How to Fill Out and File the Georgia Child Support Worksheet

The Georgia child support worksheet is completed through the Georgia Child Support Commission’s free online calculator at csconlinecalc.georgiacourts.gov, which walks you through each parent’s income and expenses and produces a printable worksheet plus supporting schedules ready to file with the Superior Court in your county.¹ The worksheet is required in every case that sets child support — divorce, paternity, custody modification, or a standalone support action — and the number it generates is the presumptive amount the judge will order unless one side shows a reason to deviate.

What to Pull Together Before You Start

The calculator asks for real financial numbers, so gather documents first. Georgia’s statute, O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15, defines gross income broadly: salaries, commissions, bonuses, overtime, self-employment income, retirement and pension payments, interest, dividends, capital gains, Social Security disability, workers’ compensation, unemployment, prizes, lottery winnings, and cash gifts all count.² If money reaches you from any source, it probably belongs on the worksheet.

To back up those figures, collect recent pay stubs, W-2s, and the last two years of federal tax returns. A self-employed parent needs records of gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary business expenses. Beyond income, you’ll want:

The monthly cost of health insurance for the children specifically, not the full family premium. Your employer’s benefits summary or your insurer can break this out.
Work-related childcare costs: daycare receipts, after-school programs, or summer care you pay so you can work or attend school.
Any preexisting child support order for children from another relationship, plus proof of consistent payment.
The court-ordered parenting time schedule, or the proposed one. As of January 1, 2026, Georgia’s guidelines include a parenting time adjustment that directly affects the calculation.³

Getting Into the Online Calculator

Go to csconlinecalc.georgiacourts.gov and click “Signup” to create a free account. You do not need to be an attorney to use it.⁴ Once logged in, open the “Worksheet” dropdown and choose “Create” to start a new worksheet and folder. The Commission publishes a user guide on the same site that walks through every field.¹

At a minimum, the calculator needs two things to produce a presumptive support amount: each parent’s monthly gross income and the number of children in the case.¹ In practice you’ll enter more, because the supporting schedules handle insurance, childcare, other children, and any deviation.

Working Through the Schedules

Schedule A: Gross Income

Enter each parent’s monthly gross income before any deductions for taxes or retirement — the statute wants the gross figure, and the calculator handles adjustments later. Self-employed parents enter gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary business expenses; the calculator applies the self-employment tax adjustment where it applies.

One issue that comes up often: a parent who isn’t working or is earning much less than they could. Georgia law lets the court impute income to a parent found to be voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, looking at past employment, education, training, health, and whether the parent owns expensive assets that don’t match the claimed income.² Incarceration is explicitly excluded: a parent in jail is not treated as voluntarily unemployed.

Schedule B: Adjustments for Other Children

Schedule B reduces a parent’s gross income in two situations. If a parent is already paying child support under a prior court order for children from another relationship, the amount consistently paid over the last twelve months (if the order has been in place that long) is subtracted from gross income. If a parent supports other biological or adopted children living in the home who aren’t covered by any support order, the court may allow an income reduction for them as well. Both adjustments happen before the combined income runs through the obligation table.

The Basic Child Support Obligation Table

After Schedules A and B, the calculator adds both parents’ adjusted gross incomes together and looks the total up in the Basic Child Support Obligation table built into Georgia law. The table starts at $800 in combined monthly income and scales upward, with columns for one through six children. Two parents with $1,000 in combined monthly adjusted income and one child would see a base obligation of $211.⁵ Combined income above $40,000 per month puts the case into high-income territory; the court sets the base at the table’s top figure and may order more.⁶

The calculator splits that base obligation between the parents in proportion to their share of combined income. A parent earning 60% of the total is responsible for 60% of the base.

Schedule D: Health Insurance and Childcare

Schedule D captures two specific expenses: health insurance premiums for the children and work-related childcare costs.⁷ Those amounts are added together, divided between the parents on the same income percentage used for the base obligation, and credited to whichever parent actually pays the bill. If you pay $300 a month for the children’s health insurance, that payment shows up as a credit against your share. Enter only the portion of the premium attributable to the children, not your own coverage.

