Each state has its own rules for calculating child support. You need to make sure you (or your team) understand how your state handles these calculations to know how the final amount is determined.
Child support refresher
Two common models used by states to calculate child support are:
- The Income Shares Model: This model considers the combined income of both parents to estimate the amount of support needed to maintain the child’s standard of living. The goal is to ensure the child gets the same amount of financial support they would have received if the parents were living together.
- The Percentage of Income Model: This model bases the amount of child support on a percentage of the non-custodial parent’s income. The percentage varies depending on how many children are involved. This model has two variations: the Flat Percentage Model and the Varying Percentage Model.
Income Shares Model States
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming, Guam, Virgin Islands.
Percentage of Income States
Flat Percentage Model: Alaska, Mississippi, Nevada and Wisconsin
Varying Percentage Model: North Dakota and Texas
✭ The District of Columbia uses a hybrid model that starts as a varying percentage of income model and is then reduced by a formula based on the custodial parent’s income.
All data from The National Conference of State Legislatures