How Is Child Support Calculated in Louisiana?

Child support in Louisiana is calculated using an income shares formula: the court adds both parents’ monthly gross incomes, looks up a basic obligation amount on a statutory schedule based on that combined income and the number of children, and then assigns each parent a share proportional to their contribution to the total. Childcare, the child’s health insurance premium, and extraordinary medical costs get added on top. The guidelines live in Louisiana Revised Statutes 9:315 through 9:315.22, and the number they produce is presumed correct unless a party convinces the judge to deviate.¹

The Formula, Step by Step

Four moves get you from paychecks to a monthly obligation.

First, each parent’s adjusted gross income is calculated. Second, the two figures are combined. Third, the court finds the basic obligation on the schedule in RS 9:315.19, which is organized by combined monthly income and number of children.² Fourth, each parent is assigned a percentage of that obligation equal to their percentage of combined income. A parent who earns 60% of the combined total owes 60% of the basic amount.

After the basic obligation is split, the court adds the extra categories (childcare, health insurance, extraordinary medical) and the final figure becomes the order. The paying parent writes a check to the receiving parent for their share; the receiving parent is presumed to spend their own share directly on the child.

What Counts as Income

Louisiana defines income broadly. It covers wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, dividends, severance pay, pensions, interest, trust income, recurring cash gifts, annuities, capital gains, Social Security benefits, workers’ compensation, military housing allowances, unemployment benefits, disability insurance, and spousal support received under a preexisting obligation. For a self-employed parent, income is gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary business expenses.³

Two deductions come off the top before the formula runs. If a parent is already paying child support under an earlier order, that amount is subtracted. The cost of employer-sponsored health insurance covering the child is also deducted, limited to the portion of the premium attributable to that child.

When the Court Imputes Income

A parent who quits a job or takes a pay cut to shrink a support obligation does not benefit from the smaller paycheck. The court can assign an income figure based on what that parent is capable of earning, weighing work history, education, job skills, age, health, criminal record, and the local job market.⁴

Two exceptions protect parents who aren’t gaming the system: income will not be imputed to a parent who is physically or mentally unable to work, or to a parent caring for a child of the parties under five years old. When neither actual income nor earning capacity can be established, the default presumption is that the parent can earn the equivalent of 32 hours a week at the applicable minimum wage.⁴

Costs Added on Top of the Basic Obligation

The schedule covers ordinary living expenses. Three categories get added separately and shared between the parents in the same income proportion:

Net childcare costs incurred because a parent works or is actively looking for work. “Net” means actual cost reduced by the federal child care tax credit.
The cost of the child’s health insurance premium.
Unreimbursed medical expenses above $250 per child per calendar year, which the statute calls extraordinary. Anything below that threshold is treated as ordinary medical cost and is already built into the schedule.⁵³

How Custody Time Changes the Math

Louisiana distinguishes between joint custody with one primary parent and shared custody with roughly equal time, and the calculation runs differently in each.

Joint Custody

When one parent is the primary domiciliary parent, the other parent may receive a credit against the support obligation if the child spends more than 73 days a year with them. A “day” has to involve at least four hours of physical custody to count. The size of the credit depends on how much extra time the noncustodial parent has, the financial effect on each household, and the child’s best interests, and the parent asking for the credit carries the burden of proof.⁶

Shared Custody

When each parent has the child about half the time, the formula shifts. The basic obligation is multiplied by 1.5, each parent’s share is then cross-multiplied by the percentage of time the child spends with the other parent, and the parent who owes more pays the difference. The 1.5 multiplier reflects that running two full households costs more than running one.⁷ Shared custody cases use a different worksheet (Worksheet B) from standard arrangements.

What the Numbers Look Like

The schedule in RS 9:315.19 runs from $0 of combined monthly gross income up to $40,000, covering one through six children. A few sample points:

Combined income $2,000/month, one child: $373 basic obligation.
Combined income $5,000/month, one child: $856. Two children: $1,315.
Combined income $10,000/month, one child: $1,220. Two children: $1,857.
Combined income $20,000/month, two children: $2,668.⁸

Those are total obligation amounts, before each parent’s income share is applied and before extras are added. The floor for any award is $100 a month, with narrow exceptions for shared or split custody and for a paying parent whose documented disability prevents meeting that minimum.⁹

DCFS runs a free online estimator that lets you plug in rough numbers before filing.¹⁰

When a Judge Can Deviate From the Guideline Number

A court can set support higher or lower than the guideline amount when the formula would be unfair to a parent or would not serve the child’s best interests. The judge has to put the deviation on the record and state what the guideline amount would have been.¹

Factors the statute lets the court weigh include:

Other children the parent supports in their household.
Other existing child support orders for children in different households.
A parent’s own extraordinary medical expenses not otherwise accounted for.
Extraordinary community debt from the marriage.
A parent’s permanent or temporary total disability, including the effect on earning capacity and related costs like transportation.
The long-term burden of supporting an adult child with a disability.
Any other circumstance that would make strict application of the guidelines inequitable or contrary to the child’s best interests.¹

Educational costs for a child are not named as a specific deviation factor, though they could fit under the catch-all if a court found that ignoring them would harm the child.

How Long the Obligation Lasts

Support ends automatically when the child turns 18 or is emancipated. No motion is required.¹¹

Two extensions matter for the calculation. Support continues past 18 for an unmarried child who is still a full-time student in good standing at a secondary school, has not turned 19, and is dependent on either parent. For a child with a developmental disability, support can run to age 22 if the child remains a full-time secondary school student.¹¹

One drafting detail affects multi-child orders. When a single order sets one lump sum covering all the children rather than a per-child breakdown, the full amount continues until the youngest child ages out. A per-child breakdown in the original order gives automatic relief as each child reaches majority, which is worth asking for when the order is first entered.

1
Justia. Louisiana Code RS 9-315.1 – Rebuttable Presumption; Deviation From Guidelines by Court; Stipulations by Parties
2
Justia. Louisiana Code RS 9-315.2 – Calculation of Basic Child Support Obligation
3
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 9-315 – Economic Data and Principles; Definitions
4
FindLaw. Louisiana Revised Statutes Tit 9 315.11 – Voluntarily Unemployed or Underemployed Party
5
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 9-315.5 – Extraordinary Medical Expenses
6
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 9-315.8 – Joint Custody; Adjustment of Child Support
7
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 9-315.9 – Shared Custody; Calculation of Child Support
8
Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services. Schedule of Basic Child Support Obligations
9
Justia. Louisiana Code RS 9-315.14 – Mandatory Minimum Child Support Award
10
Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services. Louisiana Child Support Estimator
11
Justia. Louisiana Code RS 9-315.22 – Termination of Child Support Upon Majority