Parenting Time Adjustment

Effective January 1, 2026, Georgia’s guidelines include a parenting time adjustment that reduces the noncustodial parent’s obligation to reflect what that parent spends during court-ordered time with the child. The base obligation table assumes the custodial parent pays all the child’s expenses, which doesn’t match reality when the noncustodial parent has substantial time.³

The adjustment runs on a formula tied to the number of court-ordered days with each parent. When the custodial parent earns more and the noncustodial parent has substantial time, the adjustment can reduce that parent’s share of the base obligation to zero or even shift money the other way. Only court-ordered parenting time counts; informal arrangements outside a court order do not.³

Schedule E: Deviations From the Presumptive Amount

The figure the calculator produces after the schedules above is the presumptive amount. Schedule E is where either parent asks the court to go higher or lower.⁸ A deviation requires written findings: why the standard number is unjust or inappropriate, what that presumptive number was, and how the deviation serves the child’s best interest.⁶ Recognized categories include:

High income above the $40,000 combined monthly ceiling.
Low income causing extreme economic hardship for the noncustodial parent. A downward deviation cannot drop the obligation below $100 per month for one child, plus $50 for each additional child in the case. A parent whose only income is Supplemental Security Income is treated as having no earning capacity.²
Extraordinary medical expenses for a child with serious health needs.
Extraordinary educational expenses, such as private school tuition or special education costs.
Travel costs for parenting time when parents live far apart.
Life insurance premiums for a policy required for the child’s benefit.
Dental or vision insurance available at reasonable cost.

A downward deviation is not permitted if it would seriously impair the custodial parent’s ability to provide basic housing, food, and clothing for the child.⁶

Printing, Signing, and Filing

When every schedule is filled in, the calculator generates the full package: a summary page and all supporting schedules. Print the entire package. The court needs every page, not just the summary.⁹ Both parents (or their attorneys) typically sign the worksheet to confirm the figures are accurate. File the signed document with the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where your case is pending.

Most Georgia counties accept electronic filing for domestic relations cases through PeachCourt or Odyssey eFileGA. Upload the worksheet as a PDF. Filing fees for the underlying case (not the worksheet by itself) run roughly $218 for a general civil action and around $223 for a divorce, though the exact amount varies by county.¹⁰ A modification usually costs less than a new case. The e-filing system sends a timestamped confirmation once the document and fee go through.

A judge reviews the worksheet, either at a hearing or as part of a settlement conference, checking that the entries reflect both parents’ finances and that the result fits the child’s best interest. Once approved, the numbers go into the final child support order or divorce decree and become legally binding.

Changing the Worksheet Later

Financial circumstances shift, and so can the worksheet. To modify an existing Georgia child support order, file a Petition for Modification in the same court that entered the original order, even if you have since moved to another county. You’ll need to show a substantial change in circumstances since the last order.

File the petition with an updated financial affidavit, documentation of the change (a termination letter, medical records, a new custody order), and a copy of the current order. The other parent must be formally served and has 30 days to respond. Many counties require mediation before setting a hearing; if mediation doesn’t resolve things, a judge hears evidence and decides.

Two things to keep in mind. A modification applies only to future payments, not to arrears that have already built up. And even when both parents agree on a new number, the change is not valid until a judge signs a new order. An informal side deal to pay less leaves the original obligation in place, and the difference accrues as enforceable arrears.

1
Georgia Child Support Commission. Georgia Child Support Calculator
2
Justia. Georgia Code 19-6-15 – Child Support Guidelines for Determining Amount of Award
3
Justia. Georgia Code 19-6-15 – Child Support Guidelines (Effective 1/1/2026)
4
Georgia Child Support Commission. Georgia Child Support Commission
5
Georgia Child Support Commission. Basic Child Support Obligation Table
6
Official Code of Georgia Annotated. Georgia Code 19-6-15 – Child Support Guidelines
7
Georgia Child Support Commission. FAQs
8
Georgia Child Support Commission. Schedule E
9
Judicial Council of Georgia. Child Support Calculator
10
Fulton County Superior Court. Review Fee Schedule