West Virginia Child Support Calculator

West Virginia child support depends on both parents’ monthly incomes before taxes, the number of children, and how many overnights each parent has. With one child, when one parent earns $4,000 a month and the other earns $2,000, the higher earner pays about $579 a month if the child lives mostly with the other parent.

Each row turns weekly income into monthly income (× 52 ÷ 12). At $400 a week and below, some amounts are lowered by the low-income limit (see below). The amounts start from basic support, West Virginia’s table of support for both parents together by their combined income. When the parents together earn less than $550 a month, basic support is $50 a month or an amount the judge sets, under §48-13-302. The full table, in $50 steps up to $35,000 and six children, is in §48-13-301 of the West Virginia Code.

West Virginia uses an income shares formula, so both parents’ incomes count. It adds the parents’ monthly incomes before taxes and looks up what the state says children cost at that income. It then splits that amount by each parent’s share of the income. The parent with fewer overnights pays their share to the other parent.

The steps follow Worksheet A (§48-13-403):

1. Find each parent’s adjusted income. Start with income before taxes from all sources, including half of average overtime (§48-1-228), minus child support and alimony paid under earlier orders (§48-1-202). A judge can also subtract an allowance for other children living with the parent, and student loan payments up to 25% of income before taxes (§48-13-202). WV WORKS, SSI, and SNAP don’t count as income.
2. Add the two incomes.
3. Look up the basic support for that combined income and 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%.
5. Add child care and health costs, split the same way.
6. Check whether the paying parent can afford it if they earn less than $2,600 a month.

If each parent has more than 127 overnights a year, Worksheet B is used instead.

Example

One parent earns $4,000 a month and the other $2,000, so their combined income is $6,000. Basic support for one child at that income is $869. The higher earner has two thirds of the income, so with the child living mostly with the other parent, they pay about $579 a month.

Yes, and it starts before 50/50. Once each parent has more than 127 overnights a year (35%), a shared parenting formula lowers support. With one child and gross incomes of $4,000 and $2,000 a month, the higher earner pays $579 a month at 127 overnights or fewer, about $439 at 128, about $371 at 146 (40%), and about $232 at equal time.

Under §48-13-501, the shared formula multiplies basic support by 1.6. It then works out what each parent owes for the time the children spend with the other parent, and the parent who owes more pays the difference. Support drops sharply when the shared formula starts: going from 127 to 128 nights lowers the example by $140. The low-income limit doesn’t apply under the shared formula.

Child care a parent needs in order to work is added to basic support. The parents split it by their shares of the combined income. West Virginia counts 75% of the bill to account for the federal child care tax credit, unless the parent the children live with earns less than a set amount.

For example, a $600 monthly bill counts as $450, and a parent with two thirds of the combined income pays $300 of it. The full bill counts when the parent the children live with earns less than $1,150 a month before taxes with one child. That limit rises to $2,350 for six or more children, under §48-13-601.

If either parent can get the children reasonably priced health insurance, the court orders that parent to enroll them. The cost of covering the children is added to support and split by each parent’s share of the income. The parent who pays the premium gets credit for it.

• Uninsured bills: medical costs insurance doesn’t pay, above $250 a year per child, are split by each parent’s share of the income, under §48-12-102.
• No insurance available: a judge orders a monthly payment toward the children’s medical costs instead. Together with any premiums, it can’t be more than 5% of the paying parent’s income before taxes. It is $0 if their income is under 200% of the federal poverty level (§48-12-102).
• Children’s part of the premium: if the policy doesn’t show it, divide the premium by the number of people covered and multiply by the number of children in the case, under §48-13-602.
• WVCHIP: children without other coverage who don’t qualify for Medicaid may qualify for WVCHIP.

If the children live with you and you get WV WORKS (West Virginia’s cash assistance), you have to help the state get child support from the other parent. The state keeps most of what it collects. You get up to $100 a month of it for one child or $200 for two or more, plus $25 in any month support comes in. Food stamps (SNAP) don’t require this.

• What helping means: working with the Bureau for Child Support Enforcement (BCSE), for example by naming the other parent and helping establish paternity (legal fatherhood). If you don’t help and have no good reason, WV WORKS cash stops for 1 month the first time, 6 months the second, and 12 months after that, under the Income Maintenance Manual (14.8.1 and 18.6).
• A good reason includes a risk of physical or emotional harm to you or your children, a child conceived through rape or incest, or a pending adoption (manual section 18.6.2).
• What you keep: the $100 or $200 is paid the month after the support is collected and doesn’t lower your WV WORKS check (manual section 4.5.3). The $25 is set by §9-9-6.
• Food stamps (SNAP): USDA lists West Virginia as a state that doesn’t require help with child support for SNAP.

The West Virginia child support guide covers how BCSE cases work.

When the paying parent earns less than $2,600 a month, support can’t be more than 80% of their income minus $997. This leaves them money for their own living costs. The limit is never less than $50, and it applies only when one parent has 127 or fewer overnights a year.

• Paying parent earning less than $2,600: the parent pays the regular amount or the limit, whichever is lower, under §48-13-404. At $1,500 a month, the limit is $203. A parent whose regular share is under $50, including $0 with no income, pays that share.
• Combined income under $550: basic support is $50 or an amount the judge sets (§48-13-302).
• Earning less by choice: a judge can count the income a parent could earn. For a parent with no clear work history, that can be full-time pay at the federal minimum wage. A judge can’t do this for a parent in jail or prison (§48-1-205).

No. The table stops at $35,000 a month in combined income. Above that, basic support is at least the amount for $35,000. A judge can add a percentage of the income above $35,000, from 8.8% for one child to 19.6% for six.

The added percentages are 8.8% for one child, 12.9% for two, 15.3% for three, 16.9% for four, 18.3% for five, and 19.6% for six, under §48-13-303. The calculator above uses the $35,000 amount, the least the law allows, so above $35,000 combined a judge can order more than it shows.

Yes. If the guideline amount doesn’t fit a family’s situation, a judge can order a different amount. The judge has to state the guideline amount and the reason for the change in the court record.

Reasons listed in §48-13-702 include a child’s or parent’s special needs, private school, trade school, or college costs for the child or a parent, more than six children, long-distance visitation costs, a child living with someone other than a parent, other children the paying parent supports, income that isn’t steady, and support that would leave either household below the federal poverty level.

Ask the Bureau for Child Support Enforcement (BCSE) to review your order, or file a petition to change it in family court. Keep following the current order until it changes.

• When: after a big change in your situation. If the guideline amount would be more than 15% higher or lower than the current order, that counts, under §48-11-105.
• Through BCSE: either parent can ask for a review at the local BCSE office three years after the order took effect, or sooner after a big change.
• Through the court: file a Petition for Modification with the circuit clerk in the county that issued the order. After a job loss, raise, new job, or call to military service, the shorter Petition for Expedited Modification of Child Support takes effect if the other parent doesn’t ask for a hearing within 14 days (§48-11-106). Both forms are on the West Virginia courts forms page.

The West Virginia child support guide walks through each step.

No. Family courts use two worksheets written into the law: Worksheet A when one parent has 127 or fewer overnights a year, and Worksheet B when each parent has more.

Both are in the statute: Worksheet A (§48-13-403) and Worksheet B (§48-13-502). The Bureau for Child Support Enforcement links to both.