Rules & Regulations of the State of Tennessee
Title 1240 - Human Services
Subtitle 1240-02 - Child Support Services Division
Chapter 1240-02-04 - Child Support Guidelines
Section 1240-02-04-.01 - LEGAL BASIS, SCOPE, AND PURPOSE

Universal Citation: TN Comp Rules and Regs 1240-02-04-.01

Current through September 24, 2024

(1) Federal and State Legal Requirements for the Establishment and Application of Child Support Guidelines.

(a) Title IV-D of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. §§ 651-669), specifically 42 U.S.C. § 667 and 45 C.F.R. § 302.56, requires that states establish guidelines for setting and modifying child support award amounts in each state. Tennessee Code Annotated §§ 36-5-101(e), 71-1-105(a)(15), and 71-1-132 implement these requirements and direct the Tennessee Department of Human Services to establish those guidelines to enforce the provisions of federal law.

(b) The Tennessee Department of Human Services is the authorized state agency for the enforcement of the child support program in the State of Tennessee under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act. The Department of Human Services will comply with federal and state requirements to promulgate Child Support Guidelines to be used in setting awards of child support.

(c) Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 667 and 45 C.F.R. § 302.56, the Child Support Guidelines must be made available to all persons in the state whose duty it is to set or modify child support award amounts in all child support cases.

(d) Pursuant to federal laws and regulations, the Child Support Guidelines established by a state must, at a minimum:
1. Be applied by all judicial or administrative tribunals and other officials of the state who have power to determine child support orders in the state as a rebuttable presumption as to the amount of child support to be awarded in child support cases and result in a presumptively correct child support orders;

2. Provide that the child support order is based on the Alternate Residential Parent's (ARP's) earnings, income, and other evidence of ability to pay that:
(i) Takes into consideration all earnings and income of the alternate residential parent;

(ii) Takes into consideration the basic subsistence needs of the ARP who has a limited ability to pay by incorporating a low-income adjustment, such as a self support reserve or some other method determined by the State; and

(iii) If imputation of income is authorized, takes into consideration the specific circumstances of the ARP (and at the State's discretion, the PRP) to the extent known, including such factors as the ARP's assets, residence, employment and earnings history, job skills, educational attainment, literacy, age, health, criminal record and other employment barriers, and record of seeking work, as well as the local job market, the availability of employers willing to hire the ARP, prevailing earnings level in the local community, and other relevant background factors in the case.

3. Be based on specific descriptive and numeric criteria and result in the computation of the child support obligation;

4. Address how the parents will provide for the child's health care needs through private or public health care coverage and/or through cash medical support; and

5. Provide that incarceration may not be treated as voluntary unemployment in establishing or modifying support orders.

(e) Federal law and regulations further provide that the amount of child support mandated by the Guidelines may be rebutted if the tribunal setting or modifying support includes, in writing, in the order:
1. The reasons the tribunal deviated from the presumptive amount of child support that would have been paid pursuant to the Guidelines;

2. The amount of child support that would have been required under the Guidelines if the presumptive amount had not been rebutted; and

3. A finding by the tribunal that states how, in its determination,
(i) Application of the Guidelines would be unjust or inappropriate in the particular case before the tribunal; and

(ii) The best interests of the child or children who are subject to the support award determination are served by deviation from the presumptive guideline amount.

(2) Effective Date and Applicability.

(a) The Child Support Guidelines established by this Chapter shall be applicable in every judicial or administrative action to establish, modify, or enforce child support, whether temporary or permanent, whether the action is filed before or after the effective date of these rules, where a hearing which results in an order establishing, modifying, or enforcing support is held after the effective date of these rules.

(b) The Child Support Guidelines shall be applied to all of the following cases involving the establishment, modification, or enforcement of child support:
1. Divorce or separate maintenance actions of married persons who are living separately, who have children of the marriage, including those actions in which a marital dissolution agreement or parenting plan is executed.
(i) If the parties stipulate to the child support to be paid for the support of the parties' children, the stipulations, whether in a marital dissolution agreement, parenting plan, or in any other document establishing the amounts to be paid for the support of the parties' children, shall be reviewed by the tribunal before approval.

(ii) No hearing shall be required as to the amount of child support awarded in such cases. However, the tribunal shall use the Guidelines in reviewing the adequacy of child support obligations negotiated by the parties, including provisions for medical care, and, if the negotiated agreement does not comply with the Guidelines or contain the findings of fact necessary to support a deviation, the tribunal shall reject the agreement.

(iii) In such stipulations, the order approving the agreement or parenting plan or other document:
(I) Shall establish a specific numerical dollar figure for support to be paid at specified intervals (weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, monthly). The final child support order shall not be expressed as a percentage of the parent's income.

(II) If the agreement does not state the amount of support calculated under the Guidelines, the order of the tribunal approving the agreement shall state the amount of support proposed in the agreement and the guideline amount and shall provide in writing:
I. The reasons the tribunal deviated from the presumptive amount of child support that would have been paid pursuant to the Guidelines;

II. The amount of child support that would have been required under the Guidelines if the presumptive amount had not been rebutted; and

III. A finding by the tribunal that states how, in its determination,
A. Application of the Guidelines would be unjust or inappropriate in the particular case before the tribunal; and

B. The best interests of the child or children who are subject to the support award determination are served by deviation from the presumptive guideline amount.

2. Paternity determinations;

3. Actions involving orders for custody of a child, whether in state trial or juvenile tribunals, including actions where the State is seeking, or is given, custody of a child due to abuse, dependency, delinquency or unruliness of the child, or in any case in which legal or physical custody of the child is transferred to a private or public agency or to any entity for any other reason;

4. Domestic violence orders of protection;

5. Any other actions in which the provision of support for children is established by law; and

6. Actions seeking interstate enforcement of support orders for any of the reasons in parts 1.-5. above.

(3) The major goals in the development and application of these Guidelines are, to the extent possible, to:

(a) Decrease the number of impoverished children living in single parent families by establishing guidelines that encourage regular, on-time payments to all families and increase the number of ARPs working and supporting their children;

(b) Make child support orders more equitable by ensuring more consistent treatment of persons in similar circumstances while establishing an accurate child support order and obtain compliance with the order based on the real circumstances of the parties and the best interests of the child in the case before the tribunal are taken into consideration;

(c) Improve the efficiency of the tribunal process by promoting settlements and by giving tribunals and parties guidance in establishing appropriate levels of support orders;

(d) Encourage parents paying support to maintain contact with their child;

(e) Ensure that, when parents live separately, the economic impact on the child is minimized while setting an accurate order based upon the ability to pay, and, to the extent that either parent enjoys a higher standard of living, the child shares in that higher standard;

(f) Ensure that a minimum amount of child support is set for parents with a low income in order to maintain a bond between the parent and the child, to establish patterns of regular payment, and to enable the child support enforcement agency and party receiving support to maintain contact with the parent paying support; and

(g) Allocate a parent's financial child support responsibility from the parent's income among all of the parent's children for whom the parent is legally responsible in a manner that gives equitable consideration, as defined by the Department's Guidelines, to children for whom support is being set in the case before the tribunal and to other children for whom the parent is legally responsible and supporting.

(4) These Guidelines are a minimum base for determining child support obligations. The presumptive child support order may be increased according to the best interest of the child for whom support is being considered, the circumstances of the parties, and the rules of this chapter.

Authority: T.C.A. §§ 4-5-202, 36-5-101(e), 37-1-151, 71-1-105(a)(12) and (15), and 71-1-132; 42 U.S.C. §§ 654 and 667; and 45 C.F.R. § 302.56.

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