Maine Child Support Table: Income, Add-Ons, and Deviations

The Maine child support table converts the parents’ combined annual gross income and the number of children into a base weekly support figure. It covers combined incomes from $16,800 to $400,000 in $600 steps, with columns for one through six children.¹ To use it, find the income row closest to the parents’ combined gross income, read across to the column for the number of children, and multiply that per-child figure by the number of children. The result is the basic support entitlement — the starting point, not the final order.

How to Read the Table

The left column lists combined annual gross income in $600 increments. The top row runs from one child to six. Where your income row meets your child-count column, you get a per-child weekly dollar amount. Multiply by the number of children to get the basic entitlement.¹

The current Schedule of Basic Support Obligations does not sort children by age. Older references in the statute mention “under 12” and “12 through 17,” but the table itself uses only income and child count.² Age matters elsewhere in the guidelines, particularly for child care costs, but it does not change which column you read.

When the parents’ combined income exceeds $400,000, the table stops giving a direct answer. The highest row acts as a floor — the child is presumed to need at least that much — and the judge sets any additional amount based on the family’s circumstances.¹

What Counts as Gross Income

The table only works if the income figures going into it are right. Maine defines gross income broadly to include wages, salaries, bonuses, commissions, dividends, pensions, interest, capital gains, Social Security benefits, disability benefits, workers’ compensation, and spousal support received from a prior relationship.³ Expense reimbursements and in-kind payments from an employer also count if they cover personal living costs.

Some money is excluded. Benefits from means-tested programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Security Income, SNAP, and general assistance do not count. Neither does child support received for other children.³

Self-Employment Income

For a self-employed parent or a business owner, gross income means gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary business expenses. The court can decide that accelerated depreciation, investment tax credits, or business losses are not legitimate expenses for support purposes.³ A judge can look behind the tax return and add back deductions that lower income on paper but don’t reflect real operating costs.

Prior Child Support Obligations

A parent who already pays child support for children from another relationship gets an adjustment. The court calculates a theoretical support obligation for those other children and subtracts it from that parent’s gross income before running the table.⁴

Imputed Income

A parent who is voluntarily unemployed or working below capacity can be assigned income based on what they could earn, provided there is enough evidence of their actual earning capacity. Limits apply. A parent providing primary care for a child under 24 months is presumed unavailable for work. For a parent caring for a child between 24 months and 12 years old, the court considers anticipated child care and work-related expenses before imputing income. An incarcerated parent is deemed available only for work the facility offers.3

Costs Added on Top of the Table Amount

The table figure covers everyday expenses like food, clothing, and shelter. Three categories of costs get added to reach the total basic support obligation.¹

Health insurance premiums, when private coverage for the child is available at a reasonable cost. The number to use is the cost of adding the child to existing coverage, or the difference between self-only and family coverage, not the full premium.¹
Actual child care expenses tied to a parent’s employment, education, or training, for children under 12. The costs must be reasonable and customary for the area. Child care for an older child can still figure in as a deviation factor when circumstances justify it.¹
Extraordinary medical expenses — recurring, uninsured medical costs above $250 per child or group of children per calendar year, when the court can predict them from a permanent, chronic, or recurring condition. Unexpected uninsured costs are split between the parents in proportion to their incomes but are not built into the base order.³

Splitting the Total Between the Parents

Maine uses the income shares model. Each parent covers a share of the total basic support obligation equal to their share of the combined income.¹

Take a simple example. One parent earns $70,000; the other earns $30,000. Combined income is $100,000, so the shares are 70% and 30%. If the total basic support obligation (table amount plus additional costs) comes to $300 per week, one parent’s share is $210 and the other’s is $90.

The parent who does not provide primary residential care pays their share in cash to the parent who does. The primary care provider is presumed to spend their share directly through daily expenses.¹ When neither parent has primary care — for instance, when a grandparent or other caretaker has custody — both parents owe their respective shares, and the caretaker’s income is not part of the calculation.

Shared or Equal Parenting Time

When parents provide substantially equal care, the standard calculation doesn’t apply. Maine uses a separate formula built on an “enhanced support entitlement,” a higher base figure that accounts for the added cost of running two full-time households for the child.¹

The higher-earning parent pays the lesser of two amounts: the difference between the two parents’ calculated obligations under the enhanced formula, or the amount that parent would owe under the regular table as if the other parent had primary care. The cap prevents the shared-care payment from exceeding what the paying parent would owe in a traditional arrangement. Both parents split child care, health insurance, and uninsured medical costs in proportion to their incomes.¹

If the parents earn the same amount and share care equally, neither owes the other anything, and additional costs are split 50/50.¹

Reasons a Court Might Deviate

The table amount is presumed correct, but either parent can argue for a different number. To deviate, that parent must submit written proposed findings explaining why the guideline result would be unfair or not in the child’s best interest.⁵ Factors the court can consider include:

Financial resources the child holds independently, such as a trust or inheritance.
Each parent’s financial resources and needs, including nonrecurring income outside the standard gross income definition.
The child’s standard of living before the parents separated.
Physical and emotional needs of the child, including ongoing medical conditions or disabilities.
Educational needs, such as specialized schooling or tutoring.
A new spouse’s or domestic associate’s income.
Other dependents — elderly, disabled, or adult relatives the parent actually supports.
Tax consequences, particularly around the dependency exemption.
Substantial transportation costs for parenting time when they exceed 15% of the yearly support obligation.
More than six children, since the table only reaches six.

A catch-all lets the court deviate whenever applying the guidelines would be “unjust, inappropriate, or not in the child’s best interest.”⁵

Where to Get the Table and Worksheet

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services runs an online child support worksheet at gateway.maine.gov.⁶ You enter each parent’s income, the number of children, and additional costs like insurance and child care, and the worksheet applies the income shares formula to produce each parent’s weekly obligation.

To run the numbers by hand, the child support table itself (Form FM-084) is available as a downloadable PDF from the Maine Judicial Branch.² The Judicial Branch site also has worksheet instructions and the forms needed for filing or modifying an order.⁷ The table and worksheet produce a presumptive amount — the starting point for negotiation or a hearing, not necessarily the final order if deviation factors apply.

Changing the Order Later

Orders are not permanent. When circumstances change, either parent can ask the court to recalculate. Timing shapes what the parent has to show. If fewer than three years have passed since the order was issued or last modified, the parent asking for a change must show the current order differs from what the guidelines would produce today by more than 15%. That gap counts as a substantial change in circumstances.⁸

After three years, the threshold drops. The court will review the order without any proof of changed circumstances, and if the current amount differs from the guideline amount, it modifies the order.⁸ Incomes, child care, and insurance premiums shift over time, and the three-year review lets the support number shift with them.

1
Maine State Legislature. Maine Code Title 19-A Section 2006 – Support Guidelines
2
Maine Judicial Branch. Maine Child Support Table
3
Maine State Legislature. Maine Revised Statutes Title 19-A Section 2001 – Definitions
4
Maine State Legislature. Maine Code Title 19-A Section 2006 – Support Guidelinesa>
5
Maine State Legislature. Maine Code Title 19-A Section 2007 – Deviation from Child Support Guidelines
6
Maine.gov. Child Support Services
7
Maine Judicial Branch. Child Support
8
Maine State Legislature. Maine Code Title 19-A Section 2009 – Modification of Existing Support Orders