How Colorado Child Support Is Calculated and Enforced

Colorado calculates child support with a formula set by C.R.S. § 14-10-115. The state uses the income shares model: a judge adds both parents’ monthly adjusted gross incomes, looks up the basic support amount on a statutory schedule reflecting what families at that income level typically spend on their children, and assigns each parent a share proportional to their income.¹ The number is then adjusted for how many overnights each parent has with the child and for a short list of add-on costs. The result is the monthly obligation.

The Core Formula

Start with combined monthly adjusted gross income. If you earn 60 percent of the total, you are responsible for 60 percent of the basic support obligation the schedule produces at that combined income level.¹

Overnight parenting time changes which worksheet applies. When one parent has 92 or fewer overnights per year, the court uses Worksheet A, built for sole physical care. When both parents have more than 92 overnights, Worksheet B applies and accounts for the duplicated household costs of shared care.² The forms are JDF 1820 (Worksheet A) and JDF 1821 (Worksheet B), and the Colorado Judicial Branch publishes an online calculator you can use to check the math.³

What Counts as Income

Colorado defines gross income broadly. The statute pulls in wages, salary, tips, commissions, bonuses, overtime, self-employment earnings, investment returns, retirement benefits, Social Security, workers’ compensation, unemployment, rental income, royalties, trust distributions, monetary gifts, and prizes.⁴ Expense reimbursements that reduce your personal living costs count too. Non-taxable maintenance received is multiplied by 1.25 before it is added to gross income.

Self-Employment Income

If you are self-employed or run a business, gross income for support purposes equals gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary business expenses. You cannot subtract accelerated depreciation or investment tax credits, and the court can disallow any deduction it treats as a device for lowering apparent income rather than a genuine cost of doing business.⁴ Income from partnerships, closely held corporations, and LLCs counts as your personal income even if you reinvested it instead of taking a distribution. One narrow exception: a passive minority investor with no management role may have recognized income limited to actual cash distributions received.

Imputed Income

A parent cannot shrink the obligation by quitting a job or deliberately earning less. When the court finds a parent voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, it calculates support on earning potential rather than actual earnings. The judge considers work history, job skills, education, health, criminal record, local job availability, and prevailing wages in the community.⁴

If none of those factors yields a reliable figure, the fallback is a reasonable wage for a 32-hour workweek over 50 weeks per year, adjusted for anything that limits capacity to work. At Colorado’s $15.16 minimum wage, that floor is roughly $24,256 per year.

Imputation does not apply in every case. The court will not impute income to a parent who is physically or mentally incapacitated, caring for a child under 30 months old whom both parents share legal responsibility for, or serving a jail sentence of 180 days or more.² A good-faith career choice that happens to pay less, as opposed to a move designed to reduce support, may also be protected, though courts look closely at the distinction.

Costs Added to the Basic Obligation

The schedule amount is only the starting figure. Three categories of expense are added on top and split between parents in the same income-based proportion.

Health insurance premiums for the child. If a per-child cost is not available, the total premium is divided by the number of people on the policy and multiplied by the number of children covered under the order.⁴
Work-related childcare, including daycare and after-school programs incurred so a parent can work.
Extraordinary medical expenses, meaning uninsured medical costs above $250 per child per calendar year. That category covers copayments, deductibles, orthodontia, vision, physical therapy, counseling, and prescription medications.⁴

When a Judge Can Deviate

Courts may depart from the guideline amount when applying the formula strictly would produce an unfair result. Recognized reasons include a parent spending substantially more time with the child than the overnight count reflects, extraordinary parenting-time travel costs, a wide income gap between parents, substantial non-income-producing assets, or consistent overtime that gross income did not capture.⁴ Any deviation requires the judge to state the reasons on the record and note what the guideline amount would have been.

High-Income Families

Effective March 1, 2026, the statutory schedule covers combined adjusted gross incomes up to $40,000 per month, up from the prior $30,000 cap. Above that threshold, the court has discretion to set a higher amount, but the order cannot be less than what the top of the schedule would produce. The Colorado Supreme Court has confirmed that setting support higher than the schedule maximum does not require the specific findings a downward deviation would, though the judge still weighs the relevant statutory factors.

Documents You Will Need

Both parents build the calculation from the same type of records. Colorado Child Support Services recommends pay stubs from the last three months and tax returns from the last two years, with W-2s or 1099s attached.⁵ Documentation of the child’s health insurance premium and any work-related childcare costs rounds out the file, backed by receipts or contracts.

Three court forms carry the calculation into the record:

JDF 1111, the Sworn Financial Statement, a full disclosure of income, assets, debts, and monthly expenses filed under penalty of perjury.⁶
JDF 1820, Child Support Worksheet A, for sole physical care situations (92 or fewer overnights with one parent).
JDF 1821, Child Support Worksheet B, for shared physical care (both parents above 92 overnights).³

Every number on these forms matters. An error in monthly gross income, an existing support obligation for other children, or a maintenance figure will move the final result.

When the Calculation Can Be Revisited

A support order is not fixed forever, but Colorado puts a floor on when the formula is rerun. If recalculating under current guidelines would change the monthly amount by less than 10 percent in either direction, the court treats the shift as too small to count as a “substantial and continuing change” and denies the modification request.⁷ A meaningful income swing, a change in the child’s health insurance cost, a shift in overnights, or a change in work-related childcare are the usual triggers that clear the bar. Modifications take effect from the date the motion is filed, not retroactively, so if your circumstances change, file promptly.

Support generally continues until the youngest child under the order turns 19. Several situations alter that endpoint, including a child still in high school, a child with a disability, marriage, or active military service.⁴ College costs are not part of the standard calculation; a court will not order post-19 support for college without a written agreement between the parents.

1
Justia Law. Colorado Code 14-10-115 – Child Support Guidelines
2
Colorado Child Support Services. Frequently Asked Questions
3
Colorado Judicial Branch. Colorado Child Support Calculator
4
FindLaw. Colorado Code 14-10-115 – Child Support Guidelines
5
Colorado Department of Human Services. Child Support Services Handbook – The Basics
6
Colorado Judicial Branch. Sworn Financial Statement
7
FindLaw. Colorado Code 14-10-122 – Modification and Termination of Provisions for Maintenance, Support, and Property Disposition