How Much Is Child Support in SC for One Child?

In South Carolina, child support for one child generally runs from about $580 per month at a combined parental income of $3,000 to roughly $1,159 at $10,000, with the final figure depending on how much each parent earns, custody overnights, health insurance, and childcare. The state uses the Income Shares Model, which treats both parents’ incomes as a single pool and divides the obligation proportionally. The number pulled from the state’s schedule is only the starting point; the court then splits it between the parents and adds or subtracts for specific costs.

Monthly Support by Combined Income

The South Carolina Department of Social Services publishes a Schedule of Basic Support Obligations that matches combined monthly gross income to a basic support amount. For one child, sample figures from the current guidelines look like this:

$3,000 combined monthly income: $580
$4,000 combined monthly income: $719
$5,000 combined monthly income: $814
$6,000 combined monthly income: $878
$8,000 combined monthly income: $1,035
$10,000 combined monthly income: $1,159

The schedule covers combined incomes from $900 up to $30,000 per month. These numbers are the basic obligation only, before health insurance premiums, work-related childcare, or extraordinary medical costs are layered in. You can run your own estimate on the free calculator published by DSS.¹

How the Amount Gets Split Between Parents

Once the basic obligation is pulled from the schedule, each parent is responsible for a share equal to their percentage of the combined income. Take two parents with a combined gross income of $6,000 per month. The schedule sets the one-child obligation at $878. If Parent A earns $4,000 (67 percent) and Parent B earns $2,000 (33 percent), Parent A’s share is about $588 and Parent B’s share is about $290. The parent without primary custody pays their share to the custodial parent, and the custodial parent is presumed to be spending their own share directly on the child.²

The specific formula courts use is spelled out in state regulation 114-4720.

What Counts as Gross Income

South Carolina starts with each parent’s gross monthly income, meaning the amount earned before taxes and deductions. The definition is broad. It includes salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, royalties, rents (minus allowable business expenses), dividends, severance pay, pensions, interest, trust income, annuities, capital gains, Social Security retirement and disability benefits, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, veterans’ benefits, and alimony received.³

Several sources are excluded. Means-tested public assistance (TANF, SSI, food stamps) does not count. Income earned by anyone else in your household, such as a new spouse, is also outside the calculation. Regular Social Security benefits count; SSI does not.

Before the formula runs, two adjustments come off the top: existing court-ordered child support being paid for children from another relationship, and alimony being paid to a former spouse. The resulting figure is each parent’s adjusted gross income, and that is what the schedule gets applied to.

Self-employed parents should expect to produce tax returns, financial statements, or other records establishing a reliable monthly average. Courts can also look at business assets that could generate income, such as idle land or vacation homes not being rented out, and assign a reasonable earning rate to them.²

How Custody Overnights Change the Number

The custody arrangement decides which worksheet the court uses, and the worksheet can meaningfully shift the result.

Worksheet A is the standard calculation and applies when one parent has primary physical custody. The noncustodial parent pays their proportional share to the custodial parent.

Worksheet C applies when each parent has court-ordered overnight visitation for more than 109 overnights per year (at least 30 percent of the year) and both parents contribute to the child’s expenses. It accounts for the added cost of maintaining two homes for the child and generally produces a lower transfer payment than Worksheet A at the same income levels.²

Worksheet B covers split custody, which requires at least two children with each parent having physical custody of at least one. It does not apply when there is only one child in the case.

Health Insurance, Childcare, and Medical Costs

The schedule amount is the basic obligation. On top of it, the court factors in the cost of health insurance for the child and work-related childcare, divided between the parents in proportion to their incomes.

Routine uninsured medical costs up to $250 per child per year, such as co-pays and over-the-counter medicine, are already built into the basic obligation and come out of the custodial parent’s pocket. Once unreimbursed medical costs for the year exceed $250, the excess is split in proportion to each parent’s share of combined income. So if one parent earns 60 percent of the combined income and the child has $1,000 in unreimbursed medical bills, the custodial parent absorbs the first $250, and the remaining $750 gets split 60/40. Costs that recur regularly, like allergy treatments or counseling, can be folded directly into the monthly support figure rather than handled through reimbursement.²

When a Judge Can Order a Different Amount

The number produced by the guidelines carries a rebuttable presumption of correctness. The court treats it as the right number unless someone shows it would be unjust in a specific case, and when a judge does deviate, the order must state in writing why the guidelines do not fit and what the guideline amount would have been.⁴

Reasons listed in the statute for deviating include:

Educational expenses, including private school tuition, trade school, or college costs
Extraordinary medical or dental expenses for the child or a parent
Support obligations for other dependents living with the noncustodial parent
Significant consumer debts or other court-ordered fixed monthly payments
Situations where the noncustodial parent earns significantly less than the custodial parent, making the guideline amount impracticable
Lump-sum, rehabilitative, or reimbursement alimony that affects available income
Significant income or assets held by the child
A negotiated agreement between the parents, if both have attorneys or the court confirms an unrepresented parent fully understands the agreement

Deviation is meant to be the exception. In most cases the guideline amount stands.

Imputed Income for an Unemployed or Underemployed Parent

If a court finds that a parent is voluntarily unemployed or working below their earning capacity, it can impute income, meaning it assigns a figure based on what the parent could reasonably earn. This stops a parent from lowering their obligation by quitting work or taking a lower-paying job without a legitimate reason.²

When imputing income, courts weigh work history, job skills, education, age, health, criminal record, the local job market, and other factors affecting earning ability. A parent who is incarcerated cannot be found voluntarily unemployed, and courts also account for a parent who needs to stay home to care for very young or disabled children.

When the Obligation Ends

Child support in South Carolina generally continues until the child turns 18. If the child is still in high school at 18, support extends until graduation or the end of the school year in which the child turns 19, whichever comes first. It can end earlier if the child marries, joins the military, or becomes self-supporting. A court may extend support past 18 for a child with a physical or mental disability that prevents self-sufficiency.

Payments do not automatically stop when the child hits the cutoff age. The paying parent may need to petition the court for a formal order terminating the obligation.⁵

If circumstances change later, either parent can ask the court to modify the amount by showing a substantial change, such as a significant shift in income, a job loss, a new disability, or a change in the child’s needs. A modification only applies going forward, so if your income drops, file promptly: payments continue accruing at the original amount until the court changes it.⁵

1
South Carolina Department of Social Services. South Carolina Child Support Calculator
2
South Carolina Department of Social Services. South Carolina Child Support Guidelines 2024 Edition
3
Legal Information Institute (LII). SC Code Regs 114-4720 – Determination of Child Support Awards
4
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 63 Chapter 17 Section 63-17-470 – Proceedings and Awards
5
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code of Laws Title 63 Chapter 17