How do judges decide how much child support to order?

Judges use the Child Support Guidelines Worksheet to figure out how much child support to order.

To complete a Worksheet you and the judge need to know:

• The number and ages of children covered by the order,
• Each parent’s income, and
• Certain expenses of each parent.

On the Worksheet each parent puts their:

• “gross weekly income,”
• child care payments,
• health care coverage payments,
• dental and vision insurance payments,
• other child support payments, and
• The number of children the child support order will cover.

The Worksheet allows parents and the judge to do the math the Guidelines describe.

The Worksheet calculates the amount of income each parent has for supporting your children and a basic amount of child support.

The Worksheet adjusts the basic amount so that:

• If the Recipient is paying a larger share of child and health care, the Worksheet gives them a credit and raises the child support amount
• If the Payor is paying a larger share of child and health care, the Worksheet gives them a credit and lowers the child support amount
• The credit is no more than 15% of the basic child support amount. The Worksheet calls the basic child support amount “Payor’s share of support.”

To fill out the Worksheet you need to have income and expense information for both parents. Use the other parent’s Financial Statement if you have it. If you do not know the other parent’s information, put in what you think it is.

On the Worksheet, the parent who receives the child support is called the “Recipient,” and the parent who pays the child support is called the “Payor.”

The minimum child support order is $25 per week.

You can get the Child Support Guidelines Worksheet from the Probate and Family Court website. Save the form to your computer first and then open.