Child support · TN
Tennessee child support calculator
The Tennessee Department of Human Services schedule (Rule 1240-02-04), its variable multiplier for parenting time and the shaded self-support area.
Rules read on official Tennessee 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
- $731
- a month, rules of October 1, 2021
Tennessee's guidelines assume the alternate residential parent has the children 80 days a year; at that schedule, a parent with $6,000 of adjusted gross income facing a co-parent at $2,500 owes about $978 a month for two children. The Basic Child Support Obligation for their combined $8,500 is $1,385, read in the schedule of Rule 1240-02-04-.09 after rounding the income up to the next $50 line, and the paying parent carries 71% of it. Days change the order in both directions. From 92 days a "variable multiplier" of 0.0109589 per day enlarges the obligation to price the second household, and the other parent's share of the extra is credited: 120 days bring the order to $849. Under 69 days the share goes up instead, to $1,162 with no parenting time at all. The rules in force date from October 1, 2021.
Guideline child support in Tennessee, per month
$731
$8,775 a year
| Combined adjusted gross income | $8,000 |
| BCSO from the schedule (next row up), 1 child | $984 |
| Alternate residential parent’s income share | 62.5% |
| Increase for 0 days of parenting time ((69 − 0) / 365 of the share, rebuttable) | $116 |
Estimate under the Tennessee 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.
Rounding up, never down
Rule 1240-02-04-.04(6)(b) settles the in-between incomes in one sentence: round the combined adjusted gross income up to the next amount shown. A family at $8,510 therefore reads the $8,550 line, and the order is $982 rather than the $978 of a family $10 poorer. The schedule starts with a single line for everything from $150 to $950, which shows $100 whatever the number of children, and ends at $28,250. Past that, the last page of the rule adds 6.81% for 1, 7.22% for 2 and 7.77% for 3 children (up to 8.66% for five or more) of every dollar above $28,250.
The variable multiplier in practice
The Department designed the parenting time rule as a sliding cost, not a fixed discount. At 92 days or more, the alternate residential parent's days are multiplied by 0.0109589, which is 2 divided by 182.5. The result multiplies the whole obligation; the excess over the original obligation stands for what the second home spends. That excess is divided by income, and the primary residential parent's part becomes a credit. At equal time the multiplier is close to 2, so the obligation nearly doubles before the credit is taken.
| Days with the alternate residential parent | Monthly support, two children |
|---|---|
| 0 | $1,162.46 |
| 68 | $980.33 |
| 80 | $977.65 |
| 91 | $977.65 |
| 92 | $974.30 |
| 120 | $849.30 |
| 146 | $733.24 |
| 182 | $572.53 |
Two things stand out in the table. Between 69 and 91 days nothing moves. Below 69 the rule presumes the parent who sees the children less should pay more: (69 minus the days) divided by 365, times that parent's share. A parent can rebut the increase with evidence, and the court can decline it, so the calculator's figure at low day counts is the presumption, not the last word. In an equal schedule, the rule names the father, or Parent 2, as the alternate residential parent for the arithmetic.
The shaded cells and the $100 floor
The reserve of $957 a month (90% of the 2020 poverty guideline for one person) is built into the shaded cells of the schedule, which run up to $1,300 for 1, $1,550 for 2, $1,700 for 3, $1,850 for 4 and $2,000 for 5 children. When the obligor's own income falls in that zone, the schedule is read again at that income alone and the smaller figure counts, without any parenting time credit. With $1,100 against $3,500 and one child, the share would be $191; the shaded amount gives $135. Every order is at least $100 a month, except for an obligor living on SSI or when the parenting time credit itself goes lower. For comparison, Kentucky uses a chart of percentages and Georgia a power formula.
