Georgia Child Support Guide 2026: How the Guidelines Calculate Your Amount
Parents facing a support case in Georgia usually want one number: how much will the court order? A statewide guideline formula turns both parents’ incomes and the number of children into a presumptive monthly amount. This guide explains how it works — including the two formula changes that took effect on January 1, 2026. Run your own figures in the free Georgia child support calculator.
How is child support calculated in Georgia?
Georgia uses an income-shares model under O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15: both parents’ monthly adjusted gross incomes are combined, the Basic Child Support Obligation is read from the statutory table for that income and number of children, and each parent is charged their pro-rata share of it.
The worksheet then adjusts the paying parent’s share for court-ordered parenting time, adds work-related child care and the children’s health insurance premium (split by the same income percentages), and checks a low-income cap at the end. The result is called the presumptive amount — the figure the court starts from.
What is the Georgia child support table (BCSO)?
The Basic Child Support Obligation table in O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15(o) lists the monthly amount parents at each combined income are expected to spend on their children. The current table took effect July 1, 2024, and runs from $800 to $40,000 of combined monthly income.
It was the first update of the table since 2006, built on the Georgia 2022 Economic Study, and it raised the top of the income axis from $30,000 to $40,000 a month. The statute’s lookup rule uses the income bracket most closely matched to the parents’ combined adjusted gross income. Be careful with older calculators and some code reproductions online: a superseded version of the table still circulates, and it produces noticeably different (lower) obligations.
What changed in Georgia child support law in 2026?
From January 1, 2026, two parts of the Georgia calculation stopped being discretionary. The old parenting time deviation became a statutory formula based on court-ordered days, and the old low-income deviation became a formula Low-Income Adjustment with its own table in the statute.
Previously, a judge decided whether parenting time justified a lower amount, and by how much. Now the adjustment is computed the same way in every case, and the same is true at the low-income end. Any Georgia calculator still describing parenting time or low income as a judge-decided “deviation” is working from pre-2026 law.
How does Georgia’s parenting time adjustment work?
Since January 1, 2026, the paying parent’s share of the basic obligation is adjusted by a formula that raises each parent’s court-ordered days to the power of 2.5 and weights the two shares against each other. More court-ordered time means a larger reduction.
The details matter. Only time written into a court order counts — including a consent judgment or an agreement the court adopted — and with no order there is no adjustment at all. “Days” means overnights, averaged over a two-year period; a regular pattern of shorter daytime visits is totalled in hours and divided by 24. If siblings have different schedules, their days are averaged first. Algebraically, the formula sets the paying parent’s adjusted share equal to the basic obligation times a “time weight” — the paying parent’s days^2.5 divided by the sum of both parents’ days^2.5 — so the reduction is steep even at a standard every-other-weekend schedule, and at an exactly even time split the weight is one half. Child care and health insurance shares are calculated separately and are not reduced by the formula.
How much is child support in Georgia for two children?
Take parents earning $6,000 and $2,000 a month with two children, $500 of work-related child care and a $200 children’s health premium. Combined income is $8,000, the table obligation is $1,723, and the higher earner pays about $1,817 a month.
The math: the higher earner’s income share is 75 percent, so their share of the $1,723 obligation is $1,292.25. Child care and the premium add another $700, split the same way, contributing $525. With no court-ordered parenting time entered and incomes well above the low-income table, nothing else adjusts the total. Add court-ordered days, and the parenting time formula can cut the base share substantially; use the Georgia child support calculator to see your own combination.
Are child care and health insurance added to Georgia child support?
Yes. Under Schedule D of the Georgia worksheet, work-related child care costs and the child-attributable part of a health insurance premium are added to the basic obligation and split between the parents in proportion to their incomes, on top of the basic amount.
Two details catch parents out. Child care counts at the amount actually paid — if a means-tested subsidy covers part of it, only the part a parent (or a nonparent custodian) actually pays goes in, and care provided free or by a parent adds nothing. And for health insurance, only the child’s portion of a family premium counts: if that portion cannot be verified, the statute divides the total premium by the number of people covered and multiplies by the number of children in the case. Amounts an employer pays and does not deduct from wages are excluded.
