Child support in Arizona is calculated under the Income Shares Model: both parents’ gross monthly incomes are added together, matched to a state guideline table, and each parent is assigned a share of the resulting obligation in proportion to what they earn. The paying parent’s share is then adjusted for parenting time, the child’s age, health insurance, and childcare. The framework comes from A.R.S. § 25-320 and the Arizona Child Support Guidelines published by the Arizona Supreme Court.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-320 – Child Support; Factors; Methods of Payment; Additional Enforcement Provisions; Definitions Both parents owe this duty regardless of whether they were married.
How the Guideline Amount Is Calculated
The calculation begins with Combined Child Support Income. Add each parent’s gross monthly income, then look up the combined figure on the Schedule of Basic Support Obligations, which covers incomes from $750 to $30,000 per month and provides amounts for one through six children.2Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County. Arizona Child Support Guidelines – Section III If your combined income lands between two lines, the court rounds up. Above $30,000 per month, the table caps unless a parent asks for more and shows it serves the child’s best interests.
The number from the table is the Basic Child Support Obligation. Each parent is responsible for a percentage of it equal to their share of the combined income. Earn 60% of the combined total and you owe roughly 60% of the obligation.
Three adjustments then reshape the figure. The cost of health, dental, and vision insurance premiums for the child is added in, as are work-related or school-related childcare costs; those additions shift between parents depending on who actually pays. For each child over age 12, the Basic Child Support Obligation is increased by 10%, starting the day after the child’s twelfth birthday.3Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County. Arizona Child Support Guidelines – Section III.B.2 That older-child bump is one of the most common reasons a recalculated order years later shows a different number.
How Parenting Time Changes the Number
The table assumes a single household. When the paying parent also spends real time with the child, the guidelines apply a parenting-time adjustment based on the number of parenting-time days per year for the parent with less time.4Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County. Arizona Child Support Guidelines – Section V A full 24-hour block counts as one day; 12 or more leftover hours count as a full day, 6 to 11 as a half, 3 to 5 as a quarter.
Below 20 days there is no adjustment. Between 20 and 142 days the adjustment grows in steps, reaching roughly 25% around 116 days. At 143 to 163 days it jumps to between 32.5% and 40%, and at 164 days or more it reaches 50%. The adjustment percentage is applied to the Basic Child Support Obligation and subtracted from the paying parent’s share. The practical result is large, which is why parenting-time schedules are negotiated so hard in Arizona cases.
What Counts as Income
Arizona does not use the IRS definition. Child Support Income is income from any source before deductions, including wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, dividends, severance pay, pensions, interest, trust income, annuities, capital gains, Social Security, workers’ compensation, unemployment, disability payments, military pay with housing and subsistence allowances, recurring gifts, prizes, and spousal maintenance received.5Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County. Arizona Child Support Guidelines – Section II.A.1 Self-employment income is gross receipts minus the ordinary and necessary business expenses the court accepts, with half of self-employment tax actually paid treated as deductible. Employer-provided perks that reduce personal living costs can be counted as income.
Means-tested public assistance such as TANF, SSI, and nutrition assistance does not count, nor does child support received for another child, nor adoption subsidies or disability benefits received on behalf of a minor.6Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County. Arizona Child Support Guidelines – Section II.A.2
If a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed without good cause, the court can attribute income based on what the parent could realistically earn, looking at education, work history, skills, health, criminal record, and the local job market.7Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County. Arizona Child Support Guidelines – Section II.A.4 At minimum, a parent is presumed capable of earning full-time minimum wage unless they prove otherwise. A parent who quits a well-paid job to pursue a venture that produces no income will typically have the old salary imputed.
Opening a Case
There are two routes to a child support order: file directly in Superior Court, or apply through the Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) at the Arizona Department of Economic Security.
To file on your own, complete the Child Support Worksheet and the Petition to Establish Child Support, then submit them to the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county where you or the child lives.8AZ Court Help. Child Support Procedures for Filing in Arizona Superior Court The filing fee is $191, with a fee deferral or waiver available for those who can’t pay.9Arizona Judicial Branch. Superior Court Filing Fees The other parent must be served through the sheriff, a licensed process server, or a constable, and then has 20 days to respond if served inside Arizona, 30 if served outside. Disputes over income or other inputs are resolved at a hearing.
DCSS handles the case for you, including locating the other parent, establishing paternity if needed, and petitioning the court. You can apply through the AZCARES Customer Portal online or submit a paper application by mail, email, or in person.10Arizona Department of Economic Security. Apply for Child Support DCSS has access to employer databases and federal locator tools that private individuals don’t, which matters when you don’t know where the other parent lives or works. The order DCSS obtains will also assign responsibility for the child’s health insurance.
