Child support · VA
Virginia child support calculator
Va. Code § 20-108.2 applied step by step: the schedule, the shared custody formula and the rule that picks the lower amount.
Rules read on official Virginia pages on · Checked by Radif Partners · How we calculate
- Model
- Income shares
- Income counted
- Gross income
- Shared parenting
- From 91 overnights
- 1 child, $5,000 / $3,000
- $701
- a month, rules of July 1, 2014
Under Va. Code § 20-108.2, a Virginia parent with $5,000 of monthly gross income, when the other parent earns $3,000 and the two children live mostly with that other parent, owes about $1,026 a month before child care and health coverage. Virginia reads its schedule on gross income, before taxes, and extrapolates between its rows. The step that matters most is custody time: once the paying parent has the children more than 90 days a year, the shared custody formula replaces the sole custody one, and in this example the order falls from $1,026 at 90 days to $864 at 91. The shared formula inflates the schedule amount by 1.4 to reflect two households, but a parent can always show that the sole custody figure is lower, and then the lower figure wins. Above $42,500 of combined income the statute adds a fixed percentage of the excess rather than leaving it to the judge.
Guideline child support in Virginia, per month
$701
$8,408 a year
| Combined monthly gross income | $8,000 |
| Basic obligation in the Virginia schedule, 1 child | $1,121 |
| Paying parent’s income share | 62.5% |
Estimate under the Virginia 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.
Counting days, not nights
Virginia measures custody in days. A day is 24 hours, and when the parent with fewer overnights keeps the child overnight for less than a full day, the statute presumes half a day for each parent. A schedule of alternate weekends from Friday evening to Sunday evening can therefore count for less than its overnights suggest. The year may start on any date the court picks, and the custody share of the parent with fewer days is projected over twelve months.
Two answers, the smaller one wins
Subsection G 3 builds the shared amount like this. The schedule amount for the combined income is multiplied by 1.4, giving the shared support need. Each parent owes that need times the share of the year the children spend with the other parent, plus the other parent's child care and health coverage, all multiplied by his or her own share of income. The two figures are netted. Then comes the check that sets Virginia apart: the shared amount is presumptive only if no party shows that the sole custody amount is smaller. If it is, the smaller amount is the support.
In most families the shared amount is the lower one. It is not always so. Take a parent earning $9,000 next to a parent earning $1,000, one child, 91 days with the high earner. The shared formula gives $1,140 a month, because the 1.4 multiplier outweighs the small credit for time; the sole custody amount is $1,126. The calculator returns $1,126, the lesser. A parent whose share of income is very high gains nothing from crossing the 90-day line.
The opposite case has its own rule: if the shared computation sends money to the parent who would pay under sole custody, the shared figure is deemed the lesser and applies.
Above the table and below it
The schedule ends at $42,500 of combined monthly gross income. Beyond it, the statute adds 2.6% for 1, 3.4% for 2, 3.8% for 3, 4.2% for 4, 4.6% for 5 and 5% for 6 children of the income above the top row. A family at $50,000 with one child therefore has a basic obligation of $3,501, and the parent earning $45,000 owes $3,151. At the bottom, the first row covers incomes from zero, and a presumptive statutory minimum applies; the current text of § 20-108.2(B) names it without stating the amount, so the calculator does not apply a separate floor. A payer at or under 150% of the federal poverty level can ask the court to go below it.
The schedule now in the Code came from the 2014 amendment, in force from July 1, 2014 under the usual start date for that session's acts; later amendments changed income rules, not the figures. The Child Support Guidelines Review Panel examines it every four years. For a state that switches custody formulas at a night count instead, see North Carolina, or run every state on the calculator.
