CAN A COURT DEVIATE FROM CHILD SUPPORT GUIDELINES?
The child support guidelines create a rebuttable presumption regarding the amount of support paid. That means that they are used to determine child support unless sufficient factual information exists to rebut the fairness of the amount. Under current Minnesota law, it is very difficult to convince a court or a magistrate to deviate from these guidelines. • Deviating Upward. As you will note, the child support guidelines have a cap at $5000 net income per month. If an obligor earns in excess of $5000 per month net, their child support is generally calculated based on $5000 net per month. I use the terms generally calculated because child support guidelines may be exceeded if you demonstrate to the court a very high standard of living. Case law states that the child is entitled to the same standard of living had the marriage continued. In many cases our attorneys have convinced the court to ignore the cap on child support guidelines and to calculate child support based on the top percen