Before completing the worksheet, gather at least 30 days of pay stubs (or a recent W-2), documentation of the child’s share of health insurance premiums, childcare invoices, the parenting-time schedule, and, for anyone self-employed, tax returns and profit-and-loss statements.11Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County. Child Support Worksheet If you can’t document the other parent’s income, you may list an estimate and the basis for it; verifiable numbers from the start save months of hearings.
How Payments Are Made
Arizona requires payments to flow through the Support Payment Clearinghouse rather than directly from one parent to the other. The Clearinghouse records every payment, which protects both sides if anything is later disputed. You can pay online or by phone with a credit or debit card at no fee, mail a check or money order to the Clearinghouse at P.O. Box 52107, Phoenix, AZ 85072-2107, use the TouchPay app (2.85% fee), or pay cash at participating retailers through PayINCashNow.com ($2.49 fee).12Arizona Department of Economic Security. Parents Who Pay Child Support
Most paying parents never handle the money themselves. An income withholding order sends the support straight from the paycheck to the Clearinghouse, and employers must transmit withheld amounts within two business days of payday.
What Happens If a Parent Falls Behind
Unpaid child support in Arizona accrues interest at 10% per year on the principal balance.13Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-510 – Receiving and Disbursing Support and Maintenance Monies That alone can grow an arrearage quickly, and the state has several enforcement tools available in addition.
Income withholding is the default. Under A.R.S. § 25-505.01 the state can issue a withholding order to an employer without prior notice to the parent who owes. If the parent is behind, the order can include an additional 25% to 33% of the current support amount to pay down arrears, and more for arrears older than a year. Total withholding is capped at half of disposable income.14Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-505.01
Federal tax refunds can be intercepted through the Treasury Offset Program once past-due support reaches $500, or $150 if the receiving parent is on public assistance. Banks and other financial institutions report accounts belonging to delinquent parents every quarter under the Financial Institution Data Match program, and the state can place a lien on or seize matched accounts.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 666 – Requirement of Statutorily Prescribed Procedures to Improve Effectiveness of Child Support Enforcement
A parent who willfully fails to pay and is at least six months behind can lose their driver’s license, recreational licenses, and professional or occupational licenses under A.R.S. § 25-518.16Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-518 – Child Support Arrearage; License Suspension; Hearing Suspension of a professional license tends to produce compliance faster than any other tool, because the parent can no longer earn the income they need. In the most serious cases, A.R.S. § 25-511 makes knowing failure to provide reasonable support a Class 6 felony, available for parents who can pay and refuse.
Changing an Existing Order
To modify a child support order you must show a substantial and continuing change in circumstances.17Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-327 – Modification and Termination of Provisions for Maintenance, Support and Property Disposition Common triggers are permanent job loss, a significant raise, a change in custody or parenting time, and shifts in health insurance costs.
The guidelines include a simplified procedure that speeds this up. Run the current numbers through the worksheet; if the result differs from your existing order by 15% or more, that difference by itself is treated as evidence of a substantial and continuing change.18Arizona Judicial Branch. Arizona Child Support Guidelines – Simplified Procedure You file the completed worksheet with supporting income documentation and serve the other parent, and the court can adjust the order without a full evidentiary hearing. The same simplified procedure can be used to reassign who carries the child’s health insurance, without needing to meet the 15% threshold.
One trap catches people often: filing for modification does not pause your current obligation. You owe the existing amount until a judge signs the new order, and any change takes effect no earlier than the first day of the month after you filed the petition. Falling behind while waiting for a reduction only compounds the problem.
When Child Support Ends
The obligation terminates when the child turns 18, marries, or is adopted by another person.19Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-503 – Duty of Parents; Petition for Child Support Order; Jurisdiction Two exceptions matter. If the child turns 18 while still in high school or a certified equivalency program, support continues until the child finishes or turns 19, whichever comes first.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 25-320 – Child Support; Factors; Methods of Payment; Additional Enforcement Provisions; Definitions The court can also order support to continue past 18 indefinitely for a child with a severe mental or physical disability that began before the age of majority and prevents independent living.
Emancipation does not erase arrears. Any unpaid balance remains enforceable, keeps accruing 10% interest, and can be collected through every tool listed above.
Taxes and the Dependency Claim
Child support is not taxable to the parent who receives it and not deductible by the parent who pays it, regardless of what the court order says.20Internal Revenue Service. Alimony, Child Support, Court Awards, Damages
The dependency claim and the child tax credit are separate. The custodial parent (the one the child lives with for the greater part of the year) generally claims the child. For the noncustodial parent to claim the credit instead, the custodial parent must sign IRS Form 8332 releasing the claim for one or more tax years.21Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit A divorce decree that assigns the claim does not bind the IRS; without Form 8332 attached to the return, the noncustodial parent cannot claim the credit no matter what the state court ordered.