Life Insurance

In Georgia, one discretionary or non-mandatory deviation that is applicable to several cases is the Life Insurance Deviation. Although this deviation may be applicable to several cases, this deviation is not as commonly used at some other non-mandatory deviations. The Life Insurance Deviation may be taken by either parent if he or she purchases life insurance on his or her life and/or the life of the other parent for the benefit of the minor child or children on whose behalf the child support is being paid. O.C.G.A. §19-6-15(i)(2)(D). Many Marital Dissolution Agreements and Final Decrees of Divorce often require the parent obligated to pay child support to also maintain life insurance on his or her life in order to fulfill the child support obligation in the event of their death. Thus, this deviation is often available to many non-custodial parents.

As with the other discretionary deviations that may be made to presumptive child support amounts in Georgia, the Life Insurance deviation can be found in Schedule E of Georgia's Child Support Worksheet. Below is a graphic excerpt from the child support worksheet which shows exactly where the line on which the Life Insurance deviation may be found.

To take advantage of the Life Insurance deviation the parent seeking the deviation must either place a positive or negative amount in the appropriate field on line 4. Any amount entered into line 4 will directly deviate the presumptive child support amount, thus it is important to be as accurate as possible when utilizing this deviation. For example:

Father is non-custodial parent and Mother is custodial parent. The presumptive amount of child support that Father must pay, based on each parent's income, is $610.00. If Father pays $10 per month in Life insurance premiums, -10.00 should be placed in the field located on line 4 in the Father's column, as is depicted in the graphic above. Once entered, this deviation will directly reduce Father's monthly child support amount from $610.00 to $600.00 per month.