How to Calculate Louisiana Child Support Worksheet B

Louisiana child support Worksheet B is the form used when parents share physical custody of a child on an approximately equal basis. The calculation combines both parents’ gross incomes, pulls the basic support obligation from the state schedule, multiplies that figure by 1.5 to account for two households carrying the child’s daily costs, divides the result by each parent’s income share, and then cross-multiplies each parent’s share by the percentage of time the child spends with the other parent.¹ Add-on costs and credits are layered in, and the parent with the larger figure pays the difference to the other as a single net payment.

When Worksheet B Applies

Worksheet B is required when each parent has physical custody for an approximately equal amount of time.¹ The statute does not fix a precise split like 50/50 or set a minimum percentage. Courts look at the overall arrangement. If one parent has the child noticeably more than the other, the case moves to Worksheet A, the sole-custody form, which does not carry the shared-custody adjustments.

Worksheet B applies either when a joint custody order or implementation plan sets up shared custody, or when a parent proves by a preponderance of the evidence that shared custody exists in practice. If the actual schedule works out to roughly equal time, you can present that evidence even when the paperwork does not use the words “shared custody.”

The Step-by-Step Calculation

The math runs in a fixed sequence, and knowing that sequence helps you catch errors before they harden into a court order.

Start with each parent’s adjusted gross income. Add them together for a combined figure, then express each parent’s income as a percentage of that combined total. If one parent earns $4,000 a month and the other earns $6,000, the combined income is $10,000 and the shares are 40% and 60%.

Take the combined adjusted gross income to Louisiana’s child support obligation schedule in RS 9:315.19 and look up the basic support obligation for the number of children involved.² The schedule sets a monthly amount that scales with income and the child count. At a combined income of $2,400 per month, for example, the basic obligation for one child is $441.³

Now apply the shared-custody multiplier. Multiply the basic obligation by 1.5 to reflect that both households are paying for housing, food, and everyday costs.¹ With the example above, $441 becomes $661.50.

Divide the adjusted obligation by each parent’s income percentage. In the example, the 40% parent’s theoretical share is $264.60 and the 60% parent’s is $396.90. Cross-multiply each figure by the percentage of custodial time the child spends with the other parent. At a 50/50 schedule, each parent’s number is multiplied by 50%. A 55/45 schedule shifts the numbers proportionally.

Layer in the add-ons: work-related child care, health insurance premiums for the child, extraordinary medical costs, and any other extraordinary expenses the parents have agreed to or the court has ordered. Give credit to a parent who is paying an add-on directly. The parent with the larger total pays the difference to the other. The final figure cannot exceed what the paying parent would owe under a sole-custody calculation.¹

What Counts as Income

Gross income in Louisiana is broad. It includes wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, dividends, severance, pensions, interest, trust income, recurring monetary gifts, annuities, capital gains, Social Security, workers’ compensation, military housing and subsistence allowances, unemployment, disability insurance, and spousal support from a preexisting obligation.⁴ Money that comes in regularly almost always counts.

A few things are excluded. Child support you receive for other children does not count. Neither do public assistance benefits such as TANF, SSI, or SNAP. Extraordinary overtime and seasonal income can be excluded when a court decides including them would be unfair.⁴ Overtime you have worked steadily for years is harder to characterize as extraordinary.

Self-Employment Income

A self-employed parent has to document more. The court can require three years of personal and business tax returns, profit and loss statements, bank statements, quarterly sales tax reports, and other financial records.² The point is to separate real business expenses from personal spending routed through the business.

Imputed Income

If a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, the court can assign income based on earning capacity rather than actual earnings. The judge considers employment history, job skills, education, health, criminal record, the local job market, and the availability of employers.⁵

When no evidence of earning capacity exists at all, the court presumes the parent can earn the equivalent of 32 hours per week at the higher of Louisiana’s or the federal minimum wage.⁵ Two exceptions block imputation: a parent caring for a child with a significant intellectual or physical disability, and a parent whose unemployment is a direct result of incarceration.

Adjustments to Reach Adjusted Gross Income

The only deductions Louisiana allows from gross income are preexisting child support or spousal support obligations owed to someone outside the current case. The court also has discretion to deduct amounts a parent pays for another minor child not involved in the case.⁴

Taxes are the common trap. Federal and state income taxes, FICA, retirement contributions, and union dues are not separately deducted on the worksheet. The state’s obligation schedule is built on an Income Shares Model that already accounts for typical taxes and payroll deductions, so subtracting them again would double-count.⁴ The worksheet uses gross income deliberately; the schedule does the tax math on its own.

Add-On Costs

Certain expenses sit on top of the basic obligation and are split between the parents by income percentage. They belong in their own section of Worksheet B and directly affect the final number.⁶

Work-Related Child Care

Child care needed so a parent can work is added to the basic obligation at its net cost after applying the federal Child and Dependent Care Expenses credit. Care needed while a parent is in job training or pursuing education to improve earning potential can also be included, provided it does not unreasonably burden the other parent.⁷

Health Insurance Premiums

The cost of the child’s health insurance premium is added to the basic obligation. The court decides which parent carries the coverage after looking at each parent’s insurance options, employment history, and resources.⁸ The parent paying the premium gets credit for that direct payment on the worksheet.

