Welcome to Child Support Guidelines Calculator training conducted by staff of the Georgia Child Support Commission.  Your trainers are, Noelle Lagueux-Alvarez, Staff Attorney to the Commission, Elaine Johnson, Executive Program Manager, and Latoinna Lawrence, Program Coordinator, who will guide us through the calculator as we train.

This training does not qualify for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit for attorneys, or Continuing Education (CE) credit for mediators.  If you want those education credits, please return to the Training page, and register to attend one of the Scheduled Trainings.  Those trainings are certified for one hour of CLE or CE credit.

We want to begin by sharing information on Georgia’s child support guidelines.  Since January 1, 2007, Georgia’s guidelines have been based on the Income Shares Model.  Income shares is a concept that the child should receive the same proportion of financial support that he or she would receive if the parents lived together in an intact household where the income of both parents is generally pooled together and spent for the benefit of all household members, including children.  Georgia’s child support guidelines are codified at O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15.

The training you will take today uses Georgia’s Child Support Calculator, which is the only child support calculator available for use in Georgia.  You will see the trainers open the calculator and guide you step-by-step on how to set up a user account in the calculator and prepare a new worksheet.  We will not enter numbers or information in every box, but we will show you every box and provide information on each.  Below are tips to help you get started with the training.

If you have questions about the Child Support Calculator, a staff contact form is provided on the Home page of the Commission website.  Staff cannot reply to legal questions about your case because only an attorney can answer legal questions.  Staff will reply to your questions about the Child Support Calculator within 48 hours of receipt of your contact form.

• Throughout the calculator, yellow boxes are open for you to enter information, while green boxes show information you already entered.
• You will click the numbered blue buttons, such as, 14(a) or 14(b), and enter information. A numbered box with an (a) button allows you to add information, while a (b) button allows you to edit or remove information you entered.
• You can save your worksheet after entering information in the first four boxes on the Basic Information Worksheet tab. After saving your worksheet, each time you change screens, the calculator saves information you have entered.  There are tabs at the top of the calculator screen you may click to go to the worksheet and each schedule.  You will also find buttons at the bottom of each screen to save, update, display, or move to another screen in the calculator.
• After you complete this training you will be ready to begin your own worksheet. You may bypass the home page of the Child Support Commission and go directly to the calculator home page at: https://csconlinecalc.georgiacourts.gov/frontend/web/index.php.