Virginia Child Support Calculator (2026)
Estimate monthly child support under Virginia’s official income-shares guidelines. Enter both parents’ gross incomes and this tool applies the full Va. Code § 20-108.2 schedule (revised effective July 1, 2025, up to $42,500 of combined monthly gross income), splits the obligation by income share, and applies the sole, shared or split custody formula that fits your family.
Calculate Virginia Child Support
Before taxes — Virginia uses gross income, not net. Parent A is the children’s primary home unless Parent B has more days below.
Shared custody uses the Section 20-108.2(G)(3) formula. Split custody offsets two sole-custody calculations under (G)(2).
A Virginia “day” is 24 hours. If Parent B’s overnight is shorter than 24 hours, count it as a half day for each parent and enter the adjusted total. The parent with fewer days is the paying parent in sole custody.
Care that lets the parent work or look for work, from a licensed source. In sole custody only the primary parent’s child care is added, per Section 20-108.2(F).
Used in the shared and split custody formulas, where each parent’s costs count.
The part of the premium that covers these children (health, vision and dental). If one premium covers the whole family, use the children’s share.
A parent who pays the premium directly gets that cost credited against their obligation.
How to read this: Virginia divides the total obligation — basic schedule amount plus health coverage and work-related child care — between the parents in proportion to their gross incomes. The paying parent’s own premium payments are credited, and unreimbursed medical expenses are shared separately by income percentage as they come up, so they are not included here.
How Virginia Calculates Child Support
Virginia uses an income-shares model (Va. Code § 20-108.2). The guidelines estimate what parents living together would spend on their children at their combined income level, then divide that amount between the parents in proportion to income. The steps for sole custody, under subdivision G 1, are:
- Find each parent’s monthly gross income. Virginia is a gross-income state — there is no conversion to net. Gross income means income from all sources: wages, commissions, bonuses, dividends, pensions, interest, capital gains, Social Security, disability and veterans’ benefits, spousal support received, rental income, gifts and prizes.
- Add the two gross incomes together to get the combined monthly gross income.
- Look up the basic child support obligation on the statutory schedule in subsection B, using the combined gross income and the number of children. The schedule runs in $50 steps to $42,500 a month; amounts between steps are extrapolated, and above $42,500 a percentage-of-excess rule applies.
- Add the extra costs: the children’s health, vision and dental coverage cost (subsection E) and work-related child care costs (subsection F).
- Split the total by income share. A parent with 60% of the combined gross income is responsible for 60% of the total obligation.
- Credit the paying parent for health coverage that parent (or their spouse) pays directly. The result is the monthly order; the other parent’s share is treated as spent directly on the children.
Basic obligation = § 20-108.2(B) schedule amount for combined gross income and number of children
Sole custody: monthly support = payer’s income share × (basic + health coverage + child care) − premium the payer pays directly
Shared custody (over 90 days): support need = basic × 1.4, offset between the parents by custody share and income share
Above $42,500 combined: basic = $42,500 amount + 2.6%–5.0% of the excess, by number of children
Worked Example: $6,000 and $3,000 Gross Monthly Incomes, 2 Children
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Combined gross income | $6,000 + $3,000 | $9,000/mo |
| Basic obligation (schedule, 2 children) | § 20-108.2(B) schedule amount at $9,000 | $1,760/mo |
| Health coverage | Paid directly by Parent B | $200/mo |
| Work-related child care | Paid by Parent A (primary parent) | $500/mo |
| Total obligation | $1,760 + $200 + $500 | $2,460/mo |
| Parent B income share | $3,000 ÷ $9,000 | 33.33% |
| Parent B share of total | 33.33% × $2,460 | $820.00/mo |
| Less premium Parent B pays directly | $820.00 − $200 | $620.00/mo |
Parent B has the children 73 days a year in this example, so the sole-custody formula applies. If Parent B had the children for more than 90 days, the shared-custody formula below would be used instead — and if it produced more than the sole amount, the lower sole figure would still be the one paid.
Virginia Child Support Schedule (Excerpt)
The full statutory schedule in § 20-108.2(B) covers combined monthly gross incomes in $50 increments – 844 rows. This excerpt shows every $1,000 or $5,000 step, exactly as published in the Code of Virginia as revised effective July 1, 2025. The calculator embeds all 844 rows and extrapolates between them, as the statute directs.
| Combined Monthly Gross Income | 1 Child | 2 Children | 3 Children | 4 Children | 5 Children | 6 Children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $0–$350 | $68 | $104 | $126 | $141 | $155 | $169 |
| $1,000 | $206 | $311 | $389 | $434 | $478 | $519 |
| $2,000 | $385 | $582 | $727 | $812 | $893 | $971 |
| $3,000 | $554 | $836 | $1,045 | $1,167 | $1,284 | $1,396 |
| $4,000 | $721 | $1,088 | $1,360 | $1,520 | $1,672 | $1,817 |
| $5,000 | $872 | $1,304 | $1,637 | $1,829 | $2,012 | $2,187 |
| $6,000 | $999 | $1,489 | $1,872 | $2,092 | $2,301 | $2,501 |
| $8,000 | $1,121 | $1,642 | $2,089 | $2,334 | $2,567 | $2,790 |
| $10,000 | $1,251 | $1,824 | $2,308 | $2,578 | $2,835 | $3,082 |
| $15,000 | $1,635 | $2,369 | $2,957 | $3,303 | $3,634 | $3,950 |
| $20,000 | $1,990 | $2,853 | $3,525 | $3,937 | $4,331 | $4,708 |
| $25,000 | $2,298 | $3,328 | $4,129 | $4,612 | $5,073 | $5,514 |
| $30,000 | $2,581 | $3,763 | $4,673 | $5,220 | $5,742 | $6,242 |
| $35,000 | $2,871 | $4,174 | $5,151 | $5,754 | $6,329 | $6,880 |
| $40,000 | $3,161 | $4,586 | $5,629 | $6,287 | $6,916 | $7,518 |
| $42,500 (top) | $3,306 | $4,792 | $5,867 | $6,554 | $7,209 | $7,837 |
Above $42,500 of combined monthly gross income, the basic obligation is the $42,500 amount plus a percentage of the income above $42,500: 2.6% for one child, 3.4% for two, 3.8% for three, 4.2% for four, 4.6% for five and 5.0% for six. There is no cap on the incomes counted — $42,500 is simply where the table stops.
