Kentucky Child Support Calculator

Kentucky’s table gives a total monthly amount for both parents together, based on their combined monthly gross income (pay before taxes) and the number of children. The paying parent pays a share that matches their part of the income. For example, if you earn $4,333 a month before taxes, the other parent earns $3,000, and the children live with the other parent, you pay about $559 a month for one child and $797 for two, before child care and health insurance.

With 88 or more days a year with the children, the paying parent gets a credit that lowers these amounts. The state table behind them, which gives the total for both parents together in $100 steps up to $30,000 a month and six or more children, is in KRS 403.212(9), in effect since July 1, 2025.

Kentucky uses an income shares formula. It adds both parents’ monthly gross incomes and looks up what the state says children cost at that income. The paying parent pays a share based on their part of the income, minus a credit for parenting time.

The rules are in KRS 403.212:

1. Find each parent’s gross income from all sources, including SSI and Social Security, leaving out KTAP and SNAP.
2. Subtract spousal support (maintenance) paid and support for children born before this case. The result is called adjusted gross income.
3. Add the two incomes and find the nearest $100 row in the table for the number of children.
4. Split it by each parent’s share of the income. A parent with 60% of the combined income owes 60%. A paying parent with a low income pays the amount for their own income instead.
5. Subtract the parenting time credit when the paying parent has the children at least 88 days a year.
6. Add child care and health insurance, split the same way.

Example

One parent earns $3,000 a month before taxes and the other $2,000, so their combined income is $5,000. The table amount for one child at that income is $751. The higher earner has 60% of the income, so with the child living with the other parent, they pay about $451 a month.

Yes, and it starts well before 50/50. Once the paying parent has the children 88 days a year (about 24% of the time), they can ask for a credit. The credit starts at 15% of the table amount and grows to 50% at equal time, when the higher earner pays. With one child and gross incomes of $3,000 and $2,000 a month, the higher earner pays $451 a month under 88 days, about $338 at 88, $263 at 130, $135 at 163, and $75 at equal time.

The credit is 15% at 88 to 115 days, 20.5% at 116 to 129, 25% at 130 to 142, 30.5% at 143 to 152, 36% at 153 to 162, 42% at 163 to 172, 48.5% at 173 to 181, and 50% at equal time. The credit is a percentage of the whole table amount, subtracted from the paying parent’s share. That means it can change which parent pays. With equal time and equal incomes, neither parent pays. A paying parent who qualifies for the low-income amount gets no credit.

• What counts as a day: more than 12 hours in a row caring for the children, under a court order or an arrangement both parents follow.
• A judge can adjust it based on whether a parent can keep a home for the children, whether the parents follow the schedule, and different schedules for different children. A judge can also decide whether to give the credit when the parent receiving support gets KTAP, SNAP, Medicaid, or KCHIP.
• If the schedule isn’t followed: either parent can ask the court to change support. A 15% change in the number of days is enough reason to ask.

See KRS 403.2122.

Reasonable child care costs a parent has so they can work, look for work, or go to school to get a job are split by each parent’s share of the income. This is added on top of the table amount.

For example, if child care costs $600 a month and you have 60% of the combined income, your share is $360. See KRS 403.211(6).

A judge orders a parent to insure the children when it costs that parent no more than 5% of their gross income. The cost of insuring the children is split by each parent’s share of the income. The parent who carries the insurance pays the first $250 a year of medical bills insurance doesn’t cover, and the parents split the rest.

• Reasonable and accessible: the 5% limit applies to the cost of adding the children, and the plan must have doctors within 60 minutes or 60 miles of the children’s home. Medicaid and KCHIP count as coverage.
• Uncovered bills: after the first $250 a year, the parents split medical, dental, vision, and counseling costs insurance doesn’t pay (Kentucky calls these extraordinary medical expenses) by each parent’s share of the income, unless they agree otherwise.

See KRS 403.211(7) to (10).

If you get KTAP (Kentucky’s cash assistance), you have to help the child support office get support from the other parent, for example by naming them and helping prove who the father is. The support collected repays the state instead of coming to you. Food stamps (SNAP) don’t have this rule, but a paying parent who is behind on support can lose SNAP.

• KTAP: if you refuse to help without a good reason, such as a risk of serious harm to you or your child, your KTAP payment drops by 25% of the maximum, under 921 KAR 2:006.
• What you keep: while you get KTAP, Kentucky keeps the support collected to pay back the assistance, under the state child support FAQ.
• Food stamps (SNAP): a paying parent who is behind on court-ordered support can’t get SNAP until they catch up. There are exceptions, such as good cause or a household with a child or a pregnant member, under 921 KAR 3:027.
• Income: KTAP and SNAP don’t count as income for support, but SSI does, under KRS 403.212(3).

The Kentucky child support guide covers how the child support program works.

When the paying parent earns $1,100 a month or less for one child (up to $1,600 for six or more children), they pay the table amount for their own income alone, with no parenting time credit. Otherwise, support is at least $60 a month, unless the parenting time credit brings it lower.

• Who qualifies: a paying parent with adjusted gross income of $1,100 a month or less for one child, $1,300 for two, $1,400 for three, $1,500 for four or five, or $1,600 for six or more. The amounts for their income alone leave them $915 a month to live on (Kentucky’s self-support reserve).
• What they pay: the table amount for their own income alone, at least $60, with no parenting time credit. Kentucky never applies both the low-income rule and the credit. This is how Kentucky’s official estimator works it out.
• Earning less by choice: a judge can use what a parent could earn if they don’t work or work less than they could. This doesn’t apply to a parent who is in jail or prison, physically or mentally unable to work, or caring for the parents’ child age 3 or younger.

See KRS 403.212(3), (5), and (6) and KRS 403.2122(3).

No. Above $30,000 a month in combined income, Kentucky’s table ends and the judge decides the amount.

See KRS 403.212(7). Income above the table is also one of the listed reasons a judge can order a different amount, under KRS 403.211(3).

Yes. Courts start from the amount the guidelines give, but a judge can order a different amount when that amount would be unfair or wrong for the family. The judge must explain why.

The reasons the law lists include a child’s unusual medical, dental, or educational needs, a parent’s own unusual needs, the child’s own money, a parent not following the parenting schedule, and an agreement between parents who know the guideline amount (unless the family gets public assistance). See KRS 403.211(2) and (3).

Ask the court to change the order (file a motion to modify), or ask your local child support office for a review. A change applies only to payments due after the motion is filed, so file soon and keep paying the current order until it changes.

• When: after a big change that is expected to last. If the guidelines now give an amount at least 15% different from the current order, that counts, under KRS 403.213. A 15% change in parenting time days is also enough reason to ask, under KRS 403.2122(5).
• Through the child support office: either parent can ask for a review, and the office reviews cases where the family gets public assistance. The Attorney General’s child support page explains how.

The Kentucky child support guide walks through each step.

Yes. Kentucky’s child support program offers the Kentucky Child Support Calculator, which covers both parents’ income and deductions, child care, health insurance, and shared parenting time.

Try the Kentucky Child Support Calculator with your exact figures. It still gives a 10.5% credit at 73 to 87 days, from a rule that ended in July 2024. Under current law, the credit starts at 88 days, under KRS 403.2122.