Mississippi Family Law Blog

So how do you determine adjusted gross income? Essentially this is your net income with a few other deductions. Under the statute, you first determine your gross income. Gross income, for child support purposes, includes all potential sources of income that may reasonably be expected to be available to the absent parent including, but not limited to:

• wages and salary income;


• income from self employment;


• income from commissions;


• income from investments, including dividends, interest income and income on any trust account or property;


• absent parent's portion of any joint income of both parents;


• workers' compensation, disability, unemployment, annuity and retirement benefits, including an individual retirement account (IRA);


• any other payments made by any person, private entity, federal or state government or any unit of local government;


• alimony;


• any income earned from an interest in or from inherited property; and


• any other form of earned income.

However, it shall exclude any money derived from a second household, such as income of the absent parent's current spouse.

After you have established that figure, then you make the following deductions:

• Federal, state and local taxes;


• Social security contributions; and


• Retirement and disability contributions except any voluntary retirement and disability contributions;

Additionally, if the non-custodial parent is required to pay child support to another child or children, subtract the amount of that court-ordered support;

Finally, if the non-custodial parent has other children (which he/she is the parent of) living with him, then the court may subtract an amount that it deems appropriate to account for the needs of said child or children.

Once these deductions are made, this figure is the annual adjusted gross income. This amount is then divided by 12 to obtain the monthly amount of adjusted gross income. You then multiply this figure by the appropriate percentage in the table above (e.g., 1 child, 14%) to determine the amount of monthly child support.

So you might be asking, if my adjusted annual gross income is more than $50,000.00 or less than $5,000.00, what does the court do? In that instance, the chancellor then must make a written finding as to whether or not these percentages are reasonable and should be applied. This is a factual determination made by the chancellor after hearing the evidence.

The chancellor is also required by law to ensure the children’s reasonable medical expenses are paid. Usually, one spouse will have the children on their health care policy and the other spouse will be required to pay all or a portion of the premium. Additionally, medical expenses not covered by health insurance will be paid by the parents. Child support may also include life insurance and, in some instances, paying for the college expenses of the children.

While the statutory guidelines give you a general idea as to the amount of child support owed, each case will differ depending on the needs of the children, the financial ability of the parents, and the specific facts of each case. In my next post, I will talk about situations when the chancellor might deviate from these statutory guidelines. If you have questions about child support, you should discuss your specific case with an attorney.