Maryland Child Support Guidelines: Income, Custody, and Deviations

The Maryland child support guidelines use an income shares model: both parents’ adjusted incomes are combined, a base monthly obligation is pulled from a statutory schedule, health insurance, childcare, and extraordinary medical costs are added on top, and the total is split between the parents in proportion to what each one earns.¹ The math shifts once the child spends more than a quarter of the year overnight with each parent, and judges keep limited discretion to depart from the number the formula produces.

What Counts as Income

Every calculation starts with each parent’s “actual income,” and Maryland defines that broadly. Wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, and dividends all count. So do government benefits: Social Security, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, and disability payments. Self-employed parents use gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary business expenses.²

Two deductions bring that figure down to “adjusted actual income.” First, child support a parent is already paying for children from a different relationship. Second, alimony the parent is paying, whether in this case or another one.² When alimony is being decided in the same case, the court sets that amount first and then runs the child support numbers with the alimony already factored in.¹ Each parent’s adjusted income determines their proportional share of the final obligation.

The Basic Obligation Schedule

Both parents’ adjusted incomes get added together, and the combined figure is looked up on the schedule in Section 12-204(e). The table lists monthly obligation amounts for one through six or more children at every income level from $0 up to $30,000 per month.¹ If the combined income falls between two listed amounts, the court rounds up to the next level. The base obligation is then split between the parents in proportion to each parent’s share of the combined income. A parent earning 60% of the combined total is responsible for 60% of the obligation.

At the low end, the schedule protects a paying parent’s ability to cover basic living costs through a self-support reserve of $1,145 per month. Combined incomes above $30,000 per month sit above the top of the table, and the court has discretion to set an amount that reflects the child’s needs and the standard of living the child would have enjoyed. The schedule’s top figure functions as a floor rather than a ceiling in those high-income cases.

Add-Ons: Insurance, Childcare, and Medical Costs

The schedule covers baseline expenses like food and shelter. Three categories of costs are added on top before the final split. The actual cost of health insurance coverage for the child is added to the basic obligation. Work-related childcare expenses are added the same way, either at the family’s actual cost or, if there is no track record, the cost of quality licensed care.³

Extraordinary medical expenses (uninsured costs beyond routine care, such as orthodontia, therapy, or treatment for chronic conditions) are also added on top. For children with special needs, the court can build in additional childcare costs beyond the standard calculation. All three add-ons follow the same proportional split as the base obligation.

Shared Custody and the 92-Overnight Threshold

The formula changes substantially once each parent has the child overnight for more than 25% of the year, which works out to at least 92 overnights. Cases at that level shift from Worksheet A, used for primary physical custody, to Worksheet B, used for shared custody.⁴ The reasoning is that when both homes function as the child’s residence, both parents carry duplicate fixed costs for housing, furnishings, and daily needs.

Worksheet B multiplies the basic obligation by 1.5 to reflect those duplicated costs.¹ Each parent’s share of the adjusted obligation is then multiplied by the percentage of overnights the child spends with the other parent. The difference between the two figures is what the higher earner pays.

The Sliding Scale Between 92 and 109 Overnights

A parent with 92 to 109 overnights sits in a transitional range, and Maryland applies an extra adjustment on a sliding scale to prevent a sudden shift right at the 92-night line:⁵

92 to 94 overnights: theoretical obligation multiplied by 0.10
95 to 98 overnights: multiplied by 0.08
99 to 102 overnights: multiplied by 0.06
103 to 105 overnights: multiplied by 0.04
106 to 109 overnights: multiplied by 0.02

The adjustment amount is added to that parent’s theoretical obligation before the final netting step. At 110 overnights or more (30% of the year), the standard shared-custody formula applies with no additional adjustment.⁶

Voluntary Impoverishment and Imputed Income

A parent who deliberately earns less than they could does not get a lower number by default. A court can find a parent “voluntarily impoverished” and calculate support based on what that parent could reasonably earn.¹ If the claim is contested, the court has to make a formal finding based on the totality of the circumstances before it imputes any income.

