Opinion ID: 1127049
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the lower court's award dealing with child support was clearly excessive under the circumstances.

Text: Guidelines for determining the proper amount of child support a parent must pay are set out in Miss. Code Ann. § 43-19-101. This law must be considered for what it is, a set of guidelines and not absolute rules. Thurman v. Thurman, 559 So.2d 1014 (Miss. 1990), states, [t]he guidelines for child support awards as now set out in Miss. Code Ann. § 43-19-101 (Supp. 1989) must not control the Chancellor's award of child support.... Rather, this shall be done by a chancellor who hears all the facts, views the witnesses, and is informed at trial of the circumstances of the parties and particularly the circumstances of the children. Id., at 1017. The chancellor here followed the guidelines to the letter and awarded the 14% of adjusted gross income that the statute suggests is appropriate for the support of a single child. Miss. Code Ann. § 43-19-101 When one considers the circumstances of the case at bar, especially the fact that Sheila's income at the time of trial was almost triple that of David's, it becomes apparent that the chancellor's use of the guidelines was appropriate and did not constitute manifest error. Sheila simply did not put forth enough evidence to overcome the rebuttable presumption of appropriateness that the statute creates. The chancellor's decision as to this particular issue should therefore be affirmed.