Shared Custody: the 90-Day Rule and the 1.4 Multiplier
When a parent has custody or visitation of the children for more than 90 days a year, subdivision G 3 replaces the sole-custody calculation. A “day” is a 24-hour period; where the parent with fewer overnights has an overnight shorter than 24 hours, that overnight counts as a half day to each parent. The formula works like this:
- The shared support need is the ordinary schedule amount multiplied by 1.4, recognizing that two fuller households cost more than one.
- For each parent, the amount they owe the other is: (shared support need × the other parent’s custody share) + the other parent’s health coverage cost + the other parent’s work-related child care, all multiplied by their own income share.
- The two amounts are offset — the parent whose amount is larger pays only the difference.
- Lesser-amount rule: if the sole-custody amount is less than the shared-custody result, the lesser sole amount is paid instead. This calculator applies that comparison automatically; in court it applies when a party shows the sole amount is less.
One caution for very low incomes: if either parent’s gross income is at or below 150% of the federal poverty level, the shared-custody result is not presumed correct and the court chooses whichever of the sole or shared figures is more just.
Split Custody: When Children Live in Both Homes
Split custody means each parent has physical custody of at least one of the children. Under subdivision G 2, the court computes what each parent would owe as a noncustodial parent under the sole-custody formula for the children living in the other parent’s home, then offsets the two amounts — the parent owing the larger amount pays the difference.
This calculator implements that offset. One simplification: health coverage and child care totals are divided between the two groups of children in proportion to how many children are in each group, rather than traced child by child, and each parent’s premium credit is scaled the same way. Cases that mix arrangements — some children shared, some sole, some split (subdivisions G 4, G 5 and G 6) — prorate the obligation child by child and are beyond this tool; a court worksheet is needed for those.
Low Incomes: the $68 Minimum — and No Self-Support Reserve
Virginia has no self-support reserve table. Instead, subsection B sets a presumptive statutory minimum: if the sole-custody calculation produces less than $68 per month, the paying parent is presumed to owe $68. That minimum does not apply to a parent who cannot pay because they are institutionalized in a psychiatric facility, imprisoned for life without parole, medically verified as totally and permanently disabled (including SSI recipients), or otherwise involuntarily unable to produce income. And where the paying parent’s gross income is at or below 150% of the federal poverty level, a court that hears evidence of no ability to pay may set support below the minimum — so long as the amount does not seriously impair the custodial parent’s ability to maintain minimal adequate housing and other basic necessities for the child.
This calculator applies the $68 floor in sole-custody cases (and in the sole figure used for the shared-custody lesser-amount comparison) and shows a note when it does. It does not apply the exemptions or the below-minimum discretion — a court decides those on evidence.
Health Coverage, Child Care and Medical Expenses
Health coverage (subsection E) covers health, vision and dental insurance for the children. Enter the cost of covering the children: if a single premium covers the whole family and no per-child rate exists, the guideline method takes the total premium, subtracts the cost of individual coverage for the policyholder, and divides the rest among the remaining covered people. A parent who pays the premium directly — or whose spouse pays it — has that cost credited against their obligation, which this calculator does automatically.
Work-related child care (subsection F) is the cost of care that lets a parent work or seek work, capped at the cost of quality care from a licensed source; the court may also factor in the child care tax credit or deduction. In sole custody, only the primary parent’s work-related child care is added. In the shared and split formulas, each parent’s costs enter the calculation.
Unreimbursed medical and dental expenses (subsection D) are not added to the monthly amount. They are shared between the parents in the same proportions as their incomes as the expenses are incurred, so they do not appear in this estimate.
What This Calculator Does and Does Not Do
- Full statutory schedule. All 844 rows of the § 20-108.2(B) schedule (revised July 1, 2025) are embedded, with extrapolation between the $50 steps and the statutory percentage rule above $42,500.
- Gross income only. Enter each parent’s monthly gross income. Virginia does not convert to net, so no tax estimate is involved.
- Statutory income adjustments are not applied. The law lets a parent deduct support actually paid for other children under an order or agreement, a schedule-based amount for other children living in their household, half of self-employment tax, and spousal support paid under an order or agreement — and counts spousal support received as income. If those apply to you, adjust the income you enter, or expect this estimate to run high.
- Deviations are not estimated. The guideline amount is presumed correct, but a court may deviate using the factors in § 20-108.1 — a child’s special needs, a parent’s other obligations, the parents’ agreement, and more — with written findings.
- Mixed arrangements (some children in sole, some in shared or split custody — subdivisions G 4 to G 6) are not calculated; only pure sole, shared and split cases are.
