Georgia Child Support Calculator

It depends on both parents’ monthly income before taxes, the number of children, and the parenting time in your court order. For example, if you earn $4,000 a month, the other parent earns $2,000, and your one child lives with the other parent with no parenting time in the order, you pay about $673 a month. Every day of court-ordered parenting time lowers that, and health insurance and child care are added on top.

Each row turns weekly pay into monthly pay (× 52 ÷ 12). The table assumes neither parent has income deductions, such as support for other children. With more court-ordered parenting time, the amounts go down. Georgia’s table of starting amounts for both parents together, in $50 steps up to $40,000 a month and six children, is in O.C.G.A. §19-6-15(o).

Georgia uses an income shares formula, which means both parents’ incomes count. It adds both parents’ monthly incomes before taxes, looks up the support amount for that total in the state’s table, and splits it between the parents by their shares of the income.

The steps are in O.C.G.A. §19-6-15(b):

1. Find each parent’s gross income, from any source, before taxes. Cash assistance (TANF), food stamps (SNAP), SSI, and child support received for other children don’t count.
2. Subtract a few deductions: half of self-employment tax, support paid under other orders, and, if the court allows it, a credit for other children living with the parent.
3. Add the two incomes and look up the table amount for that total and the number of children, at the closest $50 row.
4. Split it by income share.
5. Adjust for parenting time in the court order.
6. Add health insurance and child care, split the same way.
7. Apply any changes the judge orders, then the low-income limit.

Example

One parent earns $4,000 a month and the other $2,000, so their combined income is $6,000. The table amount for one child at that income is $1,009. The higher earner has two thirds of the income, so with no parenting time in the order, they pay about $673 a month.

Yes. Since January 2026, any parenting time in a court order lowers support, starting with the first day, and the drop grows quickly as time nears 50/50. With one child and gross incomes of $4,000 and $2,000 a month, the higher earner pays $673 a month with no parenting time, about $632 with 80 days a year, $592 with 100 days, $404 with 146 days, and $168 with equal time.

The formula weighs each parent’s share of the table amount by the days each parent has the children, and the weight grows faster than the days do. That is why the first days lower support a little and days near 50/50 lower it a lot. Days are the overnights in the order, averaged over two years. For regular daytime visits, Georgia adds up the hours and divides by 24. With no court order for parenting time, there is no adjustment. When the parent with more time earns enough more, the adjustment can make that parent the one who pays. See O.C.G.A. §19-6-15(g) and the Child Support Commission’s guide to the 2026 changes.

Child care a parent pays so they can work, or go to school or job training, is added to the table amount and split by each parent’s share of income. The parent who pays the provider gets credit for what they already pay.

The cost is averaged by month. If a subsidy pays part of the bill, only what the parents pay counts. See O.C.G.A. §19-6-15(h)(1).

The children’s health insurance premium is added to the table amount and split by income share, and the parent who pays it gets credit. Medical bills insurance doesn’t cover are split the same way, outside the monthly amount.

• Only the children’s part counts: on a family plan, the premium is divided by the number of people covered, under O.C.G.A. §19-6-15(h)(2).
• Reasonable cost: in DCSS cases, coverage is reasonable when it costs the parent no more than 5% of gross income, under the DHS child support rules.
• Medicaid and PeachCare for Kids: either one meets the order’s health care requirement, though a judge can still order a parent to add private insurance.
• Uncovered bills: copays and other costs insurance doesn’t pay are split by income share unless the order says otherwise, under §19-6-15(h)(3).

If the children live with you and you get cash assistance (TANF), you have to help the Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) get support from the other parent, unless you have a good reason, such as a risk of violence. The support collected goes to the state, though some families get part of it as a gap payment. Food stamps (SNAP) don’t require this.

• Cash assistance (TANF): your right to support goes to the state while you get TANF. Helping DCSS means, for example, naming the other parent and going to paternity tests and court dates, under the TANF manual.
• Gap payments: if your TANF grant is below the state’s standard of need for your family (what Georgia says a family your size needs each month), DCSS sends you collected support up to that gap, and it doesn’t lower your TANF check. The state keeps the rest. See gap budgeting.
• Food stamps (SNAP): USDA’s state options report lists Georgia as a state that doesn’t make food stamps depend on helping with child support.

TANF, SNAP, and SSI don’t count as income for child support, under §19-6-15(f)(2). The Georgia child support guide covers how this works.

Since January 2026, Georgia limits support for a parent with a low income. With income of $1,500 a month or less, support can’t be more than 19% of it for one child, rising to 28% for six. A table phases the limit out at higher incomes.

• $1,500 or less: the limit is 19% of the parent’s income for one child, 24% for two, 25% for three, 26% for four, 27% for five, and 28% for six.
• Above $1,500: a table sets the limit in $50 steps until it stops applying, at $2,450 for one child up to $3,950 for six.
• How it applies: the parent pays the lower of the regular amount and the limit. The calculator above applies it.
• Earning less by choice: if a parent chooses not to work or works less than they could, a judge can base support on what they could earn. A judge can’t do this because a parent is in jail or prison.

See O.C.G.A. §19-6-15(i.1) and (p) for the limit, and §19-6-15(f)(4)(D) for earning capacity.

No. Above $40,000 a month in combined income, Georgia starts from the table’s top amount ($3,222 for one child), and a judge can add more.

A judge or jury can raise it for the child’s best interest, under O.C.G.A. §19-6-15(i)(2)(A).

Yes. A judge can order more or less if the formula amount would be unfair or wrong for the family and the change is best for the child. The judge has to explain this in writing.

Reasons the law lists include high income, vision or dental insurance, life insurance, the child care tax credit, travel costs for parenting time, alimony, a parent paying the mortgage on the child’s home, and extraordinary school or medical costs. The order must state the guideline amount and why it changed. See O.C.G.A. §19-6-15(i).

Ask DCSS to review your order, or file a petition to change it in superior court. You need a major change in either parent’s income or finances or in the child’s needs, and you usually can’t file again within two years of your own last petition. Keep following the current order until it changes.

• Through DCSS: either parent can ask for a review with the Request for Review of Child Support Order, every three years or sooner after a major change. DCSS seeks a change when the new amount differs by at least 15% and $25 a month. The parent who asks pays a $100 fee when the review is done, unless they get TANF or Medicaid or earn $1,000 a month or less before taxes.
• Through the court: file a petition to modify in superior court, using your county’s forms. The Georgia courts’ self-help page lists where to get them.
• No two-year wait: after an income loss of 25% or more you didn’t choose, or when the paying parent uses less or more parenting time than the order gives.

The rules are in O.C.G.A. §19-6-15(k). The Georgia child support guide walks through each step.

Yes. The Georgia Child Support Commission publishes the Georgia Child Support Calculator, which fills out the worksheet and schedules courts attach to the order.

The Georgia Child Support Calculator applies the 2026 parenting time and low-income rules for you.