Will Lying On An Affidavit Affect The Child Support Amount?

Question:

My wife recently remarried and we are going through a child support modification.

She lied about several things on the financial affidavit, saying she covers all the rent, utilities, insurance and groceries for her household even though her new husband also works.

Since this is a sworn statement, how can she claim to have all the expenses? What if her bank statements don’t support her claims?

Answer:

While I am not licensed to practice law in your state, I can give some general guidance on this issue.

While knowingly swearing to anything false in an affidavit is always serious, the specific impact it may or may not have on your case will depend on the specific states laws pertaining to child support, your court rules, and procedures for holding a party in contempt.

These laws and rules vary greatly from state to state so I strongly encourage you to schedule an appointment with a local Cordell & Cordell attorney who can best address your specific situation. The rest of this answer should be considered a general overview based on my experience as a Georgia licensed attorney and based on Georgia law and procedure.

Georgia’s child support guidelines are designed to have the total child support obligation divided between the parties on a pro rata basis, by requiring a series of calculations to determine a presumptive amount of child support.

In short, Georgia combines the income of both parents, creates a total child support obligation (based on a table created by the Georgia Legislature to determine what the amount of money a family at that income would spend on children), and then that total amount is then divided between both parents depending how what percentage each contributes to that joint income.

Georgia then divides certain specific expenses listed in statute such as health insurance and daycare and well as some optional costs/deviation such as special visitation costs, ongoing extraordinary medical care, and private school tuition.

My point in explaining how the calculation works is to show that it does not consider a lot of the expenses listed on a normal financial affidavit such as mortgage payments, rent, utility payments,  groceries, and so on. Therefore, even if she is lying in the affidavit, it will likely have little impact on the calculation of child support itself.

However, that fact that she is lying in a sworn affidavit goes to her credibility and a party’s credibility is always relevant. I suggest working with your attorney to secure bank statements, invoices, and other proof that she is not actually paying what she claims to pay. That can then be used during court to impeach her testimony, or rather her sworn statement.

To arrange an initial consultation to discuss divorce rights for men with a Cordell & Cordell attorney, including Georgia divorce lawyer Adam Sutton, contact Cordell & Cordell.