Contractual Changes to Child Support

The Mississippi Court of Appeals decided Campbell vs. Campbell today located here.  The general facts were that the father was extremely high income and the parties signed a property settlement agreement that had a per child support order. (i.e. $1,250.00 per child).   The Father was also paying way below the child support guidelines.  The Court of Appeals reversed the chancellor raising the child support to the guideline amounts as the parties had contemplated emancipation of the children on a per child basis.  As such, the trial court could not modify the support to increase it since the emancipating was contemplated by the agreement.  My reading of this case also is that the parties can agree to pay less than the statutory amounts of child support as part of a package divorce deal. 

The child support provision is as follows:    "The Husband agrees to pay to the Wife as child support the sum of $1,250 per month per child, beginning June 1, 2010 and continuing on the first day of each month thereafter until said children attain the age of 21, marry, join the armed services or are otherwise fully emancipated according to law, whichever occurs first. The parties acknowledge and agree that the Husband's current monthly gross income is $66,666.67."

Save the Date

I'll be speaking at a CLE next month on Advanced Trial Techniques on July 27, 2018 in Southaven.  A link to the information is here.