Increasing or Reducing Child Support: what to do under Georgian law

What to do

1. Grounds: where the financial or family situation of parents paying child support as a fixed sum changes, the court may, at the request of an interested party, reduce or increase the amount (CC, Art. 1221); the payer may sue to reduce the amount the court has set (CC, Art. 1221). For adult children unable to work, the amount may likewise be changed by claim when the situation of the parents or of the children changes (CC, Art. 1222). What must be proven is the CHANGE since the previous decision: income, health, new dependants, the child's expenses.
2. Timing: support is awarded only for the future, from the date the claim is filed (CC, Art. 1234), so file as soon as the situation changes; until the decision, the previous amount applies.
3. For the payer: loss of a job by itself does not change the amount; the debt can be released or reduced only by court decision, for example for illness or another valid reason (CC, Art. 1237). A new child is a ground for review, not for refusal: parents must maintain all their minor children (CC, Art. 1212).
4. For the recipient: growth in the payer's income, the child growing older, treatment, education. The court sets the new amount by the same criteria: reasonably and fairly, according to the actual situation of the parents and the child (CC, Art. 1214).
5. Procedure: as a general rule the claim is filed at the defendant's place of residence (CPC, Art. 15); for the recipient's claim, a claim for child support may be filed at the plaintiff's place of residence (CPC, Art. 19). Costs: plaintiffs in child support claims are exempt from court costs (CPC, Art. 46); the payer pays a state fee of 3% of the claim value, but not less than 100 lari (CPC, Art. 39), the value of a child support claim being the total payments for one year (CPC, Art. 41). Mediation: the court may refer a family dispute to judicial mediation (CPC, Art. 187³); the court approves a settlement.
6. Where to apply: district (city) court; a mediator, if the court refers the dispute to mediation.
7. Evidence: the previous court decision or agreement; income and dismissal certificates; medical documents; the birth certificate of a new child; receipts and contracts for the child's education or treatment.
8. Traps: stopping payments or paying less “by agreement” without a decision means the debt accumulates; waiting before filing means no increase can be recovered for the past period; citing rising prices without evidence of the child's needs and the payer's income.

Be sure to check

• grounds for change: a change in the financial or family situation after the previous decision, on a claim by an interested party
• the new amount applies to the future from filing; the previous amount applies until the decision; only the court can reduce a debt
• evidence of change (income, new children, health, the child's expenses)
• jurisdiction and court costs (recipient exempt, payer pays the state fee)