New Washington State Child Support Laws: What EHB 1014 Changes

The new Washington State child support laws taking effect on January 1, 2026 come from Engrossed House Bill 1014, signed during the 2025 legislative session. The law makes three changes: it expands the economic table to cover combined monthly net incomes up to $50,000, raises the self-support reserve from 125% to 180% of the federal poverty guideline for a one-person household, and creates an abatement for parents who are incapacitated and unable to work. The abatement provision does not take effect until April 1, 2027.¹

What EHB 1014 Changes

Each of the three pieces of EHB 1014 answers a long-standing gap in the state’s support framework, and each one reaches a different group of parents.

The Economic Table Now Reaches $50,000 in Combined Net Income

Washington calculates child support from a schedule in RCW 26.19.020 that lists the presumptive support amount for a given combined parental income and number of children. Before 2026, higher-earning families ran off the top of that table and the court had to set an amount without a guideline figure to anchor it. The expanded table now runs from $2,200 up to $50,000 in combined monthly net income, so courts have a presumptive number across a much wider span of households.²

Combined net monthly incomes below $2,200 are still set individually based on each household’s resources and living expenses.

The Self-Support Reserve Rises to 180% of the Federal Poverty Guideline

The self-support reserve is the income floor that must remain to the paying parent after the support amount is deducted. Raising it from 125% to 180% of the federal poverty guideline for a one-person household means more low-income parents will see their calculated obligations reduced to protect that floor, and more will fall into the minimum-order range.³

An Incapacity Abatement Is Coming, but Not Yet

EHB 1014 also sets up a process for abating support when a parent is incapacitated and unable to work. That piece does not take effect on January 1, 2026. It begins April 1, 2027.¹

The Separate TANF Pass-Through Delay

A different 2024 law, ESHB 1652, directed the state to pass through 100% of current child support collected each month to families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. That change was originally scheduled to begin in January 2026, which has caused some confusion with the EHB 1014 effective date. Under HB 2039, the pass-through has been pushed back to July 1, 2029.¹

How the Expanded Economic Table Works in Practice

Washington uses the Income Shares Model, which estimates what a child would have cost if both parents still lived together and splits that cost between them based on each parent’s share of combined income.⁴ The court adds both parents’ net monthly incomes, looks up the total in the economic table for the relevant number of children, and that figure is the basic support obligation. Each parent then owes a percentage equal to their share of the combined income.

At $5,000 in combined net monthly income with one child, the basic support obligation on the table is $951 per month. With two children at the same income, it works out to $723 per child.² Before the 2026 expansion, families whose combined net income climbed well above the old ceiling had no listed amount to work from, and the resulting orders depended heavily on judicial discretion. The new upper limit of $50,000 reduces that gap for most high-income families.

Health care, day care, and special child-rearing expenses continue to be calculated separately from the economic table and shared in the same proportion as the basic support obligation. Health care costs include medical, dental, orthodontia, vision, mental health treatment, and prescription medications.⁵

What the Higher Self-Support Reserve Does

If your net monthly income after the support obligation would fall below 180% of the federal poverty guideline for a one-person household, that floor controls. The court then enters a minimum order of $50 per child per month unless you can show that even the minimum would be unjust.³

In deciding whether to reduce or deviate from the minimum, the court weighs:

Whether the minimum payment would leave the custodial parent’s household unable to meet the child’s basic needs
The relative hardship to each household
Each parent’s assets and earning capacity

Moving the floor from 125% to 180% of the poverty guideline is the practical heart of the change. A paying parent earning near the previous threshold who was ordered to pay a percentage-based amount under the old rule may now land in the minimum-order range, and a parent already at the minimum may qualify for a lower deviation under the same statutory factors. If you have an order set under the old reserve, that order does not change on its own; it changes through the modification or adjustment process in RCW 26.09.170, which requires either a substantial change in circumstances or, in the simpler adjustment track, that at least two years have passed since the last order.⁶

The Incapacity Abatement Coming in April 2027

The abatement for incapacitated parents is the part of EHB 1014 that most directly answers a problem the enforcement system has struggled with: what happens when a parent genuinely cannot work. The provision takes effect April 1, 2027. Until then, a parent in that situation has to use the existing modification route in RCW 26.09.170, which treats a serious illness or injury that prevents work as a potential substantial change in circumstances.⁶ One nuance worth knowing in the meantime: voluntarily quitting a job or reducing hours does not, by itself, count as a substantial change, and the court can impute income at the prior earnings level.

What Hasn’t Changed

EHB 1014 adjusts the inputs and the low-income floor, but much of the surrounding system still works the way it did before.

The Income Shares Model, the two-track modification process (motion for adjustment after two years, or full modification on a substantial change), the rules on imputed income when a parent fails to document earnings, and the recognized grounds for deviation under RCW 26.19.075 all remain in place.⁷ Enforcement tools are untouched: income withholding served on the employer under RCW 26.23.060, license suspensions after 180 days of arrears, contempt remedies, federal passport denial once arrears reach $2,500, and credit bureau reporting all continue to apply.

Termination rules are also unchanged. Child support in Washington generally ends at 18, or at high school graduation or age 19 if the child is still enrolled, whichever comes first. Post-secondary educational support under RCW 26.19.090 remains discretionary and still cannot run past the child’s 23rd birthday except in exceptional circumstances involving disability.⁸ And a child reaching 18 does not wipe out past-due support; arrears remain collectible through the same enforcement tools until the balance is paid.

If you think the new table ceiling or the higher self-support reserve would change your number, the practical next step is the same as before January 1, 2026: a motion for adjustment if your current order is at least two years old, or a full modification petition if a substantial change in circumstances has occurred.

1
Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. Federal and State Child Support Legislative History
2
Washington State Legislature. RCW 26.19.020 Child Support Economic Table
3
Washington State Legislature. RCW 26.19.065 Standards for Establishing Lower and Upper Limits on Child Support Amounts
4
National Conference of State Legislatures. Child Support Guideline Models
5
Washington State Legislature. RCW 26.19.080 Allocation of Child Support Obligation Between Parents
6
Washington State Legislature. Washington Code 26.09.170 – Modification of Decree for Maintenance or Support
7
Washington State Legislature. RCW 26.19.075 Standards for Deviation From the Standard Calculation
8
Washington State Legislature. RCW 26.19.090 Standards for Postsecondary Educational Support Awards