The Virginia guideline this calculator applies
| Rule | Virginia |
|---|---|
| Model | Income shares, combined monthly gross income schedule |
| Income counted | Gross income before taxes, as the state guideline defines it. |
| Official schedule | $350 to $42,500 of combined income a month, 844 rows |
| Shared parenting | Cross-credit formula from 91 overnights a year, basic amount × 1.4 |
| In force since | July 1, 2014 |
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 | $385 | $582 | $727 | $812 |
| $3,000 | $554 | $836 | $1,045 | $1,167 |
| $4,000 | $721 | $1,088 | $1,360 | $1,520 |
| $5,000 | $872 | $1,304 | $1,637 | $1,829 |
| $6,000 | $999 | $1,489 | $1,872 | $2,092 |
| $8,000 | $1,121 | $1,642 | $2,089 | $2,334 |
| $10,000 | $1,251 | $1,824 | $2,308 | $2,578 |
| $12,500 | $1,460 | $2,126 | $2,690 | $3,005 |
| $15,000 | $1,635 | $2,369 | $2,957 | $3,303 |
| $20,000 | $1,990 | $2,853 | $3,525 | $3,937 |
How the amount is set. For combined monthly gross income amounts falling between amounts shown in the schedule, basic child support obligation amounts shall be extrapolated (Va. Code § 20-108.2(B)). The first row covers 0-350. source
Income. Gross income means all income from all sources (salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, dividends, pensions, interest, capital gains, social security benefits, workers' compensation, unemployment, disability, spousal support received, rental income, gifts, prizes); excludes public assistance, SSI, child support received and qualifying secondary-employment income used to pay arrears. Deducted: reasonable business/rental expenses, one-half of self-employment tax, spousal support paid under an order, support actually paid for other children under an order, and the schedule amount for other children living in the household (Va. Code § 20-108.2(C)).
Above the table. For gross monthly incomes above $42,500, add the amount of child support for $42,500 to 2.6% (1 child), 3.4% (2), 3.8% (3), 4.2% (4), 4.6% (5) or 5.0% (6) of gross income above $42,500 (§ 20-108.2(B)).
Parenting time. Shared custody applies where a party has custody or visitation for more than 90 days a year (a day = 24 hours; an overnight of less than 24 hours counts as one-half day). Shared support need = schedule amount x 1.4; each parent's amount = shared support need x the other parent's custody share, plus the other parent's health-care and work-related child-care costs, multiplied by that parent's income share; the two amounts are netted. The shared amount is presumptive unless a party shows the sole custody amount is lower, in which case the lesser applies (Va. Code § 20-108.2(G)(3)).
Child care and health care. added to basic obligation and shared by income cost of health, vision and dental coverage for the children (per-person cost) added to basic obligation; payer's obligation reduced by premiums he or she pays Work-related child-care costs (subsection F) and health/vision/dental coverage costs (subsection E) are added to the basic obligation and divided in proportion to gross incomes; unreimbursed medical and dental expenses are paid in proportion to gross incomes outside the guideline amount (§ 20-108.2(D), (E), (F), (G)(1)).
Low incomes. A presumptive minimum obligation of 'the statutory minimum' per month applies when the sole-custody amount is lower, except for parents who are institutionalized, imprisoned for life, totally and permanently disabled (including SSI recipients) or otherwise involuntarily unable to produce income. If the obligor's gross income is at or below 150% of the federal poverty level, the court may go below the minimum on evidence of no ability to pay. In shared custody, if either parent's gross income is at or below 150% of the poverty level, the shared amount is not presumptive (§ 20-108.2(B), (G)(3)(d)).
When support ends. Support continues past 18 for a child who is a full-time high school student, not self-supporting and living in the home of the parent seeking support, until the child reaches 19 or graduates, whichever comes first; it may continue for a severely and permanently disabled child (Va. Code § 20-124.2(C)). source
Worth knowing in Virginia
- The schedule runs from $0-350 to $42,500 of combined monthly gross income for 1 to 6 children; above $42,500 a fixed percentage of the excess (2.6% to 5.0%) is added (§ 20-108.2(B)). source
- The shared-custody threshold is more than 90 days a year with the parent, and the shared support need is the schedule amount multiplied by 1.4 (§ 20-108.2(G)(3)). source
- The guideline must be reviewed every four years by the 15-member Child Support Guidelines Review Panel, which reports to the General Assembly (§ 20-108.2(H)). source
- One-half of self-employment tax paid and spousal support paid under an order are deducted from gross income; spousal support received is included (§ 20-108.2(C)). source
- The Department of Social Services must set support at the amount produced by the guideline (§ 20-108.2(A)). source