42 U.S.C. § 667 — State guidelines for child support awards

(a) The State must establish guidelines for child-support award amounts as a condition of approval of its State plan under this part. The State may establish them by statute, court action, or administrative action. It must review them at least once every 4 years to make sure applying them produces appropriate award amounts. (b)(1) The State must make the guidelines available to every judge and other official in the State who can decide child-support awards. (2) In any court or administrative proceeding about a child-support award, the amount produced by applying the guidelines is presumed to be the correct amount. The presumption can be overcome if, under State standards, the decision-maker makes a written finding or a specific finding on the record that applying the guidelines would be unjust or inappropriate in that case. (c) The Secretary must give States technical help in establishing guidelines. Each State must give the Secretary copies of its guidelines.