New Jersey Child Support Calculator (2026)
Estimate weekly child support under New Jersey’s official income-shares guidelines. Enter both parents’ weekly incomes and this tool applies the Appendix IX-F Schedule of Child Support Awards (effective September 1, 2025), splits the obligation by income share, and handles both the sole-parenting worksheet and the shared-parenting adjustment.
Calculate New Jersey Child Support
Gross weekly pay before taxes, unless you switch the income basis below to take-home pay. Use either parent — the higher earner is treated as the paying parent. Monthly pay converts to weekly by multiplying by 12 and dividing by 52.
New Jersey runs on weekly net income. If you know each parent’s actual weekly take-home pay, choose the second option for a closer result.
Mandatory union dues, mandatory retirement contributions, and support paid for other children. Subtracted from net income, as Appendix IX-A provides. Ignored when take-home pay is entered directly.
Shared parenting also requires separate living accommodations for the child and a filed or ordered parenting plan, and is always at the court’s discretion.
Nights the children sleep at the paying parent’s home. On the sole-parenting worksheet this drives the PAR time credit; on the shared-parenting worksheet it drives the full shared-parenting adjustment.
Work-related child care for these children, net of the federal child care tax credit (courts subtract the credit first, per Appendix IX-E).
The part of the premium that covers the children — the extra cost of adding them to a policy.
Only recurring costs above $250 per child per year — the first $250 per child is already inside the schedule amount.
For example private school tuition or special-needs costs a court has approved.
Credited against the paying parent’s obligation, as on the guideline worksheet.
How to read this: New Jersey support is weekly. The paying parent (the higher earner) owes their share of the basic obligation and added costs, adjusted for parenting time and credited for amounts they already pay directly. Net incomes are estimated from gross unless you entered take-home pay — see the assumptions below the calculator.
How New Jersey Calculates Child Support
New Jersey uses an income-shares model (Court Rules Appendix IX-A, paragraph 4). 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 paying parent (the obligor) pays their share over; the other parent’s share is treated as spent directly on the children. Unusually among the states, New Jersey works in weekly amounts and uses net income. The steps are:
- Find each parent’s weekly net income. Net income is gross income minus income taxes, mandatory union dues, mandatory retirement contributions, previously ordered child support, and, where it applies, a theoretical support obligation for other dependents (Appendix IX-A, paragraph 11). Courts compute the tax piece from the Appendix IX-H withholding tables; this calculator estimates it, as explained below.
- Add the two net incomes together to get the combined weekly net income, and work out each parent’s percentage share.
- Look up the basic child support obligation on the Appendix IX-F Schedule of Child Support Awards, using the combined weekly net income and the number of children. The schedule covers combined net incomes from $180 to $3,600 per week in $10 steps.
- Add the extras: net work-related child care (after the federal child care tax credit), the children’s share of the health insurance premium, predictable unreimbursed health costs over $250 per child per year, and court-approved extraordinary expenses.
- Apply the parenting-time adjustment for the worksheet in use — the regular PAR time credit on the sole-parenting worksheet, or the shared-parenting adjustment when the shared-parenting worksheet applies.
- Subtract credits for amounts the paying parent already pays directly (child care paid, health premium paid, and similar), then check the result against the self-support reserve.
Basic obligation = Appendix IX-F amount for combined weekly net income and number of children
Sole parenting: weekly support = payer’s share × (basic + added costs) − PAR time credit (basic × 37% × payer’s share of overnights) − credits
Shared parenting: award = payer’s income share of (basic + payer’s time-adjusted fixed costs) − payer’s time-adjusted fixed and variable costs + payer’s share of added costs − credits
Worked Example: $1,500 and $800 Gross Weekly Incomes, 2 Children
| Step | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Parent A net income (est.) | $78,000/yr gross minus est. federal tax $8,330 and FICA $5,967, divided by 52 | $1,225.06/wk |
| Parent B net income (est.) | $41,600/yr gross minus est. federal tax $2,812 and FICA $3,182, divided by 52 | $684.72/wk |
| Combined weekly net income | $1,225.06 + $684.72 (schedule row $1,910) | $1,909.78/wk |
| Basic obligation (IX-F, 2 children) | Schedule amount at $1,910 combined weekly net | $471.00/wk |
| Parent A income share | $1,225.06 ÷ $1,909.78 | 64.15% |
| Share of total obligation | 64.15% × ($471 basic + $150 child care + $60 health premium) | $436.84/wk |
| PAR time credit | $471 × 37% × (52 overnights ÷ 365) | −$24.83/wk |
| Estimated support | $436.84 − $24.83 (sole-parenting worksheet) | $412.01/wk ($1,785.38/mo) |
New Jersey Basic Child Support Obligation Schedule (Excerpt)
This excerpt reproduces rows of the Appendix IX-F schedule (revised effective September 1, 2025) exactly as published. The calculator encodes the complete schedule — all 343 rows, from $180 to $3,600 of combined weekly net income in $10 steps — and rounds combined net income to the nearest $10 row. The schedule amount covers housing, food, clothing, transportation, entertainment, unreimbursed health care up to $250 per child per year, and miscellaneous items.
