Florida Child Support Calculator

At $6,000 per month in combined monthly net income, Florida's guidelines produce roughly $729/month for 1 child, $1,129/month for 2 children, $1,414/month for 3 children, $1,593/month for 4 children. These figures come from running Florida's own guideline formula, but they hold several things constant -- assumes the higher earner has 65% of the combined NET income shown and has 60 of 365 overnights — below the 73-overnight threshold, so the standard calculation applies rather than the § 61.30(11)(b) gross-up — with no child care, health insurance, or noncovered medical costs. The $12,000 row is above the schedule's $10,000 ceiling and uses the § 61.30(6)(b) percentage formula. Your actual number depends on both parents' incomes, your parenting-time schedule, and add-on costs like childcare and health insurance, so run the calculator for your own case.

Florida uses the Income Shares model. Florida looks up a basic obligation from the schedule written into § 61.30(6) by combined monthly net income and number of children, then splits it by each parent's share of income. Once BOTH parents have at least 73 overnights a year, a different formula becomes mandatory: the obligation is multiplied by 1.5 and divided by both income share and time share.

Florida's guideline runs on combined monthly net income. That distinction matters: entering gross income into a formula built on net income (or the reverse) produces a materially wrong figure. Most states count income from essentially any regular source -- wages, self-employment, bonuses, commissions, rental and investment income, and many benefits -- not just salary.

Not necessarily. In Florida: 73 overnights — 20% of the year. At or above it for both parents, the § 61.30(11)(b) gross-up applies: basic obligation × 1.5, split by income share and time share. Because the guideline also weighs each parent's share of income, a significantly higher earner can still owe support at an even time split.

This calculator's core formula has been verified against the primary source, with any unimplemented rules listed openly rather than hidden. It implements the guideline in effect as of 2023-07-01, and a human last checked it against the primary source on 2026-09-20. Sources: Fla. Stat. § 61.30 — Child support guidelines (schedule at § 61.30(6)); Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form 12.902(e) — Child Support Guidelines Worksheet. It is still an estimate, not a court order -- a judge can order a different amount, and this is not legal advice.

The Florida guideline this calculator implements took legal effect on 2023-07-01. States revise their guidelines periodically -- federal rules require each state to review its guidelines at least once every four years -- so a figure from an older calculator or article may reflect a superseded rule.

The 185-row schedule was parsed from the Legislature's rendering of § 61.30(6) and cross-checked cell-for-cell against the Florida Supreme Court's form 12.902(e) (Rev. 06/25) — all 1,110 cells agree. The increment is a uniform $50 across the whole table. Between-row combined net income is floored to the schedule row at or below the exact figure. § 61.30 gives no interpolation or rounding instruction, and the official worksheet's instructions answer the question circularly, so this is a documented judgment call — the same convention used for Kentucky and Pennsylvania. Net income is entered directly rather than estimated from gross. § 61.30(3)(a) defines the income-tax deduction as the litigant's own figures 'adjusted for actual filing status and allowable dependents,' and Florida publishes no tax table, no default filer profile, and no agency conversion chart. The result is only as accurate as the net figures entered. The substantial-time-sharing threshold is 20% of overnights (73 nights), per ch. 2010-199 effective 2011-01-01. A great deal of Florida practitioner material, older calculators, and secondary summaries still describe the superseded 40% / 146-overnight rule. Child care is added at 100% of the entered cost. The 25% reduction was repealed by ch. 2008-61 effective 2008-10-01, but many Florida calculators and law-firm pages still apply it. The statute's 'level required to provide quality care from a licensed source' cap is a fact question and is surfaced as help text rather than enforced. Crossing the 73-overnight threshold can increase support rather than reduce it — whenever the paying parent's income share exceeds three times their time share, which at the threshold means any obligor earning more than 60% of combined net income. This is a real, widely-litigated consequence of the 1.5 multiplier and is reported rather than smoothed over. Florida has no self-support reserve, no low-income shaded band, and no statutory minimum order, unlike most states on this site. The only low-income mechanism is § 61.30(6)(a), which keys on the obligor's own net income falling below $800. When the obligor's net income is below the $800 schedule floor, § 61.30(6)(a) directs a case-by-case amount rather than a formula, and its 90%-of-income-above-poverty cap is structurally inert (it can only trigger below $800, which is already under the one-person poverty guideline, so it always evaluates negative). This calculator shows the ordinary proportional share with a prominent notice rather than inventing a minimum, and § 61.30(6)(a)2.'s internally circular cross-reference to subparagraph 1. is not resolved. Combined net income below $800 has no rule in § 61.30 at all — (6)(a) addresses the obligor's income, not the combined figure — so no guideline amount is stated in that range. Above the $10,000 ceiling, § 61.30(6)(b)'s percentage formula is computed and returned rather than deferred to discretion, since Florida (unlike Kentucky or South Carolina) supplies a real formula with no upper bound. Not implemented: imputed income (§ 61.30(2)(b), materially tightened in 2021), the Social Security derivative-benefit credit (§ 61.30(10)(b), which also requires adding the benefit to gross income first), split custody, and the discretionary downward adjustment for significant time-sharing below 20% of overnights (§ 61.30(11)(a)10.). The eleven § 61.30(11)(a) deviation factors and the ±5% variance allowed without written findings are disclosed, not predicted. If any of these apply to your case, treat the estimate as a starting point and confirm the figure with an attorney, a mediator, or Florida's official worksheet.

Yes. The figure produced by Florida's Income Shares guideline is presumptive, not mandatory: a court can order a different amount when applying the guideline would be unjust or inappropriate for the specific case, and generally must state its reason on the record. Common grounds include extraordinary medical or educational expenses, a child's special needs, or costs the formula does not capture. Florida's guideline is set out in Fla. Stat. § 61.30 — Child support guidelines (schedule at § 61.30(6)).

You have to file for a modification -- a change in your circumstances does not change what you owe on its own. Florida, like most states, requires a substantial change in circumstances: a significant involuntary income change, a change in the parenting schedule, or a material change in the child's needs. Until a court or the state child support agency issues a new order, the existing amount stays fully enforceable and arrears keep accruing, and a modification is generally not applied retroactively before the date you filed -- so filing promptly matters. In Florida, modifications are handled through Florida Child Support Program — Dept. of Revenue.

Florida publishes it directly: "Form 12.902(e), Child Support Guidelines Worksheet — Florida Courts". This site's calculator is a fast estimate built on the same published guideline, not a replacement for the official form -- a court filing generally requires the state's own worksheet. The link is in the Florida Resources section on this page.