How to Calculate your Child Support Payments

 Standard Child Support in Texas Guidelines. 

BASED ON THE MONTHLY NET RESOURCES OF THE OBLIGOR. 

1 child     =     20% of Obligor's Net Resources

2 children =   25% of Obligor's Net Resources

3 children =   30% of Obligor's Net Resources

4 children =   35% of Obligor's Net Resources

5 children  =  40% of Obligor's Net Resources

6+ children  =  Not less than the amount for 5 children

When does Child support End in Texas? 

Support for a child will continue until the child is 18 years of age or until graduation from high school, whichever occurs later; 

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 Office of the Attorney General’s Child Support Division 

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• First, the courts will consider all wages, salaries, commissions, military pay, tips, overtime, and bonuses are all considered income for child support purposes. 
• When a parent is unemployed, they still have income in the form of severance, retirement, unemployment benefits, and/or Social Security and Workers' Compensation. 
• Gifts, prizes, and alimony are also included in income. 
• If a parent receives income from a rental property, include the net rental income. 

After calculating gross income, they deduct the following: 

• Social Security taxes or any mandatory retirement plan contributions
• Federal income tax (based on the tax rate for a single person claiming one exemption)
• Union dues
• Health insurance premiums and other medical expenses (Dental) for the child(ren) if the court ordered the responsible parent to pay these expenses.

The resulting figure is the parent's annual net income. Divide the net income by 12 to establish monthly net income. For a complete list of what to include and what to leave out, see Texas Family Code Section 154.062 (2020).

A change in the amount of child support is often possible based on economic factors. The Texas child support guidelines provide a fairly easy way to calculate how much someone should pay per month. A court can change child support in the following situation: 

• The existing child support order is at least three years old. 
• The amount that the obligor would have to pay under a new order based on the guidelines would differ from the current amount by at least 20% or $100. 
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For example, suppose an obligor must pay $400 per month under the current order. The amount followed the child support guidelines at the time the court made the order. After three years, though, the obligor’s income has gone up enough that the guideline amount would be $500. The court could change the child support amount based on this. It could also change the amount of the obligor’s income decreased by a certain amount. 

This method of changing child support is not available to everyone. If two parents agreed on a child support amount that is different from what the guidelines say, they cannot change the amount based on the three-year rule. They will have to show that a material and substantial change in circumstances has occurred. 

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