New Mexico Child Support Calculator

New Mexico child support depends on both parents’ income before taxes, the number of children, and the days each parent has the children. For example, a parent earning $1,000 a week before taxes, whose children live mostly with the other parent earning $3,000 a month, pays about $596 a month for one child and $890 for two.

The amounts are the same for any schedule under 128 days a year with the paying parent; from 128 days, the shared custody formula lowers them. When the paying parent’s income is in the schedule’s low-income range (up to $1,800 a month for one child, $2,200 for two, or $2,500 for three), only their own income counts (see the low-income rules below). At $250 a week, that gives the schedule’s smallest amounts: $60 for one child plus $15 for each additional child. The schedule these amounts start from, in $50 steps up to $40,000 of combined monthly income and six children, is Appendix 1 of 8.50.108 NMAC.

New Mexico uses an income shares formula. It adds both parents’ monthly incomes before taxes and looks up the support amount for that total in the state’s schedule. Each parent then pays a share that matches their share of the income.

The rules are in section 40-4-11.1 NMSA:

1. Find each parent’s gross income. Count income from all sources before taxes, including self-employment profit, Social Security, unemployment, and alimony received. Leave out New Mexico Works cash assistance, SSI, other needs-based benefits, and a new spouse’s income. Subtract alimony and child support the parent pays under a court order, and a reasonable amount for other children living with them.
2. Add the two incomes.
3. Look up the schedule amount for that combined income and the number of children.
4. Split it by income share. A parent with 60% of the combined income is responsible for 60%.
5. Add child care and insurance premiums, split the same way.
6. Use the shared custody worksheet if each parent has the children at least 35% of the year.

Example

One parent earns $4,000 a month before taxes and the other $2,000, so their combined income is $6,000. The schedule amount for one child at that income is $927. The higher earner has two thirds of the income, so with the child living mostly with the other parent, they pay about $618 a month.

Yes, and it starts before 50/50: once each parent has the children at least 35% of the year (128 days), a shared custody formula lowers support. With one child and gross pay of $4,000 and $2,000 a month, the higher earner pays $618 a month with fewer than 128 days, about $440 at 35%, about $371 at 40% (146 days), and about $232 at 50/50.

Shared custody (Worksheet B) applies when each parent provides a home, the children spend at least 35% of the year in each, and the parents share the duties and costs of raising them. The formula multiplies the schedule amount by 1.5, lets each parent keep the share that matches their days with the children, and has the parent who owes more pay the difference. New Mexico counts 24-hour days; the calculator above treats each night as a day. Below 35%, a judge can lower support during a visit of a month or longer. See section 40-4-11.1(F) to (I) NMSA.

Child care a parent needs to work or look for work is added to basic support and split by each parent’s share of income. The parent who pays the provider gets credit for what they already pay.

For example, if child care costs $300 a month and you have two thirds of the combined income, your share is $200, under section 40-4-11.1(J) NMSA. When the paying parent’s income is in the schedule’s shaded low-income area, child care and insurance aren’t added, under 8.50.108.10 NMAC.

The children’s medical and dental insurance premium is added to basic support and split by each parent’s share of income, and the parent who pays the premium gets credit for it. In cases with the state’s Child Support Services Division, insurance is affordable if it costs the parent no more than 5% of their gross income.

• What the insurance costs: only the cost of adding the children counts, or the difference between single and family coverage, under 8.50.109.8 NMAC.
• Bills insurance doesn’t pay: medical, dental, and counseling costs above $100 per child per year can be added to support under section 40-4-11.1(K) NMSA.
• Medicaid: children on Medicaid count as covered for the order, under 8.50.109.8 NMAC.

If the children live with you and you get New Mexico Works (the state’s cash assistance), you have to help the Child Support Services Division get support from the other parent, for example by giving information about who and where they are. You get up to $100 a month of the support paid for one child, or $200 for two or more. Food stamps (SNAP) don’t have this requirement in New Mexico.

• New Mexico Works: if you don’t help the Child Support Services Division, your cash assistance is cut, under 8.102.420.14 NMAC.
• What you keep: the Health Care Authority passes on up to $100 a month of the support paid for one child, or $200 for two or more, and keeps the rest to repay the assistance. That money doesn’t lower your cash assistance, under 8.102.520.9(J) NMAC.
• Food stamps (SNAP): the USDA’s state options report shows New Mexico doesn’t tie SNAP to child support.

If helping could put you or your children in danger, you can ask to be excused (New Mexico calls this “good cause”), under 8.102.420.14(E) NMAC.

New Mexico’s schedule leaves the paying parent at least $1,200 a month to live on (the self-support reserve). When the paying parent’s income is in the schedule’s shaded low-income range (up to $1,800 a month for one child), support comes from their own income alone, even if the other parent earns much more.

• Paying parent in the shaded area: for one child, a paying parent earning $1,800 pays $299, even when the other parent earns $10,000. The shaded area runs higher with more children ($2,200 for two, $2,500 for three). This applies only when one parent has the children more than 65% of the year, under 8.50.108.10 NMAC.
• Very low incomes: up to $1,450 a month, the schedule amount is $60 for one child plus $15 for each additional child, so a paying parent with little or no income still owes that. With shared custody and combined income under $1,450, the courts’ worksheet still sets support at that amount. When support would be more than 40% of the paying parent’s gross income, the law treats it as a hardship, so a judge can order less, under section 40-4-11.1(L) NMSA.
• Earning less by choice: a judge can base support on income a parent could earn, but not for a parent in jail for 180 days or more, under section 40-4-11.1(D) and (E) NMSA.

No. Above $40,000 a month in combined gross income, New Mexico adds a percentage of the income over $40,000 to the schedule’s top amount, from 5.4% for one child to 11.6% for six.

The percentages are 5.4% for one child, 7.7% for two, 8.7% for three, 9.7% for four, 10.7% for five, and 11.6% for six, under the 2024 schedule. When support would be more than 40% of the paying parent’s gross income, the law treats it as a hardship, so a judge can order less, under section 40-4-11.1(L) NMSA.

Yes. A judge can order a different amount when the schedule amount would be unfair or inappropriate. The judge has to write down what the schedule amount would have been and why the order is different.

A serious hardship for either parent or the children can justify more or less. Support can also include large medical, dental, counseling, and school costs, and travel costs for long-distance parenting time. See sections 40-4-11.1(K) and 40-4-11.2 NMSA.

Ask the Child Support Services Division to review your order, or ask the district court to change it. If the new amount would be more than 20% higher or lower and the last order is more than a year old, that counts as a big enough change. Keep following the current order until it changes.

• When: after a big change, like a change in income, child care costs, or the parenting schedule, or the paying parent going to jail for more than six months.
• Through the Child Support Services Division: if your case is with the division, either parent can ask for a review.
• Through the court: the Second Judicial District’s page on changing an order explains the 20% test and the forms.

A new amount can only go back to the date the request was filed, so file soon after things change, under 8.50.108.12 NMAC. The New Mexico child support guide walks through each step.

Yes. New Mexico Courts publishes the New Mexico Courts Child Support Calculator, which fills in Worksheet A (regular visitation) or Worksheet B (shared custody) and adds child care, insurance, and other costs.

The New Mexico Courts Child Support Calculator uses the same January 2024 schedule as this page.