This website does not give legal advice. Our calculators produce estimates under each state’s published child support guideline. Only a court (or, in some states, the child support agency) sets an actual child support order.
No attorney–client relationship
Using this website, its calculators or its contact address does not create an attorney–client relationship with anyone. We are not a law firm, we do not employ lawyers to answer questions, and we cannot review your case. Do not send us confidential information about a case.
What an estimate can and cannot tell you
- It follows the published formula. Each state calculator implements that state’s statute, court rule or administrative rule and its official schedule or percentage table. The page for each state names the rule and links to it.
- It depends on your inputs. Income has a legal definition in every state. What counts as income, which deductions apply and how overnights are counted can change the result a lot.
- Courts can deviate. Every state lets the court order a different amount when applying the guideline would be unjust or inappropriate in a particular case, with written findings. A calculator cannot predict that decision.
- Rules change. States review their guidelines at least every four years, and some update figures every year. Each page shows the version it uses and the date we last checked it.
How we build and check the calculators
- We read the state’s current statute or rule on the legislature’s or court’s own website, and download the official schedule from the state agency or court.
- We code each state’s formula as a separate, small program and test it against the worked examples the state itself publishes. Where a state publishes no example, we check hand-worked cases taken line by line from the official worksheet.
- Where a state’s method cannot be reproduced faithfully (for example, because it depends on tax tables or software the state does not publish), we say so and send you to the state’s own calculator instead of guessing.
Use the official tools
Every state page links to that state’s official child support calculator or worksheet and to its child support agency. For an order in your case, contact your state’s child support agency, a family law self-help center at your local court, or a licensed attorney in your state.
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