Family Law

Child Support in Mississippi based on Adjusted Gross Income, not Gross Income

By Robert M. Kisselburgh, Esq.

Mississippi Court reverses Chancellor for not making deductions before calculating child support

The Mississippi Court of Appeals reversed a Jones County Chancellor for failing to make the statutory deductions from the non-custodial parent's gross income before calculating the child support owed. In Holloway v. Holloway, the Chancellor failed to make any deductions from the husband's gross income before making a determination of what he owed in monthly child support. Mississippi Code Section 43-19-101(3)(b) is explicit that certain mandatory deductions are subtracted from a non-custodial parent's gross income before calculating child support owed. In this case, the Chancellor failed to make any deductions for taxes paid, so the amount of child support awarded was based on his gross income, not his adjusted gross income.

It is difficult to understand what the Chancellor was thinking in this case as making the mandatory deductions from the gross income before calculating the child support owed is a rather elementary situation.

Reported by: Robert M. Kisselburgh, Mississippi Divorce Attorney

Full post as published by Mississippi Family Law Blog on October 28, 2009 (boomark / email).