The Tennessee guideline this calculator applies
| Rule | Tennessee |
|---|---|
| Model | Income shares, combined adjusted gross income schedule (Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1240-02-04) |
| Income counted | Adjusted gross income: gross income minus the deductions the guideline allows. |
| Official schedule | $950 to $28,250 of combined income a month, 547 rows |
| Shared parenting | No overnight formula in the calculator (see the rule below) |
| In force since | October 1, 2021 |
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 | $501 | $704 | $814 | $908 |
| $3,000 | $704 | $977 | $1,124 | $1,252 |
| $4,000 | $882 | $1,221 | $1,397 | $1,558 |
| $5,000 | $979 | $1,334 | $1,505 | $1,678 |
| $6,000 | $1,070 | $1,446 | $1,624 | $1,811 |
| $8,000 | $1,170 | $1,566 | $1,747 | $1,946 |
| $10,000 | $1,377 | $1,836 | $2,037 | $2,271 |
| $12,500 | $1,565 | $2,078 | $2,298 | $2,562 |
| $15,000 | $1,717 | $2,268 | $2,497 | $2,784 |
| $20,000 | $2,012 | $2,612 | $2,835 | $3,160 |
How the amount is set. When combined AGI falls between amounts shown in the schedule, round up to the next amount of combined AGI and use that row (Rule 1240-02-04-.04(6)(b)). The first row is printed '150-950.00'. source
Income. Adjusted gross income (AGI) is each parent's gross income minus any self-employment taxes paid and minus credits for the parent's other qualified children he or she is legally responsible for and actually supporting (Rule 1240-02-04-.02(1), 1240-02-04-.04). Credit for 'not-before-the-court' children in the home is 75% of a theoretical order (Rule 1240-02-04-.04).
Above the table. For combined AGI above $28,250: one child $2,231 plus 6.81% of income above $28,250; two children $2,803 plus 7.22%; three children $2,954 plus 7.77%; four children $3,294 plus 8.05%; five or more children $3,624 plus 8.66% (Rule 1240-02-04-.09, last page). Separately, under T.C.A. 36-5-101(e)(1)(B) a presumptive order above the amount from $10,000 of net income times 21%/32%/41%/46%/50% (1/2/3/4/5+ children) is capped unless the custodial parent proves a greater need (Rule 1240-02-04-.07(2)(g)).
Parenting time. Variable multiplier (Rule 1240-02-04-.04(7)(h)): if the alternate residential parent (ARP) has 92 or more days a year, multiply the days by .0109589 (2/182.5); multiply the total BCSO by that factor; the excess over the BCSO is the ARP's additional child-rearing expense; the primary residential parent's income share of that excess is credited against the ARP's share of the BCSO. The guidelines assume 80 days of ARP time. Below 69 days the ARP's share may be increased by (69 - days)/365 times the ARP's share of the BCSO (Rule 1240-02-04-.08(2)(c)5(vi)). In a 50/50 case the father or Parent 2 is deemed the ARP (Rule 1240-02-04-.04(7)(b)2). A parent to whom the self-support reserve is applied does not receive the parenting time credit (Rule 1240-02-04-.03).
Child care and health care. work-related child care added to the BCSO and shared by income percentage child's portion of health insurance premium added to the BCSO and shared by income percentage; coverage is reasonable if it does not exceed 5% of the providing parent's gross income Health care insurance, work-related childcare and recurring uninsured medical expenses are added to the BCSO to obtain the Adjusted Support Obligation (Rule 1240-02-04-.02(2)-(3)); reasonable cost of insurance is up to 5% of gross income (Rule 1240-02-04-.02(24)).
Low incomes. The schedule incorporates a self-support reserve of $957 gross per month (90% of the 2020 federal poverty level for one person). If the obligor's AGI falls in the shaded area of the schedule, the BCSO from the obligor's income alone is compared with the obligor's pro-rata share of the combined BCSO and the lesser applies; an obligor given the SSR gets no parenting time credit (Rule 1240-02-04-.03; definition 1240-02-04-.02(25)). Minimum order $100 per month, not applicable when the obligor's only income is SSI, when a child's federal benefit brings support below it, or when the parenting time adjustment does (Rule 1240-02-04-.04(12)).
When support ends. A 'child' is a person under 18, or a person who reaches 18 while in high school until he or she graduates or until the class of which the person is a member when reaching 18 graduates, whichever is last (Rule 1240-02-04-.02, definition of child). source
The state also runs its own official child support calculator; use it, or the court's worksheet, for a filing.
Worth knowing in Tennessee
- The guidelines are administrative rules of the Tennessee Department of Human Services (Child Support Services Division), last changed effective October 1, 2021 after a one-day stay of the September 30, 2021 date. source
- An order can be modified only if the new presumptive amount differs from the current order (excluding deviations) by at least 15% (Rule 1240-02-04-.05(2)). source
- The guidelines presume the alternate residential parent has 80 days a year (every other weekend, two weeks in summer and two weeks of holidays) (Rule 1240-02-04-.04(7)(a)). source
- Within 15 business days of learning that an obligor will be incarcerated for more than 180 days, the IV-D agency may notify both parties of their right to request a review (Rule 1240-02-04-.05(3)). source
- With a parenting time adjustment, support can flow from the primary residential parent to the alternate residential parent when the PRP earns more and the ARP has many days (Rule 1240-02-04-.04(7)(f)). source