Child support · LA
Louisiana child support calculator
The 2025 Louisiana schedule of La. R.S. 9:315.19, the shared custody rule of 9:315.9 and the floor above the table, applied to your incomes.
Rules read on official Louisiana pages on · Checked by Radif Partners · How we calculate
- Model
- Income shares
- Income counted
- Adjusted gross
- Shared parenting
- No fixed formula
- 1 child, $5,000 / $3,000
- $756
- a month, rules of January 1, 2025
A Louisiana parent with $7,000 of adjusted monthly gross income and a co-parent at $3,000 owes about $1,721 a month for three children under the guidelines of La. R.S. 9:315 and following. The figure starts from the schedule that the legislature enacted in Act 86 of 2024 and that applies from January 1, 2025: it gives $2,458 for three children at a combined $10,000, and the paying parent's share follows his or her 70% of income. The new schedule climbs to $50,000 of combined monthly income, and amounts between two of its $50 lines are extrapolated rather than rounded. Above the last line the judge has discretion but may never order less than the top figure. Shared custody, meaning roughly equal time, multiplies the basic obligation by 1.5 and nets the two parents' amounts; with 182 overnights for the paying parent the order here drops to $742.
Guideline child support in Louisiana, per month
$756
$9,075 a year
| Combined adjusted monthly gross income | $8,000 |
| Basic obligation, extrapolated between schedule rows, 1 child | $1,210 |
| Paying parent’s share of combined income | 62.5% |
Estimate under the Louisiana guideline as published, from the incomes you enter. Deviations, imputed income, other children and the judge's findings can change the order. How this is calculated.
A schedule written into Title 9
Louisiana keeps its schedule inside the Revised Statutes, in section 9:315.19, and changes it by act of the legislature. The current table came with Act 86 of the 2024 regular session and took effect on January 1, 2025. It opens at $1,050 ($43 for one child) and closes at $50,000. The columns for two to six children carry the word TOTAL: each figure is the obligation for all the children together, not per child. The legislature's own web page repeats a block of rows in the upper range; the duplicates are identical and do not change any amount.
Where most tables are read on the nearest line, R.S. 9:315.13(B) asks for an extrapolation between the two amounts. For one child at $6,075, halfway between the $6,050 and $6,100 lines ($1,057 and $1,061), the basic obligation is $1,059. Below $1,050, the court sets support from actual earnings and the ability to pay, and a parent with no proof of income is presumed able to earn 32 hours a week at minimum wage (R.S. 9:315.11).
Above $50,000: the top line is a floor
Many states let the judge go lower or higher once income passes the table. Louisiana only lets the judge go higher. Section 9:315.13(C) refers the court to the child's best interest and Civil Code article 141 but says the amount may never be less than the highest figure in the schedule, and allows part of it to go into a spendthrift trust for education or medical care. Parents with $45,000 and $15,000 a month and two children start from $5,563, the top figure, and the payer's share of it is $4,172; the calculator shows that floor.
Shared custody and joint custody are not the same
Under R.S. 9:315.9, shared custody means each parent has physical custody for an approximately equal amount of time. The statute gives no number of days, so the calculator applies Worksheet B from 165 overnights a year, our own convention. Worksheet B multiplies the basic obligation by 1.5, splits it by income, multiplies each parent's part by the share of time the children spend with the other parent, and nets the two. The result can never exceed what the payer would owe as a non-domiciliary parent. Ordinary joint custody is handled by R.S. 9:315.8(E) instead: past 73 days the court may grant a credit, but how much is left to its judgment, so the calculator does not deduct it.
| Overnights with the paying parent | Monthly support, three children |
|---|---|
| 0 | $1,720.60 |
| 100 | $1,720.60 |
| 164 | $1,720.60 |
| 165 | $914.17 |
| 182 | $742.45 |
Next door, Texas uses a percentage of net resources and Mississippi a percentage of the payer's adjusted income, so a family moving across the Sabine or the Pearl River can see a very different figure.
