Tennessee Child Support Calculator

At $6,000 per month in combined monthly adjusted gross income, Tennessee's guidelines produce roughly $585/month for 1 child, $790/month for 2 children, $888/month for 3 children, $990/month for 4 children. These figures come from running Tennessee's own guideline formula, but they hold several things constant -- assumes the higher earner has 65% of the combined income shown, is the Alternate Residential Parent with 80 days/year (the guideline's own assumed baseline, inside the no-adjustment 69-91 day band), no other qualified children, and no add-ons. 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.

Tennessee uses the Income Shares model. Tennessee looks up a basic support obligation from a 563-row schedule by combined Adjusted Gross Income and number of children, then applies a continuous 'variable multiplier' keyed to the paying parent's annual parenting-time days -- a credit above 92 days, a penalty at 68 or fewer, and no adjustment in between.

Tennessee's guideline runs on combined monthly Adjusted Gross Income (close to gross, not net of taxes). 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 Tennessee: a continuous 'variable multiplier' on the paying parent's annual days: a credit at 92+ days, a penalty at 68 or fewer, no adjustment from 69-91. 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 2021-10-01, and a human last checked it against the primary source on 2026-09-17. Sources: Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1240-02-04, Child Support Guidelines (October 2021 edition); Income Shares Worksheet 2021 v1.0 (official Excel/VBA calculator, incl. the Schedule tab); A Guide to Tennessee's Child Support Worksheet. It is still an estimate, not a court order -- a judge can order a different amount, and this is not legal advice.

The Tennessee guideline this calculator implements took legal effect on 2021-10-01. 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 563-row schedule was extracted from the Department's own published Excel/VBA worksheet (the rule PDF's own schedule table does not extract cleanly as text — rows and columns visibly misalign). Independently confirmed against the rule's own non-tabular high-income-extension paragraph (exact match on all five base figures and percentages) and fully validated for internal consistency (0 monotonicity violations across both axes), but not cross-checked cell-by-cell against a second full source the way South Carolina's schedule was. Split parenting (each parent primary custodian of at least one child) is not implemented, consistent with every other income-shares state in this repo. 50/50 (equal, 182.5/182.5) parenting is implemented only for the pure case with no other children in the case under a different custody split; the rule's combined 50/50-plus-standard and 50/50-plus-split role-reassignment provisions are disclosed but not automated. Judicial deviations (extraordinary education expenses, 'special expenses' exceeding 7% of the monthly BCSO, parenting-time travel costs, and the general best-interest standard) are not predicted, only disclosed. Imputed income for a willfully unemployed/underemployed parent (a 13-factor, fact-intensive test) is not automated. The rule's own default imputation figures for 'no reliable income evidence' cases ($43,761/year male, $35,936/year female, sourced from 2016 American Community Survey data) are offered only as an optional, clearly-labeled fallback, not as an automatic substitute for a willfulness finding. The statutory PCSO ceiling ($2,100-$5,000/month depending on number of children) is disclosed and capped in the displayed estimate, but the rebuttal path allowing a court to exceed it on proof of need is not modeled. A child's Social Security or VA derivative benefit drawn on a parent's account — added to that parent's income, then subtracted from that parent's final award — is not implemented; this niche two-step mechanic is disclosed as unsupported. Self-employment ordinary-and-necessary-expense reconstruction is not modeled — a single self-employment net figure is expected to be entered as-is. No official continuous worked example (income through final dollar order) was found in Tennessee's published materials; the rule and worksheet instructions illustrate each mechanic with isolated line-level examples rather than one soup-to-nuts case, so end-to-end test fixtures are hand-constructed against the verified schedule and formulas rather than drawn from a single official source. 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 Tennessee's official worksheet.

Yes. The figure produced by Tennessee'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. Tennessee's guideline is set out in Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1240-02-04, Child Support Guidelines (October 2021 edition).

You have to file for a modification -- a change in your circumstances does not change what you owe on its own. Tennessee, 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 Tennessee, modifications are handled through Child Support Services — Tennessee DHS.

Tennessee publishes it directly: "TN Child Support Calculator and Worksheet — Dept. of Human Services". 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 Tennessee Resources section on this page.