Child support · ME
Maine child support calculator
The DHHS Child Support Table and 19-A M.R.S. § 2006, read the way a Maine court reads them.
Rules read on official Maine pages on · Checked by Radif Partners · How we calculate
- Model
- Income shares
- Income counted
- Gross income
- Shared parenting
- No fixed formula
- 1 child, $5,000 / $3,000
- $691
- a month, rules of February 13, 2023
Maine's child support table is unlike most: you enter the parents' combined annual gross income, and the cell you read is a weekly amount for each child, which you then multiply by the number of children. Parents earning $60,000 and $30,000 a year have a combined $90,000; the closest row of the table gives $184 a week per child when there are two children, so $368 a week in all. The higher earner's two thirds come to about $245 a week, or $1,063 a month, before child care and health insurance. The per-child figure shrinks as children are added, which is why one child alone costs $246 a week here. The table in force was adopted by the Department of Health and Human Services effective February 13, 2023. When parents provide substantially equal care, the entitlement is multiplied by 1.5 and the higher earner pays the lower of two figures, $797 a month in this example.
Guideline child support in Maine, per month
$691
$8,288 a year · $159 a week, the period of the ME table
| Combined gross income, a year | $96,000 |
| Weekly amount per child in the Maine table, 1 child | $255 |
| Basic support entitlement (per child × children), a month | $1,105 |
| Paying parent’s share of gross income | 62.5% |
Estimate under the Maine 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 year of income, a week of support, one child at a time
Section 2006(1) gives the order of operations: add the two annual gross incomes, find the figure in the left-hand column closest to that total, read the dollar figure for the total number of children, and multiply it by the number of children. The rows climb by $600 of annual income from $16,800 and by $400 near the top, which ends at $400,000. Because the rule says closest, a family halfway between two rows takes the nearer one rather than the lower one. Orders are written per week, so the monthly figure in our calculator is the weekly amount times 52 divided by 12.
The age columns that older Maine tables carried, one for younger children and one for teenagers, are gone: the Legislature repealed the age categories in 2017, and today's table has one column per family size. Child care still has an age rule of its own, since it is added to the basic entitlement only for children under 12.
Substantially equal care, measured by care and not by nights
Maine has no overnight threshold. Section 2001(8-A) defines substantially equal care as both parents taking part substantially equally in the child's total care: home, school, activities, child care, medical and dental needs. If incomes are equal as well, nobody pays. If they are not, § 2006(5)(D-1) applies: the basic entitlement times 1.5, split by income, and the higher earner pays the lower of the difference between the two shares and what he or she would pay under primary residential care. Our calculator needs a number, so it treats 182 nights or more with the paying parent as substantially equal care; that is our convention, not the statute's. In our example the order goes from $1,063 to $797 a month.
Top row and low incomes
Above $400,000 of combined income the table no longer binds, but each child's weekly entitlement may not fall below the top row, $620 for an only child. At the other end, a nonprimary care provider whose income is under the federal poverty guideline pays no more than 10 percent of weekly gross income, and the table builds a self-support reserve into its lowest rows. For a state with a monthly table, compare New Hampshire.
