How Virginia Calculates Child Support

Virginia uses the Income Shares model to determine child support obligations. This page explains the guidelines, formula, and key factors.

Model Type

Income Shares

Virginia looks up a basic support obligation from the § 20-108.2(B) statutory schedule by combined gross income, prorated by each parent's income share. Shared-custody cases -- where the parent with fewer overnights has more than 90 -- use a different worksheet with a 1.4× cross-calculation.

Sources & Verification

Core formula verified; some gaps disclosed below

Guideline effective 2025-01-01 · last checked against the primary source 2026-08-12

Primary sources

Va. Code § 20-108.2 (guideline for determination of child support)Form DC-637 — Child Support Guidelines Worksheet Form DC-640 — Child Support Guidelines Worksheet, Shared Custody

What this calculator doesn't yet handle

The self-employment tax approximation treats the entered gross figure as net SE profit; there is no separate field for actual business expenses, so it will differ from a return-based calculation.
The split-custody worksheet (§ 20-108.2(G)(2), each parent primary custodian of at least one shared child) is not implemented.
The 150%-of-federal-poverty-level provision allowing a court to go below the $68 statutory minimum is surfaced only as informational text, not computed (poverty guidelines change annually and are not tracked here).