Louisiana Child Support Table: Income, Custody, and Deviations

Louisiana child support calculation uses an income shares model: the court adds both parents’ adjusted gross incomes, looks up a base obligation on a statutory table by combined income and number of children, and divides that obligation between the parents in proportion to what each earns. Work-related childcare, health insurance premiums, and extraordinary medical costs are added on top and split the same way. The result is a rebuttable presumption, meaning it stands unless a party convinces the court a different figure fits the case better.

How the Number Is Built

The calculation runs in a fixed order.

First, each parent’s adjusted gross income is established. Both sides file verified income statements with supporting documents: pay stubs, employer statements, and the most recent federal tax return. A parent who owns a business can be required to produce three years of personal and business returns, profit and loss statements, and bank records.¹

Second, the court adds the two incomes and works out each parent’s percentage share. If you earn 60% of the combined total, you carry 60% of the obligation.¹

Third, the court finds the base obligation on the guidelines table, using the combined income and the number of children.

Fourth, work-related childcare costs, health insurance premiums for the child, and any extraordinary medical expenses are added to the base amount. Each parent’s final obligation is their income-share percentage applied to that combined total.

If a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, the court can impute income at earning capacity rather than actual earnings, so cutting back on work to lower a payment does not work.¹

What Counts as Income

Louisiana defines gross income broadly. It includes wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, dividends, severance pay, pensions, interest, trust income, annuities, capital gains, Social Security benefits, workers’ compensation, unemployment benefits, disability insurance, and military housing and subsistence allowances. Spousal support received under a prior obligation counts too.²

Employer perks that reduce personal living expenses are treated as income when they significantly offset out-of-pocket costs. A company car, free housing, or reimbursed meals can all be added to the income figure.²

For a self-employed parent, income is gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary business expenses. Accelerated depreciation and investment tax credits are not allowed to reduce the figure, and the court can disallow any business expense it finds inappropriate for child support purposes.²

Several categories of money are excluded:

Child support received under another order.
Public assistance, including FITAP, supplemental security income, and food stamps.
Tax-exempt per diem allowances not subject to federal income tax.
Extraordinary overtime or seasonal income, at the court’s discretion, when counting it would be unfair.
FEMA disaster benefits and disaster assistance from qualifying nonprofits.

The Guidelines Table

Louisiana publishes a statutory table that maps combined adjusted gross income and number of children to a base support obligation. It covers combined monthly incomes from $1,050 up to $50,000 and accommodates one through six children.³

The figures reflect what the parents would have spent on the child if they still lived together. Dollar amounts rise with income, but the share of income that goes to support generally decreases as combined income climbs. The number pulled from the table is a rebuttable presumption of the correct base obligation, not a fixed order.

Shared Custody Changes the Math

When both parents have the child for roughly equal amounts of time, a different formula applies. Under Louisiana law, “shared custody” means each parent has physical custody for an approximately equal period.⁴

The base obligation from the table is multiplied by 1.5 to reflect the higher cost of maintaining two homes for the child. That increased figure is divided between the parents by income share, then each parent’s share is cross-multiplied by the percentage of time the child spends with the other parent. Each parent’s share of childcare and extraordinary expenses is added, and direct payments for health insurance or similar costs are subtracted. The parent with the larger resulting figure pays the difference to the other. The final amount can never exceed what the paying parent would owe if the other parent were the sole custodian.⁴

Health Insurance and Medical Costs

Every Louisiana child support order must address health coverage. If either parent has access to affordable health insurance through an employer or another source, the court will order that parent to enroll the child. When affordable private insurance is not available, the order requires the responsible parent to obtain coverage as soon as it becomes affordable.⁵

When a child has no private coverage or the coverage does not fully meet the child’s needs, the court can order the noncustodial parent to pay cash medical support. If the child is on Medicaid or other public health insurance, cash medical support is mandatory. It is capped at 3% of the noncustodial parent’s gross income and is a separate obligation from the underlying child support amount.⁵

Each parent also pays a proportional share of uninsured ordinary medical expenses under $250. Extraordinary medical expenses above that threshold are folded into the overall child support calculation rather than handled separately.

When Courts Deviate From the Guidelines

The guidelines number is a starting point. A court can order more or less when the standard figure would shortchange the child or treat a parent unfairly. Any deviation must be stated on the record, including the guidelines amount and the reasons for departing from it.⁶

Factors the court may weigh include:

Other dependents the parent is supporting in their household.
Children from different relationships who all have existing support orders.
Extraordinary medical expenses for a parent that are not already captured in the calculation.
Extraordinary community debt from the marriage.
The need for temporary support while a full hearing is pending.
A parent’s permanent or temporary total disability, and the added costs it creates.
The long-term financial burden of supporting an adult child with a disability.

The statute also leaves a catch-all: any consideration that would make the standard amount contrary to the child’s best interest or inequitable to the parties.⁶

When Support Ends

Support terminates automatically at age 18 or on emancipation. No filing is required. If the order sets a per-child amount, each child’s share stops as that child ages out; if the order sets a single amount for multiple children, it continues at that amount until the youngest ages out.⁷

Two exceptions extend the obligation. Support continues past 18 for an unmarried child who is still a full-time student in good standing at a secondary school (or its equivalent), has not yet turned 19, and remains dependent on either parent. For a child with a developmental disability, the court can extend support until age 22 as long as the child is a full-time secondary school student.⁷

Louisiana does not require support through college. Once the child graduates high school or turns 19, whichever comes first, the obligation ends unless a qualifying disability applies.

Changing the Amount Later

Either parent can ask the court to modify an order, but only on a showing of a material change in circumstances that is both substantial and ongoing. A one-time bonus or a short setback will not carry the motion.⁸

In cases involving the Department of Children and Family Services, there is a rebuttable presumption that a material change exists when the current guidelines would produce an amount at least 25% different from the existing order. A court can still modify without a 25% gap if the change is real and continuing, and it can refuse to modify even with the gap if the standard amount would not serve the child’s best interest.⁸

DCFS can also request a judicial review every three years without a material change, provided the current order differs from what the guidelines would produce.⁸

Modifications are not retroactive. Any change takes effect from the date the motion is filed, not the date the underlying circumstances shifted. If your income drops in January and you file in July, the higher payments for those six months are still owed. File promptly.

1
Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 9-315.2 – Calculation of Child Support
2
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 9-315 – Definitions
3
Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 9-315.19 – Schedule for Support
4
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 9-315.9 – Effect of Shared Custodial Arrangement
5
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 46-236.1.2 – Establishment, Modification, and Enforcement of Support Obligations
6
Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 9-315.1 – Rebuttable Presumption, Deviation from Guidelines by Court, Stipulations by Parties
7
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Code RS 9-315.22 – Termination of Child Support Upon Majority or Emancipation, Exceptions
8
Justia Law. Louisiana Code RS 9-311 – Modification or Suspension of Support, Material Change in Circumstances