Oklahoma Child Support Calculator

It depends on both parents’ monthly income before taxes, the number of children, and parenting time. If you earn $1,000 a week, your one child lives mostly with the other parent, and that parent earns $3,000 a month, you would pay about $504 a month, or $726 for two children. Child care and health insurance costs are added on top.

To build the table, we convert weekly pay to monthly pay (× 52 ÷ 12). The amounts assume neither parent has the deductions Oklahoma allows, such as for self-employment or other children. With a court order or agreement for 121 or more overnights a year (about 10 a month), support is lower (see the 50/50 section below). Oklahoma’s schedule, which lists support for both parents together, is in section 119 of Title 43.

Oklahoma uses an income shares formula. It adds both parents’ monthly incomes before taxes (after a few adjustments) and looks up the basic support 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 sections 118A to 119 of Title 43:

1. Find each parent’s gross income. Count income from all sources before taxes, including self-employment profit, Social Security, unemployment, and disability benefits. Leave out TANF, SSI, SNAP, and child support received for other children.
2. Subtract adjustments: 7.65% of self-employment income, alimony paid from an earlier case, payments on the parents’ shared debts, and support for other children the parent supports. The result is adjusted gross income.
3. Add the two incomes and look up the schedule amount for that income and the number of children.
4. Split it by income share. A parent with 60% of the combined income owes 60%.
5. Adjust for parenting time if the parent with less time has at least 121 overnights.
6. Add child care and health insurance, split the same way, and credit Social Security or veterans’ benefits paid to the children on a parent’s record.

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 $732. The higher earner has two thirds of the income, so with the child living mostly with the other parent, they pay about $488 a month.

Yes, when a court order or agreement gives the parent with less time at least 121 overnights a year (about a third of the time), and more as time evens out. With one child and gross pay of $4,000 and $2,000 a month, the higher earner pays $488 a month with up to 120 overnights, about $475 at 125, $391 at 132, $299 at 144, and $183 at equal time.

Oklahoma multiplies the schedule amount by 2 at 121 to 131 overnights, 1.75 at 132 to 143, and 1.5 at 144 or more. Each parent’s share of that is multiplied by the other parent’s share of the year, and the parent who owes more pays the difference. The payment can’t be more than it would be without the adjustment, and a parent with more than 205 overnights pays no base support.

The adjustment needs a court order or agreement for the overnights. An overnight counts when the child is with the parent for at least 12 hours and the parent spends a reasonable amount on their care. The adjustment is the starting point, but a judge can deny it if it isn’t in the child’s best interest or the extra time doesn’t add to that parent’s costs. See sections 118A and 118E of Title 43.

Child care needed so a parent can work, look for work, or attend school or training is added to 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. The cost is averaged over the year. A family in the state’s child care subsidy program counts only its copayment. See section 118G of Title 43.

The children’s health insurance premium is added to support and split by income share, and the parent who pays it gets credit. Coverage is reasonable in cost when the providing parent’s share of the premium is no more than 5% of their gross income.

• The premium: only the part of the premium that covers the children counts. The Insurance Premium Worksheet works it out.
• Uncovered bills: reasonable and necessary medical costs insurance doesn’t pay are split by income share, unless the parents agree otherwise and the court approves.
• Cash medical support: when no plan is available, or the only coverage is SoonerCare (Oklahoma’s Medicaid) or another public plan, the paying parent pays a monthly amount toward the children’s medical costs, up to 5% of their gross income.

See section 118F of Title 43.

If the children live with you and you get TANF (cash assistance), you have to help Child Support Services get support from the other parent, and the support collected repays the state instead of coming to you. Food stamps (SNAP) don’t come with that requirement in Oklahoma.

• TANF: opening a TANF case starts a child support case, and refusing to help can cost you the assistance, according to the Child Support Services FAQ.
• What your family keeps: none of the support collected while you get TANF. Oklahoma keeps it to repay the assistance, under OAC 340:25-5-351. When TANF ends, current support goes to you.
• Food stamps (SNAP): the USDA’s state options report shows Oklahoma doesn’t make SNAP depend on helping with child support.

If helping could put you or your children in danger, you can ask to be excused (“good cause”). The Oklahoma child support guide covers how this works.

Below $650 a month in combined income, Oklahoma’s schedule amount is $50 for any number of children, split by each parent’s share of income. A judge can order less when the formula amount would cause extreme financial hardship.

• Very low incomes: with $300 a month each and the children living mostly with one parent, the parent with less time pays half of $50, or $25. A paying parent with no income has a 0% share, so the formula gives $0.
• Extreme hardship: a judge can order less when the evidence supports it and it isn’t against the child’s interest, under section 118H of Title 43.
• Income a judge decides you could earn: when a parent’s actual income isn’t known or fair to use, a judge can count what they could earn, looking at things like local wages and minimum wage for at least 25 hours a week. This doesn’t apply to a parent who is permanently unable to work or jailed for more than 180 days in a row (with some exceptions, like jail for not paying support), under section 118B of Title 43.

No. The schedule stops at $15,000 a month in combined income. Above that, support is the $15,000 amount plus an additional amount the judge sets.

At $15,000, the schedule amount is $1,372 for one child, $1,961 for two, and $2,305 for three. For more than six children, support is the six-child amount plus what the judge adds. See section 119(B) and (C) of Title 43.

Yes, when the formula amount would be unfair and a different amount is in the child’s best interest. The judge must explain why in writing, and can’t lower support so far that the parent receiving it can’t cover the children’s housing, food, and clothing.

Reasons include extreme economic hardship and a child’s special medical needs. A judge can also add extraordinary education costs and special expenses like private school, camp, lessons, or school activities. See section 118H of Title 43.

Ask Child Support Services to review your order, or file a motion to modify it in court. Keep following the current order until it changes. A new amount usually starts the first day of the month after the motion is filed.

• When: after a significant change, like a change in income, child care or insurance costs, or parenting time, or a parent jailed for more than 180 days.
• Through Child Support Services: if your case is with CSS and the order wasn’t entered or reviewed in the past 12 months, you can ask your caseworker in writing for a review. The order can change if the new amount differs by more than 20%, according to the CSS FAQ.
• Through the court: standard motion forms are on the Oklahoma State Courts Network forms page.

The rules are in section 118I of Title 43. The Oklahoma child support guide walks through each step.

Yes. Oklahoma Human Services publishes the Child Support Computation, an Excel calculator, with a fillable form and instructions.

Download the calculator from Oklahoma Human Services’ Guidelines and Computation page and save it before using it. The Child Support Computation Instructions explain each line. The completed form is attached to every order that sets or changes support, under section 120 of Title 43.