Hawaii Child Support Calculator

Hawaii’s formula starts at $455 a month per child and adds a share of what the parents earn above their own basic needs. With gross incomes of $6,000 and $3,000 a month and the children living with the lower earner, the higher earner pays about $860 a month for one child and $1,646 for two.

In the lower rows, two rules shape the amounts: each parent pays at least $91 a month per child, and support can’t be more than the paying parent’s net income on Hawaii’s Table of Incomes. Hawaii has no table of support amounts; the full method is in the 2024 Hawaii Child Support Guidelines.

Hawaii uses a version of the Melson formula. It finds each parent’s income available for support on the state’s Table of Incomes. It adds the children’s basic needs ($455 per child) to a Standard of Living Adjustment (SOLA), an extra amount that lets the children share in what their parents earn above their own basic needs. Each parent pays a share of that total based on their income.

The steps are in Section II of the 2024 Guidelines:

1. Find each parent’s net income on the Table of Incomes: income before taxes, minus standard taxes for a single filer (at 2022 rates) and the $1,693 the parent keeps for basic needs. It isn’t the same as take-home pay.
2. Find each parent’s share of the combined net income, rounded to a whole percent.
3. Add up the children’s basic need: $455 per child, plus child care and the children’s health insurance.
4. Add the SOLA: take each parent’s gross income minus $1,303, add the two, subtract the basic need, and multiply by 10% for one child, 20% for two, or 30% for three or more.
5. Split the total by income share. Each parent’s part can’t be more than their net income, but it is never less than $91 per child.
6. Subtract child care and insurance each parent pays, then adjust for overnights.

Example

One parent earns $6,000 a month and the other $3,000. On the Table of Incomes, their net incomes are $2,460 and $546, so the higher earner’s share is 82%. Their SOLA incomes add up to $6,394; minus the $455 basic need, 10% of that is $593.90. With the child living with the lower earner, the higher earner pays 82% of $1,048.90, or about $860 a month.

Yes, once the parent with fewer overnights has more than 143 a year (about 39% of the time). From 144, support drops in equal steps until equal time. With one child and gross incomes of $6,000 and $3,000 a month, the higher earner pays about $860 a month when they have 143 or fewer overnights, $768 with 150, $598 with 163, and $336 with equal time.

At equal time (182 or 183 overnights each), the two parents’ regular amounts (at least $91 per child each) are compared, and the parent who owes more pays half the difference. That can make the parent with fewer nights the one who receives support. Between 144 and 181 nights, Hawaii’s Extensive Time-Sharing Worksheet lowers support in steps toward that result. See sections II.B.1 and V.H of the 2024 Guidelines.

Reasonable child care a parent pays so the parent with the children can work or go to job training is added to the children’s basic need and split by income share. The parent who pays the provider gets credit for what they already pay.

Only care actually paid counts, and the cost must fit the parents’ finances. See sections II.A.2 and V.D of the 2024 Guidelines.

Every Hawaii order must cover the children’s health insurance or a cash payment toward their medical costs. The children’s premium is added to their basic need and split by income share, and the parent who pays it gets credit.

• Reasonable cost: private insurance is reasonable if the children’s part of the premium is no more than 10% of the providing parent’s net income on the Table of Incomes. The children’s part is what it costs above single coverage, or to add them to an existing plan.
• Nearby care: the plan’s providers must be on the children’s island, or within 30 miles or 30 minutes on Hawaii Island and outside the state.
• Cash payment: when no reasonable, nearby private plan is available, a parent, usually the one paying support, can be ordered to pay 10% of their net income toward medical costs (cash medical support).

See section III.C of the 2024 Guidelines.

If the children live with you and you get cash assistance (TANF), you have to help the Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) get support from the other parent, unless you have a good reason, such as a risk of violence. The support collected repays the state, and Hawaii passes none of it on to you. Food stamps (SNAP) don’t require this.

• Cash assistance (TANF): you sign your right to support over to the state. Helping CSEA means, for example, naming the other parent and going to paternity tests and court dates, under Hawaii’s assistance rules (chapter 17-653).
• Where the support goes: while you get cash assistance, CSEA sends collected support to the Department of Human Services to repay it.
• Food stamps (SNAP): USDA’s state options report lists Hawaii as a state that doesn’t make food stamps depend on helping with child support.

TANF, SSI, and SNAP don’t count as income for child support, under section V.J of the 2024 Guidelines. The Hawaii child support guide covers how this works.

Hawaii lets each parent keep $1,693 a month for their own basic needs before figuring support, so a parent earning about $2,250 a month or less before taxes has no income for support. Each parent still pays at least $91 a month per child, though a judge can order less in exceptional circumstances.

• The $91 minimum: each parent’s share is at least $91 a month per child, even with no net income. With equal time, the two amounts offset and the payment can be lower.
• More than 70% of net income: a judge can treat that as an exceptional circumstance and lower support.
• No ability to earn: when a paying parent has no net income because of a disability, jail or prison, or a job loss they didn’t choose, a judge can order no support.
• Earning less by choice: a judge can count income a parent could earn, after looking at their work history, skills, and local jobs. Being in jail or prison doesn’t count as choosing not to work.

See sections II.B.2, V.J.3, and V.M of the 2024 Guidelines.

No. Hawaii has no income cap: the SOLA keeps adding 10% to 30% of the parents’ income above their basic needs. A judge can lower support that is more than the children reasonably need.

Support above what the children reasonably need, given both parents’ finances, counts as an exceptional circumstance, which lets a judge order less. See sections II.B.2 and V.K of the 2024 Guidelines.

Yes. A judge or CSEA hearings officer can order a different amount when unusual circumstances (Hawaii calls them exceptional circumstances) make the formula amount unfair. They must state the formula amount and the reasons for the change.

Examples the Guidelines list include support above 70% of the paying parent’s net income, supporting other children, a child’s or parent’s extraordinary needs, private school costs, and support above the children’s reasonable needs. Remarriage, stepchildren, visitation travel, and heavy debt usually don’t qualify. See section II.B.2 of the 2024 Guidelines.

Ask CSEA to review your order, or file a motion in Family Court. Once an order is three years old, you can ask without showing any change; sooner, you need a major change, such as in income or custody. Keep following the current order until it changes.

• When: a change is presumed major when the guideline amount would be at least 10% higher or lower than the current order.
• Through CSEA: send a written request with your current financial information. A hearings officer decides if either parent disagrees with CSEA’s proposal.
• Through Family Court: on Oahu, file a Motion and Declaration to Modify Child Support (1F-P-580). Other circuits have their own versions on the Judiciary’s court forms page.

The rules are in section IV of the 2024 Guidelines. The Hawaii child support guide walks through each step.

Yes. The Hawaii State Judiciary publishes the 2024 Child Support Guidelines Excel Worksheets, which work out the guideline amount.

Download the 2024 Child Support Guidelines Excel Worksheets, or get the printable worksheets and the Table of Incomes from the Judiciary’s child support guidelines page.