Indiana Child Support Changes: Modification and Enforcement

Indiana’s child support guidelines set how much a parent owes using an income shares formula that combines both parents’ gross weekly incomes, assigns each parent a proportional share of the estimated cost of raising the child, and then adjusts for overnights, childcare, and health care costs. The Indiana Supreme Court updated the guidelines effective May 14, 2024, refreshing the economic data behind the schedules and clarifying how uninsured medical costs and work-related childcare are divided.¹ If your order predates the update, the number the formula produces today may look different from what you currently pay or receive.

How Indiana Calculates the Amount

Both parents’ weekly gross incomes go into a single figure. The court then looks up the total support obligation for that combined income on a schedule and divides it proportionally. Earn 60% of the combined income, and roughly 60% of the obligation is yours.²

Gross income is broad. It includes wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, overtime, pensions, rental income, and self-employment earnings. For the self-employed, income means gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary business expenses. Irregular money — a year-end bonus, a fluctuating commission check — still counts.²

Nontaxable military allowances, including Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) and Basic Allowance for Sustenance (BAS), are generally included as income because they reduce a parent’s living expenses. A service member in government-provided housing who receives no cash BAH may have an argument for exclusion, but the default is that these allowances count.

When a Parent Is Voluntarily Unemployed or Underemployed

If a court finds that a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed without good cause, it will not use the lower income figure. Instead, the court imputes income based on earning potential, weighing employment history, education, skills, age, health, and the local job market.³ Quitting a job or taking a pay cut to lower support will not work. For a parent with no work history and no specialized training, the court may set income at least at the federal minimum wage, provided the resulting obligation still leaves that parent enough to live on.

The Parenting Time Credit

Indiana reduces the noncustodial parent’s obligation based on the number of overnights the child spends with that parent each year. The credit reflects both the day-to-day costs a parent covers directly when the child is there and the fixed costs of keeping a second household ready for the child.⁴

The calculation runs through a parenting time table and a separate worksheet, and it is further adjusted for childcare, medical support, and any obligation to other children.² A handful of overnights either way can move the final number, so counting them accurately matters.

When Child Support Ends

In Indiana, support normally ends when the child turns 19, which is older than in most states.⁵ Several exceptions shift that:

If the child is emancipated before 19, support terminates at emancipation, though an order for educational needs can continue.
If the child is at least 18, has not attended school in the past four months, is not enrolled, and is capable of self-support, a court can end the obligation early.
If the child is incapacitated, support continues during the incapacity or until the court orders otherwise.
If the child is a full-time high school student past 19, support continues until graduation, provided the parent or guardian files the required notice with the court.

Educational support is a separate petition with its own deadline. For orders established after June 30, 2012, the petition must be filed before the child turns 19. For older orders, the deadline is age 21.⁵

Modifying an Existing Order

Indiana law allows a modification when circumstances have changed enough to make the current order unreasonable, but you need to meet one of two thresholds.⁶

The first is a substantial and continuing change in circumstances. Job loss, a serious medical condition, a significant income change, or a shift in custody arrangements can qualify. Incarceration may also count as a substantial change under Indiana law.

The second is mechanical. If the current order differs by more than 20% from what the guidelines would produce today, and the order is at least twelve months old, either parent can request a modification.⁶ A new order cannot be challenged on this ground until that twelve-month mark passes.

File promptly. Courts generally will not apply a modification retroactively to a date before you filed. If your income dropped six months ago and you file today, you likely owe the full original amount for those six months. Waiting is one of the most expensive mistakes parents make.

What Happens If You Don’t Pay

Falling behind triggers both civil and criminal consequences, and the state has administrative collection tools that do not require a fresh hearing each time.

Civil Contempt

A court that finds a parent delinquent through an intentional violation of a support order can hold that parent in contempt.⁷ Remedies include community service, an order to seek employment, and jail. Contempt is civil, so it does not create a criminal record, but the possibility of incarceration is real.

Criminal Nonsupport

Knowingly or intentionally failing to provide support is a Level 6 felony. With a prior nonsupport conviction, the charge rises to a Level 5 felony.⁸ A Level 6 felony carries a potential sentence of six months to two and a half years; a Level 5 felony ranges from one to six years. Genuine inability to pay is a defense, but voluntary choices that reduce income do not satisfy it.

Income Withholding

Income withholding is the primary collection method. Employers must deduct the support amount from the paying parent’s paycheck and forward it to the state central collection unit, and these orders take priority over almost every other claim against the same income.⁹

Tax Refunds, Licenses, and Passports

When withholding falls short, Indiana can intercept state income tax refunds owed to a delinquent parent¹⁰ and pursue federal refunds through the federal offset program.

Driving privileges are also on the line. The Title IV-D agency can direct the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to suspend a delinquent parent’s license until that parent pays an amount equal to at least eight weeks of the support obligation. The agency then monitors compliance for 60 days and can restart the suspension if payments stop again.¹¹ Professional, hunting, and fishing licenses can be suspended as well.

A parent who owes $2,500 or more in arrears cannot get a U.S. passport.¹² The state can also place liens on property and bank accounts, and courts may order asset sales to satisfy arrears.¹³

Tax Treatment

Child support is tax-neutral. The receiving parent does not report it as income, and the paying parent cannot deduct it.¹⁴

Claiming the child as a dependent is a separate question. The custodial parent generally has the right to claim the Child Tax Credit, worth up to $2,200 per qualifying child for 2025.¹⁵ The custodial parent can release the claim to the noncustodial parent using IRS Form 8332, and some divorce agreements require it. Read your order before filing.

Bankruptcy Does Not Erase Child Support

Federal law excludes domestic support obligations from discharge in both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy.¹⁶ That covers both ongoing support and past-due arrears. Child support claims are treated as first-priority unsecured debts, so they get paid ahead of most other creditors, and enforcement can continue during the bankruptcy.

1
Indiana Supreme Court. Indiana Child Support Rules and Guidelines
2
Indiana Department of Child Services. DCS IV-D Policy Manual – Indiana Child Support Rules and Guidelines
3
Indiana Supreme Court. Guideline 3A – Definition of Weekly Gross Income
4
Indiana Courts. Indiana Rules of Court Child Support Rules and Guidelines – Guideline 6
5
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-16-6-6 – Termination of Child Support Obligation
6
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-16-8-1 – Modification or Revocation of Child Support Order or Maintenance Order
7
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-16-12-6 – Contempt
8
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 35-46-1-5 – Nonsupport of a Dependent Child
9
Justia. Indiana Code Title 31, Article 16, Chapter 15 – Child Support Income Withholding
10
Legal Information Institute. 465 IAC 1-1-13 – State Income Tax Refund Intercept
11
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-25-4-33.5 – Driving Privilege Reinstatement
12
U.S. Department of State. Pay Your Child Support Before Applying for a Passport
13
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-16-12-1 – Enforcement Remedies
14
Internal Revenue Service. Alimony, Child Support, Court Awards, Damages
15
Internal Revenue Service. Child Tax Credit
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge