The 1976 divorce decree between these parties awarded custody of the couple's 4 minor children to the mother and awarded her alimony and $440 per month in lump sum child support. The decree incorporated an agreement which provided that monthly child support be reduced $100 as each of the first 3 children reached age 18, with cessation of the remaining $140 when the 4th child reached age 18. There was no provision for reduction in the event of emancipation or death prior to reaching age 18. The father filed a complaint for modification of the alimony award asserting a substantial change in the financial status of the parties. He also petitioned for a change in the custody of the parties' fourteen-year-old son who had, since the original decree, elected to live with the father. By amendment to his complaint, the father asserted that since his seventeen-year-old daughter had married and become fully emancipated and since his fourteen-year-old son was now living with the father, he was entitled to a $200 per month reduction in his child support obligation as provided in the decree even though neither child had reached age eighteen. The trial court found that although the two children were no longer in the mother's custody and were not supported by her, the father's lump sum obligation could not be reduced on a per capita basis because the child support was payable for the children as a group. The effect was to deny that prayer of the complaint seeking downward modification of child support. We granted an interlocutory appeal. However, this does not preclude the father from seeking modification of the child support award based on a change in his income or financial status. Code Ann. 30-220; Schneider v. Spivey, 240 Ga. 468 (241 SE2d 224) (1978). See Bailey v. Bailey, 242 Ga. 289 (1978) (concurring opinion). In the instant case the trial court found as a fact that the son's selection of the father as the custodial parent increased the father's expenses. This factor may be considered in a claim for modification based upon a change in the father's financial situation. Code Ann. 30-220. On the other hand, a change in the father's income or financial status does not mandate a revision in child support; the statute merely permits such revision. Culberson v. Culberson, 237 Ga. 269 (227 SE2d 265) (1976); Barker v. Barker, 233 Ga. 170 (210 SE2d 705) (1974). In sum, the father may be entitled to modification of child support based on changed financial conditions but he is not entitled as a matter of right to the per capita reduction he sought. Accordingly, this case is remanded for further proceedings. Irwin M. Levine, for appellee. | 