What is Georgia’s low-income adjustment?
Georgia has no self-support reserve; instead, a Low-Income Adjustment Table caps what a lower-earning parent can owe. At or below $1,500 a month of adjusted gross income, the cap runs from 19 percent of income for one child to 28 percent for six.
The test is a lesser-of comparison: when a parent’s own monthly adjusted gross income falls below the top of the table for that number of children, that parent pays whichever is smaller — the presumptive amount from the main calculation, or the table amount. Above $1,500, the table gives fixed dollar amounts in $50 income steps, up to ceilings of $2,450 for one child, $2,950 for two, $3,350 for three, $3,550 for four, $3,750 for five and $3,950 for six. The official Georgia calculator applies the comparison automatically.
Can a Georgia court order more or less than the guideline amount?
Yes. The figure produced by the worksheet is called the presumptive amount, and it is the starting point for the order. A court may then apply deviations for case-specific factors, but for high-income parents any deviation from the table amount can only go upward.
Deviations (Schedule E) cover things like other health-related insurance, life insurance, travel expenses, alimony, a mortgage, and extraordinary expenses, and the court must make written findings that the presumptive amount would be unjust or inappropriate and that the deviation serves the child’s best interest. For combined incomes above $40,000 a month, the basic obligation is locked at the table’s highest amount and only an upward deviation is possible. Parenting time and low income are no longer deviation topics at all — since 2026 they are formulas.
How can you estimate your own Georgia child support?
Gather both parents’ monthly gross incomes, the number of children, the paying parent’s court-ordered parenting days per year, your monthly work-related child care cost and the children’s health premium, then enter them in the free Georgia child support calculator. It applies the current BCSO table, the 2026 parenting time formula and the low-income check.
One preparation tip: Georgia works from adjusted gross income. If a parent pays court-ordered support for other children, or pays self-employment tax, the worksheet subtracts those amounts (preexisting orders actually paid, and half of self-employment taxes) before the table lookup — subtract them from that parent’s income before you enter it. See also our Georgia income tax calculator and the paycheck calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does parenting time always reduce Georgia child support?
No. Only court-ordered parenting time counts — labels like “visitation” or “physical custody” in an order all qualify, and a consent agreement the court adopted counts too. Without a court order there is no adjustment, however much time the paying parent actually has. The formula also only adjusts the basic obligation share; child care and health insurance shares are unaffected.
What income counts for Georgia child support?
Gross income from all sources, before taxes: salaries, commissions, tips, bonuses and overtime; self-employment income (gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary business expenses); pensions and retirement income; interest, dividends and capital gains; Social Security and VA disability benefits; workers’ compensation and unemployment; and alimony received from someone who is not a party to the case, among other sources. Variable income is averaged over a reasonable period, and fringe benefits count if they significantly reduce personal living expenses.
What if our combined income is over $40,000 a month?
The BCSO table tops out at $40,000 of combined monthly adjusted gross income. Above that, the parents are high-income under § 19-6-15(i)(2)(A): the basic obligation is set at the highest amount in the table, and the court may consider an upward deviation to reach an appropriate award — never a downward one.
What if a parent already pays support for other children?
That is handled before the table lookup, on Schedule B. Preexisting child support orders that are actually being paid are deducted from that parent’s gross income, as are theoretical support orders for qualified children living in the parent’s home, if the court allows them, and half of any self-employment taxes. The deductions lower the parent’s adjusted income, which lowers both the combined income and that parent’s share.
Is there an official Georgia child support calculator?
Yes. The Georgia Child Support Commission publishes the official calculator at georgiacourts.gov, and it applies the low-income comparison automatically. This site’s calculator is an independent estimator built from the same statute — useful for a quick preview, but the official worksheet governs in court.
Disclaimer: This guide is general information and an estimate only — not legal advice. Support orders are set by the court under O.C.G.A. § 19-6-15 and may differ from any estimate here. For advice about your case, consult a Georgia family law attorney.
