Georgia Child Support

You can seek a child support order for any and all children you are legally responsible for, who live with you, and who you are actually supporting.¹

If you are the child’s mother who is seeking support, and you are unmarried to the child’s father, you will first have to establish a legal relationship between the child and the father, which is called paternity. If you are married, paternity is automatically established once the child is born.

Child support can be filed for as part of a divorce action, a separation action, a custody action, or a paternity action. You can also receive a temporary child support order as part of a protective order for family abuse. See What protections can I get in a family violence protective order? for more information.

¹ O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15(a)(20)

The amount of the child support payments will depend on many factors, such as the number of children, the parents’ income, etc. The judge will use specific Georgia child support guidelines as a guide to figure out the amount. To look at the guidelines, you can go to the Judicial Council of Georgia’s website. However, it is possible that the judge could stray from the guidelines if using them would be unfair or inappropriate in a particular case.¹

As part of the child support order, the judge can also order that either parent provide health care coverage if reasonable coverage is available at a reasonable cost.² A judge can also order that the parents reimburse one another for uninsured medical costs based on their percentage of the support amount.³

For more information on how to get your child support order enforced, visit the Georgia Division of Child Support Services website.

¹ O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15(b)(8)
² O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15(c)(2)(D)
³ O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15(b)(10)