If neither parent has access to affordable insurance, the court can order cash medical support from the noncustodial parent instead, capped at 5% of that parent’s gross income.⁹ The 5% cap applies only to cash medical support, not to insurance premiums.

Extraordinary Medical Expenses

Unreimbursed medical costs above $250 per child per calendar year count as extraordinary and are added to the basic obligation. This covers co-pays, deductibles, prescriptions, and treatments insurance does not cover, but only the portion above the $250 threshold.¹⁰ Ordinary uninsured medical costs below $250 per child are handled outside the worksheet; each parent pays their proportionate share directly.¹ To be added to the worksheet, extraordinary medical costs must be agreed to by both parents or ordered by the court.

Other Extraordinary Expenses

Three additional categories can be added by agreement or court order:

Registration, books, and fees for a special or private elementary or secondary school that meets the child’s needs.
Costs of transporting the child between the two parents’ homes, which matter most when parents live far apart.
Camp, music or art lessons, travel, school-sponsored activities, and similar enrichment expenses.

Each requires mutual agreement or a court order.¹¹ A parent cannot enroll a child in an expensive activity on their own and then demand the other parent share the cost through the worksheet.

Filing the Worksheet

Each parent files a verified income statement showing both gross income and adjusted gross income, with supporting documentation. At minimum that means recent pay stubs or an employer statement plus the most recent federal tax return.² A copy goes to the other parent. On timely request, the court can also compel information about household expenses from a parent’s current spouse.

Worksheet B is usually filed within divorce, custody, or modification proceedings. The judge uses it to check that any proposed support amount tracks the guidelines. If the parents agree on the numbers, the process is short. In a contested case, the worksheet becomes the center of the hearing, and any inconsistency in the supporting documents will get attention.

When a Judge Can Deviate from the Result

The Worksheet B figure is presumptively correct but rebuttable. A court can set support higher or lower than the guidelines produce if a mechanical application would not serve the child’s best interest or would be unfair to one parent. The judge has to state the reason for the deviation and what the guidelines would have produced.¹²

Grounds for deviation include:

A legal duty to support other people in the parent’s household who are not part of the case.
A parent’s own extraordinary medical expenses or medical costs not already captured in the guidelines.
Extraordinary community debt from the marriage that disproportionately burdens one parent.
A permanent or temporary total disability of a parent, which reduces earning capacity and adds costs like transportation and uninsurable medical care.
Where the support is for an adult child with a disability, the financial burden on the obligor.

The statute also contains a catch-all for any other factor that would make the guidelines result unfair or contrary to the child’s best interest.¹²

Changing the Order Later

A support order can be modified when there has been a material change in circumstances that is both substantial and ongoing since the last order.¹³ Common examples are a significant income change, job loss, a shift in the custody schedule, new medical needs for the child, or a move that changes transportation costs.

When DCFS is providing enforcement services, a 25% gap between the current order and what the guidelines would produce creates a rebuttable presumption that a material change exists. Even without that gap, a party who proves a material change can still get the order modified, and the court can deny modification despite a 25% gap if a change would not serve the child’s best interest.¹³ Either parent can also ask DCFS for a review every three years without proving a material change. Falling behind on payments is not, by itself, a material change that reduces the obligation.

When the Obligation Ends

Louisiana child support generally ends automatically when the child turns 18.¹⁴ No motion is needed. If the order sets a separate amount per child rather than a single lump sum, each child’s share ends as that child turns 18.

Two exceptions extend support. A child who turns 18 while still a full-time high school student (or in an equivalent program) continues to receive support until graduation or age 19, whichever comes first, so long as the child remains dependent on a parent. A child with a developmental disability who is a full-time secondary school student can receive support until age 22. For a child with a severe intellectual or physical disability who cannot support themselves, the court can order support to continue indefinitely.¹⁴

1
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 9-315.9 – Effect of Shared Custodial Arrangement
2
Justia. Louisiana Code 9-315.2 – Calculation of Basic Child Support Obligation
3
Louisiana DCFS. Schedule of Basic Child Support Obligations
4
Justia. Louisiana Code 9-315 – Economic Data and Principles; Definitions
5
Justia. Louisiana Code 9-315.11 – Voluntarily Unemployed or Underemployed Party
6
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 9-315.20 – Worksheets
7
FindLaw. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 9 Section 315.3 – Net Child Care Costs
8
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 9-315.4 – Health Insurance Premiums; Addition to Basic Obligation
9
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 9-315.4 and 46-236.1.2
10
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes 9-315.5 – Extraordinary Medical Expenses; Addition to Basic Obligation
11
Justia. Louisiana Code 9-315.6 – Extraordinary Expenses
12
Justia. Louisiana Code 9-315.1 – Rebuttable Presumption; Deviation From Guidelines By Court; Stipulations By Parties
13
Justia. Louisiana Code 9-311 – Modification of Support
14
Justia. Louisiana Code 9-315.22 – Termination of Child Support