Child support and guidelines

Can parents (or persons having child's custody) agree on paying lower child support than the Utah guidelines require?  The answer is yes, they can providing they draft specific findings that complying with guidelines will be unjust, inappropriate or not in the best interests of a minor child.  If there is no agreement between the parents, the party wishing to have such a finding needs to schedule a hearing before the Commissioner or a judge and be able to present evidence that his or her situation falls within one of the categories outlined above.  In general, courts do not like downward deviation in child support. Deviation is considered to be a downward deviation any time a payor will be paying child support that differs from the amount required by the guidelines by $10.