The Louisiana guideline this calculator applies
| Rule | Louisiana |
|---|---|
| Model | Income shares, combined adjusted monthly gross income schedule (La. R.S. 9:315.19) |
| Income counted | Adjusted gross income: gross income minus the deductions the guideline allows. |
| Official schedule | $1,050 to $50,000 of combined income a month, 980 rows |
| Shared parenting | No overnight formula in the calculator (see the rule below) |
| In force since | January 1, 2025 |
Monthly support for one paying parent, the other parent without income
| Paying parent’s monthly income | 1 child | 2 children | 3 children | 4 children |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2,000 | $402 | $617 | $735 | $750 |
| $3,000 | $582 | $894 | $1,089 | $1,217 |
| $4,000 | $761 | $1,167 | $1,421 | $1,587 |
| $5,000 | $933 | $1,426 | $1,730 | $1,933 |
| $6,000 | $1,054 | $1,609 | $1,951 | $2,179 |
| $8,000 | $1,210 | $1,845 | $2,234 | $2,495 |
| $10,000 | $1,362 | $2,053 | $2,458 | $2,746 |
| $12,500 | $1,572 | $2,374 | $2,847 | $3,180 |
| $15,000 | $1,767 | $2,636 | $3,121 | $3,486 |
| $20,000 | $2,125 | $3,149 | $3,702 | $4,135 |
How the amount is set. If combined adjusted gross income falls between two amounts shown in the schedule, the basic child support obligation is based on an extrapolation between the two amounts (La. R.S. 9:315.13(B)). source
Income. Gross income from any source (salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, dividends, severance, pensions, interest, trust income, recurring monetary gifts, annuities, capital gains, Social Security, workers' compensation, military housing and subsistence allowances, unemployment, disability insurance, spousal support received under a preexisting order), significant expense reimbursements or in-kind payments, and self-employment receipts minus ordinary and necessary expenses (La. R.S. 9:315(C)(3)). Adjusted gross income deducts preexisting child or spousal support owed to a non-party and, at the court's discretion, amounts paid for a party's other minor child (La. R.S. 9:315(C)(1)).
Above the table. Above the highest level ($50,000) the court uses its discretion in the child's best interest and the parents' circumstances (Civil Code art. 141), but the basic obligation may never be less than the highest amount in the schedule; part may be placed in a spendthrift trust for educational or medical needs (La. R.S. 9:315.13(C)).
Parenting time. Shared custody means each parent has physical custody for an approximately equal amount of time: the basic obligation is multiplied by 1.5, divided by income shares, each parent's theoretical obligation is cross-multiplied by the percentage of time the child spends with the other parent, add-ons and direct payments are adjusted, and the parent owing more pays the difference, never more than he or she would owe as a non-domiciliary parent (La. R.S. 9:315.9(A); Worksheet B). In joint custody that is not shared custody, if the payer has physical custody more than 73 days a year the court may order a credit, considering time, financial burden and the child's best interest (La. R.S. 9:315.8(E); Worksheet A).
Child care and health care. net child care cost (after the federal Form 2441 credit) added to the basic obligation and shared by income health insurance premiums for the child added to the basic obligation and shared by income Total obligation = basic obligation + net child care costs + health insurance premiums + extraordinary medical expenses + other extraordinary expenses, minus any deduction for the child's income; each party pays his or her income share, less court-ordered direct payments (La. R.S. 9:315.3, 9:315.8(A)-(D)).
Low incomes. The schedule incorporates a self-sufficiency reserve for low-income obligors (La. R.S. 9:315(B)(1)); no separate dollar reserve or minimum order is stated in R.S. 9:315 to 9:315.22. Below $1,050 combined income support is set case by case (La. R.S. 9:315.13(A)). Absent evidence of income, a party is presumed able to earn 32 hours a week at minimum wage (La. R.S. 9:315.11).
When support ends. Support terminates automatically at majority or emancipation, per child if set per child or when the youngest reaches majority if set in globo; it continues for an unmarried major child who is a full-time student in good standing in secondary school, under 19 and dependent on a parent (La. R.S. 9:315.22(A)-(C)); support may continue to 22 for a child with a developmental disability in secondary school (9:315.22(D)). source
Worth knowing in Louisiana
- The schedule is enacted in the statute itself; the current schedule (Acts 2024, No. 86) took effect January 1, 2025 and runs to $50,000 of combined adjusted monthly gross income. source
- Above the schedule, support can never be less than the highest schedule amount, and part of it can be put in a spendthrift trust for the child that ends at age 24 unless the parties agree otherwise (La. R.S. 9:315.13(C)). source
- A non-domiciliary parent paying at least 50% of the total obligation may be allowed to claim the child for tax purposes if no arrears are owed and the domiciliary parent is not significantly harmed (La. R.S. 9:315.18(B)). source
- A judgment modifying final child support is retroactive to the date of judicial demand except for good cause (La. R.S. 9:315.21(C)). source
- The legislature reviews the guidelines at least every four years with the child support review committee (La. R.S. 9:315.16). source