Missouri Child Support Calculator

It depends on both parents’ monthly income before taxes (gross income), the number of children, and the overnights the children spend with the paying parent. For example, if you earn $4,000 a month, the other parent earns $2,000, and your one child spends fewer than 36 nights a year with you, you pay about $701 a month. Child care and health insurance are added on top.

Each row turns weekly pay into monthly pay (× 52 ÷ 12). Four nights a month is about 49 nights a year, which earns the paying parent a 6% overnight credit. If the other parent earned $1,750 a month or less ($2,200 with two children, $2,550 with three), there would be no credit and the amounts would be higher. The table assumes no alimony and no other children. Missouri’s schedule of starting amounts for both parents together, in $50 steps up to $40,000 a month and six children, comes with Form 14 and its directions, in effect since January 1, 2026.

Missouri uses an income shares formula, worked out on a court worksheet called Form 14. It adds both parents’ gross monthly incomes and looks up the starting amount in the schedule. Each parent pays a share that matches their share of the income, and the paying parent gets a credit for the nights the children spend with them.

The steps are in the Form 14 directions:

1. Find each parent’s adjusted gross income. Start with income from all sources before taxes. Add any spousal maintenance (alimony) the parent receives. Subtract maintenance they pay, support they pay for other children, and a set amount for any other children who live with them.
2. Find each parent’s share of the combined income, to a tenth of a percent.
3. Look up the basic amount (the starting amount for both parents together) for the combined income, rounded to the nearest $50 row.
4. Add child care, health insurance, and extraordinary costs, and split the total by income share.
5. Subtract credits for those costs the paying parent pays and for the paying parent’s overnights.
6. Check the low-income calculation if the paying parent’s income is low enough to fall in the schedule’s shaded area (explained below).

The parent with most of the overnights receives support.

Example

One parent earns $4,000 a month and the other $2,000, so their combined income is $6,000. The basic amount for one child at that income is $1,051. The higher earner has 66.7% of the income, so with fewer than 36 overnights a year, they pay about $701 a month.

Yes, and it starts well short of 50/50. The paying parent gets a credit from 36 overnights a year (about 3 a month), and it grows with more time. There is usually no credit when the parent receiving support earns $1,750 a month or less (one child). With one child and gross incomes of $4,000 and $2,000 a month, the higher earner pays $701 a month with fewer than 36 overnights, about $596 at 92, $417 at 146, and $344 at equal time.

The credit is a percentage of the basic amount: 6% for 36 to 72 overnights a year, 9% for 73 to 91, 10% for 92 to 109, then rising in steps from 13% at 110 to 34% at 181 to 183, under the Form 14 line 11 directions.

• Equal time: the parent with the higher gross income is presumed to pay, unless the other parent pays most of the children’s everyday costs like clothes and activities. If both parents earn exactly the same, Form 14 doesn’t say who pays, so the calculator above says a judge decides who pays and how much. A judge can raise the credit to as much as 50%, which would bring the example to about $175, under RSMo §452.340.11.
• Receiving parent’s income: the credit usually applies only if the parent receiving support earns more than $1,750 a month for one child ($2,200 for two, $2,550 for three, $2,850 for four, $3,100 for five, $3,600 for six). A judge can still give it when the paying parent would have that little left after support.
• Time not used: the credit can be denied if the paying parent doesn’t use the overnights or doesn’t spend much during them.

Child care a parent needs in order to work is added to the basic amount and split by each parent’s share of income. Each parent gets credit for the child care they pay.

For example, if child care costs $600 a month after the child care tax credit and you have two thirds of the combined income, your share is $400, under the Form 14 line 6 directions.

The children’s health insurance premium and their regular uninsured medical costs over $250 a year per child are added to the basic amount and split by each parent’s share of income. The parent who pays the premium gets credit for it.

• Premium: only the children’s part counts. If that isn’t known, the premium is divided by the number of people covered.
• Uninsured costs: regular, predictable costs like braces or physical therapy count once they pass $250 a year per child. One-time bills from an illness or injury are split by a separate order, under the Form 14 line 6 directions.
• Coverage: when a parent’s job or union offers coverage at a reasonable cost, the order must require it, under RSMo §454.603.

If the children live with you and you get Temporary Assistance (Missouri’s cash assistance program), you have to help the state get child support from the other parent, for example by naming them and going to paternity tests and court dates. The state keeps the support it collects while you get assistance. Food stamps (SNAP) don’t require this.

• Temporary Assistance: the state keeps the support it collects, up to the assistance it has paid you, and none of it is added to your check, under the Temporary Assistance manual.
• Food stamps (SNAP): Missouri doesn’t require you to help with child support to get SNAP, according to the USDA SNAP State Options Report.

If helping could put you or your children in danger, you can ask to be excused (Missouri calls this good cause). The Missouri child support guide has more on benefits and child support.

When the paying parent earns little (up to $1,750 a month for one child, $3,600 for six), Form 14 also works out support from that parent’s income alone. The parent pays whichever amount is lower. These low incomes are shaded on the schedule.

• Example: one parent earns $1,500 a month and the other $4,500. The schedule amount for $1,500 alone is $184, which is less than the usual share, so the lower earner pays $184. With 92 overnights, the credit lowers it to $79.
• Very low combined income: at $1,300 or less, the schedule amount is $60, split by income share.
• Earning less than they could: a judge can base support on income a parent could earn, looking at their work history, skills, health, and local jobs. For a paying parent sentenced to six months or more in jail or prison, support is based on what they actually earn.

The rules are in the Form 14 directions for lines 1 and 5.

Missouri’s schedule stops at $40,000 a month in combined income. Above that, the top amounts apply ($3,332 for one child), and a judge can order more.

The top amounts are $3,332 for one child, $4,905 for two, and $5,728 for three. Income over $40,000 is one of the reasons a judge can order a different amount, under the Form 14 line 12 comments.

Yes. A judge can order a different amount, but has to state in the court record why the Form 14 amount would be unfair or wrong for the family.

Reasons the law lists include the children’s needs and resources, each parent’s resources and needs, the standard of living the children would have had, their health and education needs, the parenting arrangement, and child care costs. See RSMo §452.340.

Ask the Family Support Division to review your order, or file a motion to modify it in circuit court. A new Form 14 amount at least 20% different from the current order usually counts as a big enough change. Keep following the current order until it changes.

• When: after a big change that is expected to last. The 20% test applies when the current order came from Form 14.
• Through the Family Support Division: either parent can ask for a review every three years, or sooner in some cases.
• Timing: a new amount can only apply to payments due after the other parent is served with the request.

The rules are in RSMo §452.370. The Missouri child support guide walks through each step.

Missouri has no online calculator. Its official tool is Form 14, the Child Support Amount Calculation Worksheet, which courts and the Family Support Division use in every case.

Get the current Form 14, directions, and schedule from the Missouri courts. This page follows its steps.