Opinion ID: 1784137
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Material Change?

Text: Donnie filed his motion to modify the prior divorce decree on March 28, 1990. He requested that the court decrease his monthly child support payments because a material and substantial change in circumstances arose subsequent to the entry of the decree to be modified. In order to justify changing or modifying the divorce decree there must have been a material or substantial change in the circumstances of one or more of the interested parties: the father, the mother, and the child or children, arising subsequent to the entry of the decree to be modified. Lawrence, 574 So.2d at 1380; Morris, 541 So.2d at 1042-43; Tedford v. Dempsey, 437 So.2d 410, 417 (Miss. 1983). Donnie argues that the enactment of the child support award guidelines in Miss. Code Ann. § 43-19-101 (Supp. 1990) is the material change in circumstances that warrants a modification of the decree. This statute provides that child support payments for two children should be twenty percent (20%) of the adjusted gross income of the parent ordered to pay child support. Donnie's child support payments were more than twenty percent of his adjusted gross income. In Thurman v. Thurman, 559 So.2d 1014, 1017 (Miss. 1990), the chancellor relied on federal child support guidelines in determining modified child support payments, which are codified at Miss. Code Ann. § 43-19-101 (Supp. 1990). In finding his actions in error, we stated that the chancellor assumed that [he was] bound to follow the Child Support Award Guidelines when he is not so bound and further because it assumes a material change in circumstances related to the guideline amounts without sufficient proof of such a material change. Id. at 1018. The Court further commented: Certainly the guidelines are relevant and may be considered by a chancellor as an aid, but the guidelines may not determine the specific need or the specific support required[;] this is to be done by a chancellor at a time real, on a scene certain, and with a knowledge special to the actual circumstances and to the individual child or children. Id. See also Jellenc v. Jellenc, 567 So.2d 847, 848 (Miss. 1990). There was no error in the chancellor's findings that no material change in circumstances justifying modification.