Family Law: Child Custody and Support

At what age may a child in the state of Georgia choose with which parent they will live?

In Georgia, a child between the age of 11 and 14 can make an election of who they would like to live with. A judge will take their election into consideration when factoring in what is in the best interest of that child.

However, by the age of 14, a child can make an election that pretty much determines where that child will live. The exception would be if the other parent can show it is not in the child’s best interest, and there is a threat of potential harm to the child.

Child support is a modification issue.

When you are modifying child support, you can do that at any time as long as you can show that there has been a substantial change in the circumstances that would affect the child support payment.

For instance, has one of the parties’ earnings greatly increased, or have they lost their job through no fault of their own? Was a parent laid off from their job, or have they had additional children? All of these things are taken into consideration in a child support modification.

There are several factors that go into a change of circumstances. Even if there is not a substantial change, you can file for a modification to have your child support reviewed once every two years.

So, if there is a substantial change, you can file for modification at any time; if there is not, you can file every two years.

You cannot enforce a verbal agreement for child support. We can help you file an action against the responsible party and bring them to court for a hearing. Once you have a court order, you can enforce it and the parent has to pay child support or be held in contempt of court.

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