Texas Child Support: Guidelines, Enforcement, and Modifications

Texas child support is calculated as a percentage of the paying parent’s monthly net resources, with 20% going to one child, 25% to two, and the percentage rising with each additional child. The guideline percentages apply only to the first $11,700 of monthly net resources, a cap that took effect September 1, 2025.¹ Courts treat these numbers as a presumptive starting point and will apply them unless someone proves the result would be unjust or inappropriate.²

How Net Resources Are Calculated

Net resources is a statutory term, not a tax term, and it drives the whole calculation. Start with gross resources, which includes almost every dollar a parent receives: wages, salary, commissions, overtime, bonuses, tips, interest, dividends, royalty income, self-employment profits, severance pay, capital gains, retirement benefits, Social Security benefits other than SSI, and trust income.³ Judges usually look at several months of pay stubs and recent tax returns to settle on a reliable monthly figure.

From gross resources, the court subtracts a short, fixed list of items:

The employee share of Social Security taxes
Federal income tax, calculated as if the parent were a single filer claiming one personal exemption and the standard deduction, regardless of actual filing status
State income tax (zero in Texas, but the deduction exists for orders that cross state lines)
Union dues
Health and dental insurance premiums for the child, limited to the portion the parent pays under a court order
Nondiscretionary retirement contributions, but only if the parent doesn’t pay Social Security taxes (common for certain government employees)

Nothing else comes out. Voluntary 401(k) contributions, personal loans, rent, and ordinary living expenses do not reduce net resources.³ If the parent carries other children on the same health plan, the court divides the premium by the number of covered children and deducts only the share attributable to the child in the case.

The Office of the Attorney General publishes revised tax charts each year reflecting current federal law, and courts use those charts to figure the income tax deduction. The agency also offers an online calculator that runs the numbers automatically.⁴

The Guideline Percentages

Once net resources are set, the standard schedule for a parent whose children all live in one household is:

One child: 20%
Two children: 25%
Three children: 30%
Four children: 35%
Five or more children: 40%

These percentages apply only to the first $11,700 of monthly net resources. A parent earning more than that doesn’t automatically pay 20% of the full amount for one child. The guideline figure caps out at $2,340 per month (20% of $11,700), and any additional support above the cap requires the receiving parent to prove the child’s actual needs justify it.² The cap was raised from $9,200 effective September 1, 2025, and the Title IV-D agency adjusts it periodically.¹

Low-Income Schedule

When the paying parent’s monthly net resources are below $1,000, Texas uses a reduced schedule that took effect for cases filed on or after September 1, 2021:

One child: 15%
Two children: 20%
Three children: 25%
Four children: 30%
Five or more children: 35%

The $1,000 threshold roughly corresponds to one-twelfth of the annual gross income of someone working full time at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, after statutory deductions.¹ The OAG’s calculator applies the low-income schedule automatically when net resources fall in this range.

Adjustments When You Support Children in Another Household

A parent with a legal duty to support children from a different relationship pays a lower percentage on the case before the court. The adjusted schedule accounts for both the number of children in the current case and the number of other children the parent supports elsewhere. A few examples:

One child in the case, one other child elsewhere: 17.50%
One child in the case, two other children elsewhere: 16.00%
One child in the case, three other children elsewhere: 14.75%
Two children in the case, one other child elsewhere: 22.50%

The full table in the Family Code covers up to seven children in the case and up to seven other children, and a separate low-income version applies when net resources are below $1,000.⁵ These adjustments are mandatory unless the court finds strict application would be unjust.⁶

Medical and Dental Support

Every Texas support order has to spell out how the child’s health and dental care will be covered. At the outset of a case, both parents disclose whether the child currently has insurance, who pays for it, and what it costs.⁷

If a parent has access to health insurance through an employer or another source, the court typically orders that parent to enroll the child, provided the cost is “reasonable.” The statute defines reasonable as no more than 9% of the paying parent’s annual gross resources. If insurance isn’t available at a reasonable cost, the court may order cash medical support instead, a monthly payment earmarked for health care expenses.⁷ Premiums paid under these orders come out of gross resources when the base support amount is calculated, so the two obligations don’t stack unfairly.

