By Leslie O’Neal
Marc Anthony is going to have to start churning out more hits in order to keep up with the recent child support obligation he was ordered to pay. Dayanara Torres, Anthony’s first wife and the mother of his two oldest children, filed a child support modification action in November of 2013 seeking an increase in Anthony’s monthly child support payments. According to TMZ, Torres claimed she was living a meager lifestyle with the $13,000/month that Anthony was previously paying for their two children. The two faced off in Los Angeles County Superior Court last month, and the Court granted her request. The Order noted that Anthony earned more than $600,000 per month in 2014 and therefore, the Court increased his child support obligation to Torres to $26,000 per month.
Thankfully for Anthony, Jennifer Lopez was much more generous on the issue! Coincidentally, Anthony and Lopez just finalized the details associated with their 3 year divorce case last month as well. Despite the fact that Lopez will have custody of the couple’s two minor children the majority of the time, Lopez agreed that child support was not necessary.
These types of unusual child support obligations are not seen very often in Georgia, as Georgia’s child support laws were revised in 2007 to create strict guidelines for the calculation of the noncustodial parent’s obligation to support the minor child. The new guidelines use a “calculator” called a Child Support Worksheet to generate the monthly child support obligation based on the incomes of both parents and the monthly costs associated with the children’s basic needs such as health insurance premiums and work related childcare expenses. These numbers are imputed into the Child Support Worksheet and result in a presumptive child support number that the Court is required to adopt. The only way for the Court to deviate from the presumptive child support number is if the Court specifically finds that the presumptive child support amount is not in the child’s best interest, explains the reasons for deviating from that presumptive amount, and explains how the best interests of the child would be served by deviating from the presumptive amount required by the Child Support Worksheet.
Likewise, Georgia does not allow for one parent to be completely let off the hook regarding child support as Anthony appears to be in his divorce with J.Lo. Georgia Appellate Courts have repeatedly determined that child support waiver provisions in divorce decrees are void, noting that one parent cannot contract away the right of a child to be supported by the other parent. O.C.G.A. 19-7-2. The State of California doesn’t appear to be as strict, which is lucky for Marc Anthony. He’s going to need all the help he can get to keep up with the demands of Torres’ lifestyle!