Three situations rule out imputed income entirely. A parent with a physical or mental disability that prevents work is exempt. So is a parent caring for a child under age two whom both parents are responsible for. And a parent who is incarcerated cannot be treated as voluntarily impoverished.¹

When a Judge Can Deviate

The guidelines carry a rebuttable presumption that the calculated amount is correct, but a judge can depart from the formula if applying it would be unjust or inappropriate.⁷ Any deviation requires a written or on-the-record finding stating what the guidelines would have produced, how the order differs, and how the departure serves the child’s best interests.

The statute names several factors that can justify a departure: mortgage obligations or marital debts addressed in a separation agreement, college education expenses, use-and-possession orders for the family home, and direct payments a parent already makes for the child under an existing agreement.⁷ A court can also deviate when following the guidelines would leave the paying parent with monthly income below 110% of the federal poverty level for an individual.

When Child Support Ends

Child support in Maryland runs until the child turns 18. If the child is still enrolled in high school at 18, support continues until age 19.⁸ Reaching the termination age does not wipe out any unpaid balance; the Child Support Administration keeps enforcing arrears until they are paid off.

Maryland does not automatically extend support through college. Parents who want to cover college costs generally do it through a separation agreement. A court can consider college expenses when deciding whether to deviate from the guidelines, but there is no statutory right to court-ordered college support.

Modifying an Existing Order

Either parent can ask the court to change the support amount when circumstances have materially changed since the order was entered. A 25% change in either parent’s income is a commonly cited benchmark, though smaller shifts can qualify if the court finds the difference meaningful enough to justify a new calculation.

Income is not the only trigger. A child developing a serious medical condition, a change in the custody arrangement, the loss of employer-provided health insurance, or an involuntary job loss can all support a modification request. Quitting a job or taking a voluntary pay cut without justification will not reduce a paying parent’s obligation, because the court can impute income based on earning capacity.

What Happens If Payments Stop

The Child Support Administration has a wide range of collection tools, and most kick in automatically once arrears hit specific thresholds.

Wage withholding: employers are required to withhold support directly from the paying parent’s wages.
Federal tax refund offset: certified automatically when arrears reach $500 and equal at least twice the monthly order.
State tax refund offset: certified automatically when arrears reach $150 and equal at least twice the monthly order.
Driver’s license suspension: referred to the Motor Vehicle Administration once a parent is 60 or more days out of compliance.
Professional license suspension: referred to the licensing authority at 120 or more days out of compliance. Reinstatement requires full payment or four consecutive months of on-time payments.
Passport denial: applies at $2,500 or more in past-due support.
Credit bureau reporting: triggered when the arrears balance equals or exceeds 60 days of the combined current obligation and arrears payment.
Lottery intercept: winnings can be seized when the parent owes at least $150.
Bank account seizure: the state matches financial institution records and can garnish accounts of parents with arrears.
Civil contempt: a judge who finds a parent had the ability to pay and failed to do so can order incarceration.

The state can also place liens on real and personal property, intercept workers’ compensation awards, and collect from unemployment payments.⁹ Most of these run without any action by the custodial parent when the case is managed through the Child Support Administration. A parent who falls behind is better off addressing the issue right away, because once a wage order or license suspension is in place, undoing it takes time even after payments resume.

Tax Treatment

Child support is tax-neutral under federal law. The paying parent cannot deduct payments, and the receiving parent does not report them as income.¹⁰ That holds regardless of how payments are structured or labeled, and paying a child’s expenses directly instead of through a support order does not create a deduction either.

1
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Family Law 12-204 – Determination of Child Support Obligation
2
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Family Law 12-201 – Definitions
3
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Family Law 12-204 – Schedule of Basic Child Support Obligations
4
Maryland Courts. Maryland Rule 9-206 – Child Support Worksheets
5
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Senate Bill 579 – Chapter 143 (2020)
6
Maryland Courts. Worksheet B – Child Support Obligation Shared Physical Custody (CC-DR-035)
7
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Family Law 12-202 – Use of Child Support Guidelines
8
Maryland Department of Human Services. Child Support Frequently Asked Questions
9
Maryland Department of Human Services. Enforcement Tools
10
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 525 – Taxable and Nontaxable Income