| Combined Weekly Net Income | 1 Child | 2 Children | 3 Children | 4 Children | 5 Children | 6 Children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $180 | $63 | $125 | $133 | $148 | $163 | $177 |
| $500 | $172 | $224 | $248 | $277 | $304 | $331 |
| $1,000 | $293 | $339 | $390 | $435 | $479 | $521 |
| $1,500 | $369 | $420 | $499 | $557 | $612 | $666 |
| $2,000 | $425 | $481 | $589 | $657 | $722 | $786 |
| $2,500 | $481 | $538 | $674 | $752 | $827 | $900 |
| $3,000 | $561 | $605 | $769 | $858 | $944 | $1,027 |
| $3,600 (top) | $717 | $719 | $917 | $1,022 | $1,125 | $1,223 |
Above the top of the schedule — combined net income over $187,200 a year — the $3,600-row amount is the minimum award. The court adds a discretionary amount based on the remaining income and the factors in N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23, and the schedule is never extrapolated (Appendix IX-A, paragraph 20(b)). This calculator uses the top row for those families, so treat high-income results as a floor, not the final figure.
Parenting Time on the Sole-Parenting Worksheet: the PAR Time Credit
When one parent has the children most of the time, the other parent (the Parent of Alternate Residence, or PAR) still spends money on the children during their time — food and transportation, which the guidelines treat as variable costs equal to 37% of total child-related spending. Paragraph 13 of Appendix IX-A therefore allows a credit against the basic award: basic award × 37% × the PAR’s share of overnights. At 52 overnights a year (about 14% of the time), the credit is roughly 5.3% of the basic award; at 100 overnights it is about 10%. The credit is a maximum — the court checks that the PAR actually incurs those variable expenses, and if the receiving household’s income plus the adjusted order falls below twice the poverty guideline, the credit becomes discretionary rather than presumptive (paragraph 13(b)(3)). This calculator applies the credit and flags that situation when it arises.
Shared Parenting: When Both Parents Have Substantial Time
A different worksheet applies when the PAR has the children for the substantial equivalent of two or more overnights per week (about 28% of overnights), keeps separate living accommodations for them, and a parenting plan is filed or ordered. A shared-parenting award is never automatic — it is always at the court’s discretion (paragraph 14). The economics also change: instead of assuming one household carries everything, the guidelines split spending into 38% fixed costs (housing, incurred in full by the primary parent and duplicated in part by the PAR), 37% variable costs (food and transport, following the children), and 25% controlled costs (clothing, personal care, entertainment — assumed to be incurred by the primary parent only and shared by income, never by time).
The shared-parenting formula grosses up the basic obligation by the PAR’s duplicated fixed costs (2 × the PAR’s overnight share × the fixed-cost portion), charges the PAR their income share of that two-household total, then subtracts the fixed and variable costs the PAR actually carries during their time. Two safeguards come with it: if the primary parent’s household net income plus the shared award would fall below twice the U.S. poverty guideline for the household size ($813 per week for a household of two and $1,237 for a household of four, on the 2025 guidelines), the shared award must not be used and a sole-parenting award is calculated instead (paragraphs 14(d)–(e)). This calculator applies that guard automatically, counting only the primary parent’s own net income, and tells you when it has switched worksheets.
Very Low Incomes: the Self-Support Reserve and the $5 Floor
New Jersey protects a low-income paying parent with a self-support reserve of $451 per week — 150% of the federal poverty guideline for one person (figure as of January 1, 2025). The reserve adjusts an award only when two things are both true: paying the award would leave the paying parent below $451 a week, and the receiving parent’s net income minus their own share of the award stays above $451 a week (paragraphs 7(h) and 20(a)). The court then reviews income and living expenses and sets the maximum amount that can reasonably be ordered — in this calculator, the obligation is reduced so the paying parent keeps $451 a week. A fixed amount must always be ordered, even at the very bottom: where combined net income is under $180 a week, the award should fall between $5.00 a week and the amount at the $180 schedule row. One simplification to note: this tool treats the higher earner as the paying parent, so if your case has a low-income paying parent whose former partner earns more, a court applying the reserve could land lower than the estimate shown.
Older Children: the 14.6% Teen Adjustment
The schedule averages child-rearing costs across all ages, which understates what teenagers cost. If the initial support order is entered when a child is 12 or older, paragraph 17 of Appendix IX-A adjusts the award upward by 14.6%, based on research showing children aged 12 to 17 cost about 14.6% more than the all-ages average. Tick the checkbox in the calculator if that describes your case and the adjustment is applied to the basic schedule amount.
How This Calculator Estimates Net Income
Courts start from each parent’s actual weekly net income, computed under Appendix IX-B using the Appendix IX-H withholding tables (which vary by filing status and exemptions) and then reduced by mandatory union dues, mandatory retirement contributions, support paid for other children, and any theoretical obligation for other dependents. Those withholding tables are not reproduced here. Instead, this tool estimates net income by annualizing the weekly gross figure you enter and subtracting only federal income tax — using the 2026 single-filer brackets and the $16,100 standard deduction — and Social Security and Medicare (FICA) at 7.65% combined (Social Security capped at the $184,500 wage base), then subtracting any mandatory deductions you enter.
That means this tool’s net incomes usually run somewhat higher than a court’s figures, because New Jersey state income tax is not deducted and filing-status differences are ignored. If you know each parent’s real weekly take-home pay, use the “take-home (net) pay” income basis in the calculator instead — that bypasses the estimate entirely and gets you closest to a court’s starting point. Either way, treat the final figure as an informed estimate rather than the exact guideline number.