The Maine guideline this calculator applies
| Rule | Maine |
|---|---|
| Model | Income shares, combined annual gross income table giving a weekly amount per child |
| Income counted | Gross income before taxes, as the state guideline defines it. |
| Official schedule | $16,800 to $400,000 of combined income a week, 673 rows |
| Shared parenting | No overnight formula in the calculator (see the rule below) |
| In force since | February 13, 2023 |
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 | $381 | $520 | $533 | $537 |
| $3,000 | $546 | $832 | $1,001 | $1,127 |
| $4,000 | $711 | $1,083 | $1,300 | $1,456 |
| $5,000 | $862 | $1,291 | $1,547 | $1,733 |
| $6,000 | $971 | $1,465 | $1,755 | $1,959 |
| $8,000 | $1,105 | $1,655 | $1,963 | $2,184 |
| $10,000 | $1,226 | $1,820 | $2,132 | $2,392 |
| $12,500 | $1,430 | $2,123 | $2,509 | $2,808 |
| $15,000 | $1,608 | $2,366 | $2,756 | $3,085 |
| $20,000 | $1,941 | $2,834 | $3,276 | $3,657 |
How the amount is set. The court or hearing officer locates the figure in the left-hand column that is closest to the parents' combined annual gross income, takes the dollar figure for the total number of children and multiplies it by the number of children (19-A M.R.S. § 2006(1)). source
Income. Gross income from any ongoing source (salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, dividends, pensions, Social Security, disability, workers' compensation, spousal support received from a non-parent, etc.); self-employment = gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary expenses; income may be imputed for voluntary unemployment; preexisting spousal and child support obligations are excluded from the obligor's gross income; means-tested public assistance (TANF, SSI, SNAP, general assistance) is excluded (19-A M.R.S. § 2001(5)).
Above the table. When combined annual gross income exceeds $400,000 the table is not applicable, but the basic weekly entitlement of a child is presumed to be not less than the table amount for $400,000 (19-A M.R.S. § 2006(5)(B)).
Parenting time. For substantially equal care (both parents participate substantially equally in the child's total care, § 2001(8-A)): with equal incomes neither parent pays (§ 2006(5)(D)); with unequal incomes, the enhanced support entitlement (basic entitlement x 1.5, § 2001(3-A)) is divided in proportion to gross incomes and the higher earner pays the lower of (a) the difference between the two parental obligations and (b) the obligation computed as if the other parent had primary residential care; child care, health insurance and uninsured medical costs are shared in proportion to income (§ 2006(5)(D-1)). There is no overnight threshold in the statute. Split custody: each parent's obligation is computed for the children living with the other parent and offset (§ 2006(5)(E)).
Child care and health care. added to basic obligation and shared by income (child care costs for each child under 12, § 2006(3)(A)) Cost of adding the child to existing coverage (or difference between self-only and family coverage) is added to the basic entitlement and shared by income (§ 2006(3)(C)). Total basic support obligation = basic support entitlement + child care costs + health insurance premiums + extraordinary medical expenses (recurring uninsured expenses over $250 per child or group of children per calendar year), divided in proportion to gross incomes (19-A M.R.S. §§ 2001(4), 2001(10), 2006(3)-(4)).
Low incomes. If the nonprimary care provider's annual gross income is below the federal poverty guideline for one person, the weekly support obligation may not exceed 10% of weekly gross income. The statute says the table includes a self-support reserve (shaded area) for obligors earning $22,800 or less per year; within that area the per-child figure times the number of children is the obligor's obligation regardless of combined income, unless that gives a higher amount (19-A M.R.S. § 2006(5)(C); 10-144 C.M.R. ch. 351, Ch. 7 §§ 2-3).
When support ends. A support order remains in force until the child attains 18; if the child turns 18 while attending secondary school, until the child graduates, withdraws or is expelled, or attains 19, whichever occurs first; also ends on marriage or military service (19-A M.R.S. § 1653(12)). source
Worth knowing in Maine
- Maine's table gives a weekly amount per child, which is multiplied by the number of children; the age categories (0-11 / 12-17) were repealed by PL 2017, c. 30 (19-A M.R.S. §§ 2001(11), 2006(1)). source
- The current Child Support Table was adopted by DHHS in 10-144 C.M.R. ch. 351, Chapter 6, filing 2023-019, effective February 13, 2023, following the 2022 quadrennial review. source
- A parent personally providing primary care for a child under 24 months is deemed not available for employment, so income is not imputed in the absence of contrary evidence (19-A M.R.S. § 2001(5)(D)). source
- More than 6 children is itself a listed ground for deviating from the guidelines (19-A M.R.S. § 2007(3)(B)). source
- Uninsured medical expenses above $250 per child or group of children per calendar year are divided in proportion to the parents' incomes (19-A M.R.S. § 2001(4)). source