How Much Is Child Support in Virginia? Worked Examples

What the schedule shows at common incomes

These rows come straight from the schedule in Va. Code § 20-108.2(B). Each figure is the monthly basic obligation for both parents together, which is why it looks high. Each parent's share depends on their percentage of the combined income, so a parent usually pays only part of it. If the other parent has no income in the calculation, that share is the whole figure.

These are sample rows. The full schedule has a row every $50 from $400 to $42,500 and covers up to six children. It is not a straight line, so use the statute's own rows for any other income, and extrapolate only between those.

From the schedule figure to one parent's share

1. Add both parents' gross monthly incomes.
2. Apply the adjustments in § 20-108.2(C): spousal support paid under an order or written agreement, half of any self-employment tax, reasonable business or rental expenses, and any deduction tied to support for other children.
3. Find that total in the schedule, in the column for the number of children.
4. Add allowable health care coverage and work-related child care costs.
5. Multiply the total by each parent's percentage of the combined income.
6. Reduce the noncustodial parent's share by any allowable coverage that parent or their spouse pays directly.

Those steps are the sole custody calculation in § 20-108.2(G)(1). Form DC-637, the sole custody worksheet, follows the same arithmetic. DC-638 is for split custody and DC-640 for shared custody. See the worksheet guide and the guide to all three forms.

Worked examples

All three rows are arithmetic from the schedule above, with no health care coverage or child care added, and with the paying parent having the child 90 days a year or fewer. Real orders can differ.

The first two rows use the same $6,000 household. Swapping who earns more halves the payment, because the split follows income.

What moves the number

• What counts as income. The figure is gross, and the gross income guide covers what goes in. Self-employment income has its own treatment.
• Health care coverage. See health insurance costs in child support.
• Work-related child care. See child care and support.
• Time with each parent. When the parent with fewer days has more than 90 days a year, the shared custody formula generally applies. It multiplies the schedule figure by 1.4 and then applies each parent's share of time and income. A party can show the sole custody amount is lower, in which case the lower amount is paid, and the shared amount is not presumed where either party's gross income is at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level (§ 20-108.2(G)(3)). The 90-day guide explains how days are counted.
• The presumptive minimum. § 20-108.2(B) sets a presumptive minimum obligation, the statutory minimum per month, with listed exemptions and some discretion at low incomes.
• Unreimbursed medical and dental costs. Under § 20-108.2(D), parents generally pay reasonable and necessary unreimbursed expenses in proportion to gross income, on top of the guideline amount.
• A court's findings. A judge can depart from the guideline with written findings based on the factors in § 20-108.1.

When the order already exists

These figures set a starting point for a new calculation. Changing an order that a court has already entered is a separate step, covered in changing a Virginia child support order. A list of the papers to gather is in the records checklist.