When Payments End

A Texas child support obligation continues until the earliest of:

The child turns 18 or graduates from high school, whichever is later
The child marries
The child is emancipated by court order or operation of law
The child dies

If the child has a disability as defined by the Family Code, the court can order support for an indefinite period, potentially for life.⁸

Texas does not require parents to pay for college. There is no statute or case law obligating a parent to fund higher education unless they voluntarily agree to it, usually in a divorce settlement. Parents who assumed support would extend through college sometimes learn this the hard way.

Changing an Order

Circumstances shift, and support orders can shift with them. What a parent cannot do is unilaterally stop paying or reduce payments. Until a court signs a modified order, the original amount is legally enforceable and any shortfall accrues as arrears with interest.

Texas allows modification in two situations:

A material and substantial change in circumstances since the order was issued, such as job loss, a serious medical diagnosis, or a large income change
Three years have passed since the order was rendered or last modified, and the current amount differs by at least 20% or $100 from what the guidelines would produce today

Incarceration longer than 180 days counts as a material and substantial change, and so does release from incarceration when the obligation was reduced or suspended during that period.⁹ The practical point: a parent who loses a job or goes to jail should file for modification right away. Courts rarely forgive arrears that pile up while a parent waits and hopes.

What Happens If Payments Stop

Texas has a wide enforcement toolkit, most of it operated through the Office of the Attorney General’s Child Support Division.

Income Withholding and Automatic Liens

The most common tool is income withholding, where the employer deducts child support from each paycheck before the parent sees it. This is standard in Texas orders from the start, not just once someone falls behind. When a parent does fall behind, child support liens arise automatically against real and personal property, including bank accounts, retirement accounts, insurance proceeds, and real estate.¹⁰

License Suspension

If a parent falls three or more months behind, fails to comply with a repayment schedule, and has been given a chance to catch up, the court or the Title IV-D agency can suspend driver’s licenses, professional licenses, and recreational licenses like hunting and fishing permits.¹¹ A suspension can be stayed with an immediate partial payment of at least $200 and agreement to a repayment plan.¹²

Contempt

A court can hold a parent in contempt for violating a support order. Each violation carries fines of up to $500 and jail time of up to six months. Because each missed payment is a separate violation, the penalties stack quickly for a parent who hasn’t paid in months.¹⁰

Interest

Past-due child support accrues 6% simple interest per year from the date each payment becomes delinquent, and the same rate continues after the balance is reduced to a money judgment.¹³ On a large arrearage, the longer a parent waits, the harder catching up gets.

Passport Denial

Owing more than $2,500 in arrears triggers reporting to the U.S. Department of State, which will deny a passport application or renewal. Removal from the denial list isn’t automatic when the balance later drops; the parent generally needs to resolve the arrears or enter a payment agreement first.¹⁴

Taxes

Child support is tax-neutral. The paying parent doesn’t deduct it, and the receiving parent doesn’t report it as income. When a divorce agreement includes both child support and spousal maintenance and the paying parent sends less than the total, the IRS applies the money to child support first; only the excess counts as deductible maintenance.¹⁵

The custodial parent (the one the child lives with for the greater part of the year) generally claims the child as a dependent. The custodial parent can release that claim by signing IRS Form 8332, allowing the noncustodial parent to claim the child tax credit or credit for other dependents. Even with Form 8332, the noncustodial parent still can’t claim head of household status, the earned income credit, or the child and dependent care credit based on that child.¹⁶ Divorce agreements that alternate the dependency claim between parents rely on Form 8332 to make the arrangement work with the IRS.

1
Office of the Attorney General of Texas. 2025 Revised Tax Charts
2
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 154.125 – Application of Guidelines to Net Resources
3
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 154.062 – Net Resources
4
Office of the Attorney General of Texas. Monthly Child Support Calculator
5
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 154.129 – Alternative Method of Computing Support for Children in More Than One Household
6
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 154.128 – Computing Support for Children in More Than One Household
7
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 154.181 – Medical Support Order
8
State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 154.001
9
State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 156.401
10
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Chapter 157 – Enforcement
11
State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 232.003
12
State of Texas. Texas Family Code Section 232.008 – Order Suspending License for Failure to Pay Child Support
13
State of Texas. Texas Family Code FAM 157.265
14
Administration for Children and Families. Overview of the Passport Denial Program
15
Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 452, Alimony and Separate Maintenance
16
Internal Revenue Service. Dependents – Can I Claim a Child as a Dependent