The Supreme Court of Georgia recently made an interesting, if not surprising, ruling, denying a parenting time deviation in a joint custody case. Willis v. Willis, S10F1357 (January 24,2010). In that divorce case, the parties were awarded joint legal and physical custody of their only child, with physical custody alternating weekly. Id. The trial court designated the husband as the non-custodial parent "[s]olely for purposes of calculating child support." Id. After considering the parties' incomes and the wife's payment of the child's health insurance premiums, the court ordered the husband "to pay monthly child support of $961 to Wife and to divide evenly with Wife the child's uninsured health-care expenses." Id. at 2.
The husband appealed, claiming, "the trial court abused its discretion and unjustly enriched Wife" when it did not give him a parenting time deviation given the joint physical custody. Id. The Supreme Court of Georgia agreed with the trial court that in order to grant a deviation, the trial court "must find that the application of the presumptive amount of child support would be unjust or inappropriate and that the best interest of the child for whom support is being determined will be served by deviation from the presumptive amount of child support." Id. at 4, OCGA19-6-15(c)(2)(E)(iii). The Court found no abuse of discretion in the trial court's holding that the presumptive amount of child support was not excessive or inadequate, nor did it unjustly enrich the wife, and that a downward deviation would not be in the best interests of the child. Id. at 4.
This case shows that a parenting time deviation is not presumed just because of a shared custody arrangement. There are certain findings necessary for the court to grant this deviation and,without those findings, the deviation will not be granted. This case might ultimately make it a little more difficult for a parent to get a parenting time deviation, but it is not impossible as long as you present the proper evidence to the court - the presumptive amount of child support is unjust or inappropriate, and the child's best interest will be served by the deviation.