par. III 6. See also Spurlock v. Depart. of Human Resources , 286 Ga. 512, 513-514 1 690 SE2d 378 2010. We granted the application to review certain provisions of the trial court’s order modifying Stowell’s child support obligation. ” ‘The guidelines for computing the amount of child support are found in OCGA § 19-6-15 and must be considered by any court setting child support. Cit.’ Cit.” Roberts v. Tharp , 286 Ga. 579, 580 1 690 SE2d 404 2010. “ The child support guidelines . . . shall apply as a rebuttable presumption in all legal proceedings involving the child support responsibility of a parent.” OCGA § 19-6-15 c 1. Although this presumptive amount of child support is rebuttable, “deviations subtracted from or increased to the presumptive amount of child support must be . . . supported by the required findings of fact and application of the best interest of the child standard . . . and shall be entered on the Child Support Schedule EDeviations.” OCGA § 19-6-15 b 8.
According to the child support guidelines, the first step a court must take when calculating the presumptive amount of child support is to determine the monthly gross income of both parents. OCGA § 19-6-15 b 1. OCGA 19-6-15 m 1 requires the court to use the child support worksheet, which should be attached to the final court order, to determine and calculate the presumptive amounts of child support. After determining and adjusting the gross income of each parent, the court must “compute the combined adjusted income” to use as the reference amount for locating “the amount of the basic child support obligation” set forth in the child support obligation table. OCGA § 19-6-15 b 3, 4, o. Once the basic child support obligation is determined, the court must calculate each parent’s pro rata percentage of this amount to determine each parent’s pro rata share of the basic child support obligation. OCGA § 19-6-15 b 5. The court must then find the adjusted child support obligation amount for each parent by adding to each parent’s pro rata share any health insurance or work related child care costs, again assigning to each parent his or her pro rata percentage of these amounts. OCGA § 19-6-15 b 6. Finally, the court, using the calculated adjusted child support obligation amounts determined above, must “assign or deduct credit for actual payments for health insurance and work related child care costs.” OCGA § 19-6-15 b 7. This final calculation will result in “the presumptive amount of child support, which is a sum certain single payment due to the custodial parent.” OCGA § 19-6-15 b 7.
