How Much Is Child Support in Kentucky? Formula and Examples

Child support in Kentucky is set by a statewide formula that combines both parents’ monthly incomes, matches the total to a guidelines table based on how many children are involved, and then splits the result between the parents in proportion to what each one earns. To give a concrete anchor: two parents with a combined $5,000 in monthly gross income owe a base obligation of about $751 for one child and $1,103 for two, before adding work-related childcare and the children’s health insurance.¹ What either parent actually pays depends on their share of that combined income, how many overnights they have with the children, and a short list of adjustments the statute allows.

How the Formula Works

Kentucky follows an Income Shares Model. The premise is that a child should receive roughly the same share of parental income they would have if the household were intact, so the court estimates what the parents together would have spent on the children and divides that cost by income share. The guidelines in KRS 403.212 are a rebuttable presumption: the calculated number is the order unless a judge finds a specific reason to depart from it.²

The math runs in four steps. Add both parents’ adjusted monthly gross incomes together. Look up the combined figure on the guidelines table for the correct number of children to get the basic child support obligation. Add the monthly cost of work-related childcare and the children’s share of health insurance premiums to reach the total obligation. Then split that total between the parents by income share. A parent who brings in 65% of the combined income is responsible for 65% of the total.³

The whole calculation gets documented on a standardized worksheet, Form CS-71 (or CS-71.1 when one parent has 100% of the combined income).⁴

Sample Amounts by Income and Number of Children

The guidelines table in KRS 403.212 runs from $0 up to $15,000 in combined monthly adjusted gross income. A few representative rows for the basic obligation, before childcare and insurance:¹

$3,000 combined monthly income, one child: roughly $530.
$5,000 combined monthly income: $751 for one child, $1,103 for two.
$7,000 combined monthly income: roughly $880 for one child, roughly $1,310 for two.
$10,000 combined monthly income: $1,005 for one child, $1,515 for two.
$15,000 combined monthly income: $1,225 for one child, $1,844 for two.

Kentucky also sets a minimum order of $60 per month regardless of income.³

A Worked Example

Two parents, two children. Parent A earns $3,500 a month; Parent B earns $1,500. Combined income is $5,000, which puts the base obligation at $1,103. Parent A earns 70% of the combined income, so Parent A’s share of the base is about $772. Add Parent A’s 70% share of any work-related childcare and the children’s health insurance premiums, and that is the pre-parenting-time monthly amount. The parenting time credit, described below, can reduce it further.

What Counts as Income

Kentucky defines gross income broadly. It covers wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, retirement and pension distributions, dividends, severance, interest, trust income, annuities, capital gains, Social Security benefits, workers’ compensation, unemployment and disability benefits, Supplemental Security Income, gifts, prizes, and alimony received from another relationship. Means-tested benefits such as TANF and SNAP are excluded.³

From that figure, the statute allows narrow deductions to reach adjusted gross income: court-ordered maintenance being paid to a former spouse, and child support being paid for children from other relationships.

Self-Employment

For a self-employed parent or business owner, gross income means gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary business expenses, with only straight-line depreciation allowed and investment tax credits excluded. Courts look closely here because the child support number often differs from the tax return. Personal-use perks paid by the business, such as a company car, free housing, or reimbursed meals, count as income.³

Military Pay

For service members, Basic Allowance for Housing and Basic Allowance for Subsistence generally count as income even though they are not taxable, because courts look at total resources rather than base pay alone. Where a service member lives in government-provided housing and receives no cash BAH, an exception may apply, though some courts still assign a fair market value.

Voluntary Unemployment or Underemployment

A parent cannot lower their support by quitting or taking a lower-paying job. If a court finds a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, it will impute income based on what the parent could earn, looking at recent work history, occupational qualifications, and the pay available for that work in the local job market. The court does not have to find the parent intended to avoid support; a finding that the unemployment or underemployment is voluntary is enough.³

Income will not be imputed to a parent who is incarcerated, physically or mentally incapacitated, or caring for a child age three or younger for whom both parents share legal responsibility.³

Shared Parenting Time Credit

A parent who has the children for at least 88 days a year qualifies for a credit that reduces their support obligation. The credit grows with the number of days:⁵

88 to 115 days: 15% reduction.
116 to 129 days: 20.5% reduction.
130 to 142 days: 25% reduction.
143 to 152 days: 30.5% reduction.
153 to 162 days: 36% reduction.
163 to 172 days: 42% reduction.
173 to 181 days: 48.5% reduction.
182 days (equal time): 50% reduction.

The percentage applies to the paying parent’s total obligation. When time is exactly equal, the higher-earning parent is treated as the obligor and gets the 50% credit against their share.⁵

Add-Ons and Reasons a Judge May Deviate

Work-related childcare and the children’s health insurance premiums are added to the base obligation and split by income share. Kentucky generally will not require a parent to spend more than 5% of their gross income on the children’s health coverage without both parents’ agreement or a specific finding of good cause.

Although the formula result is presumed correct, a judge can order a different number when applying the guidelines would be unjust in the family’s circumstances, and must put the reason in writing.² Typical grounds include a child’s extraordinary medical needs beyond insurance, unusual educational costs, or a parent’s own extraordinary financial obligations.

When Support Ends

Support in Kentucky ends when the child is emancipated, which usually means turning 18. If the child is still enrolled in high school at 18, support continues through the end of the school year in which the child turns 19.⁶ Marrying before 18 also emancipates the child and ends the obligation. Parents can agree to different terms in a written agreement or in the divorce decree; if they do not, the statute controls.

Changing an Existing Order

An order can be modified when there is a material change in circumstances that is substantial and continuing. Any change applies going forward from the date the motion is filed, not to arrears already owed.⁶

Kentucky uses a simple threshold to decide whether the change is material. If re-running the guidelines with current numbers produces a result at least 15% different from the current order, a material change is presumed. If the difference is under 15%, the presumption is the other way: the change is not material unless the moving parent proves it is.⁶ Common triggers include a significant income change, a shift in custody, a change in health insurance costs, or a child aging out of daycare.

1
Advocacy & Resource Development Foundation. Kentucky Code 403.212 – Kentucky Child Support Guidelines Table
2
Justia Law. Kentucky Revised Statutes 403.211 – Action to Establish or Enforce Child Support
3
Justia Law. Kentucky Revised Statutes 403.212 – Child Support Guidelines
4
Kentucky Child Support. Kentucky Worksheet for Monthly Child Support Obligation Exception (CS-71.1)
5
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes 403.2122 – Shared Parenting Time Credit
6
Kentucky Legislative Research Commission. Kentucky Revised Statutes 403.213 – Criteria for Modification of Orders for Child Support