How Tennessee calculates child support
- Each parent’s monthly gross income, less self-employment tax paid and credits for other children the parent supports (75% of a theoretical order for those children), is that parent’s adjusted gross income (AGI). Each parent’s share is their percentage of the combined AGI, to the whole percent.
- The combined AGI, rounded up to the next $50, and the number of children give the basic child support obligation from the schedule. The parent the children live with less (the alternate residential parent) owes their percentage of it.
- With 92 or more days a year, the alternate residential parent gets a parenting time credit; with 68 or fewer days, their share is increased. With equal time (182.5 days each), the parent with the larger share pays the difference, and at high parenting time the other parent may pay.
- A paying parent whose own income is in the shaded area of the schedule (the self-support reserve, based on 90% of the 2020 poverty level for one person, $957 a month) pays the lesser amount and gets no parenting time credit.
- The children’s health insurance premium, recurring uninsured medical costs and work-related child care are shared by income percentage. The result is rounded to the nearest dollar and limited to $2,100 for one child up to $5,000 for five or more unless more is shown to be needed.
What the calculator asks
- How many children of both of you is the support for?
- Who do the children live with more than half the time?
- How many days a year do the children spend with the parent they live with less?
- Your monthly gross income
- Self-employment tax you pay each month
- How many other children do you legally support who live with you at least half the time?
- How many other children do you support who live elsewhere more than half the time?
- Average monthly support you actually paid for those children over the last 12 months
- The other parent’s monthly gross income
- Self-employment tax the other parent pays each month
- How many other children does the other parent legally support who live with them at least half the time?
- How many other children does the other parent support who live elsewhere more than half the time?
- Average monthly support the other parent actually paid for those children over the last 12 months
- Health, dental and vision insurance premium you pay for these children, per month
- Children’s health insurance premium the other parent pays, per month
- Recurring uninsured medical costs you pay for these children, per month
- Recurring uninsured medical costs the other parent pays, per month
- Work-related child care you pay for these children, per month
- Work-related child care the other parent pays, per month
- Does a child receive Social Security or veterans’ benefits because of a parent’s disability or retirement?
It never asks for names, Social Security numbers or account numbers, and your answers are not saved.
What the estimate leaves out
- Social Security or veterans’ benefits paid to a child on a parent’s account (worksheet Lines 1a and 17)
- Split parenting and cases where a non-parent caretaker has the children
- Deviations, such as extraordinary educational or special expenses (Rule 1240-02-04-.07)
- The $100 minimum order the tribunal may set with a written finding (Rule 1240-02-04-.04(12))
- Imputed income, modification (significant variance) tests and retroactive support
When a situation is outside what the calculator covers, it says so and points you to the official worksheet instead of guessing.
Official sources
- Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 1240-02-04, Child Support Guidelines and Schedule (effective October 1, 2021)
- Child Support Guidelines and rules index, Tennessee Secretary of State
- Income Shares Worksheet 2021 v1.0 (official automated Child Support and Credit Worksheets)
- A Guide to Tennessee’s Child Support Worksheet (guidelines effective October 1, 2021)
- Child Support Guidelines, Tennessee Department of Human Services
Tennessee Child Support Worksheet and Credit Worksheet (Department of Human Services) →
Ready to estimate? The calculator shows each worksheet line so you can check it against the official form.
Open the Tennessee calculator →An estimate from the published guideline formula, not a prediction of a court order. The official court worksheet and the court’s decision control. General information, not legal advice. LawCat is not a law firm.