Halim v. El-Alayli (Tennessee 2017)

A parent who requests more than the capped amount of child support must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the upward deviation is reasonably necessary to support the children. In this modification action, the mother requested child support plus additional amounts for the caretaker for a special needs child, camp, food, utilities, vacation, housing, and cheerleading expenses. The court awarded her the maximum amount of support for two children, plus money for the caretaker. The court noted that the child support guidelines factored in the other items for which mother requested additional money and that she had not shown the requests to be reasonably necessary.