Virginia Child Support Table: Income, Add-Ons, and Custody

The Virginia child support table in Virginia Code 20-108.2 sets a base monthly support amount based on two numbers: the parents’ combined monthly gross income and the number of children. You find the combined income in the left column, read across to the column for the right number of children, and that figure is the “basic child support obligation.” The parents then split that obligation in proportion to what each one earns, with adjustments layered on for health insurance, childcare, and the custody schedule.¹

How to Read the Table

The table covers combined monthly incomes up to $42,500 and runs across six columns for one through six children. Pick the row that matches the combined gross income, then the column for the number of children shared by the parents. The dollar figure where they meet is what the state presumes both parents together should be spending on the children each month.¹

That total is then divided between the parents according to income share. A parent who earns 65% of the combined income is responsible for 65% of the base obligation. In a sole-custody case, the noncustodial parent pays their share directly; the custodial parent’s share is assumed to be spent on the child day to day through housing, food, and other household costs.

If the combined monthly income is above $42,500, the calculation starts with the support amount at the $42,500 level and adds a percentage of the income above that ceiling. The percentages run from 2.6% for one child to 5.0% for six.¹

The table amount is presumed correct. A judge has to start there and can only move off the number by making written findings that explain why the guideline figure would be unjust in a particular case.

What Counts as Gross Income

Virginia defines gross income broadly. It includes wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, severance pay, pensions, interest, trust income, annuities, capital gains, Social Security benefits, workers’ compensation, unemployment benefits, disability insurance, veterans’ benefits, spousal support received, rental income, gifts, prizes, and awards.¹

A few things don’t count. Public assistance benefits, federal Supplemental Security Income, and child support received from another case are excluded. Income earned from secondary employment specifically to pay down an existing child support arrearage (a second job, overtime, or a side business) is also excluded, as long as the parent is current on the underlying order.¹

Self-employed parents and parents with rental property can deduct reasonable business expenses from gross income, but they have to prove them. Depreciation, the cost of acquiring property, and the principal portion of mortgage payments are not deductible. Half of self-employment tax comes off, and spousal support paid under an order or agreement is deducted before the calculation begins.¹

Add-Ons: Health Insurance, Childcare, and Medical Costs

Three categories of expense sit on top of the base table amount and get split between the parents in the same income-share proportion.

Health insurance premiums paid by either parent, or that parent’s spouse, for the child are added to the base obligation. If the insurer doesn’t give a per-child cost, the calculation takes the family plan cost, subtracts the individual policy cost, and divides what’s left by the number of additional people covered.¹

Work-related childcare costs for the custodial parent are also added. They can’t exceed the amount needed for quality care from a licensed provider. If the noncustodial parent is willing and available to provide childcare personally, the court takes that into account when deciding whether the expense is necessary. Either parent can ask the court to factor in the actual tax savings from child-care deductions or credits.¹

Unreimbursed medical and dental costs are handled differently. Rather than being folded into the monthly amount, each parent pays their proportional share of reasonable out-of-pocket costs as they come up, including prescription medication, eyeglasses, orthodontics, mental health services, and developmental disability treatment. The support order has to spell out how those payments are made.¹

Shared and Split Custody Change the Formula

When each parent has physical custody of a child for more than 90 days per year, Virginia drops the standard sole-custody calculation and uses a shared custody formula instead. The reasoning is practical: a parent spending that much time with the child is already paying for a larger share of daily expenses directly.¹

The shared formula still begins with the table amount. The court then multiplies that figure by 1.4 to produce a “shared support need,” which reflects the extra cost of maintaining two households for the child. From there, each parent’s custody time, income share, health insurance, and childcare costs are all run through the calculation, and the difference between the two parents’ totals determines who pays whom.¹

There’s a safeguard built in. If the shared custody formula somehow produces a larger payment than the standard sole-custody calculation would, a parent can ask the court to apply the lower sole-custody amount instead.

Split custody is a separate scenario and shouldn’t be confused with shared custody. It applies when each parent has primary physical custody of at least one child from the same family. The court runs a sole-custody calculation twice, treating each parent as the noncustodial parent for the child living with the other. The parent whose figure is higher pays the difference.¹

When Judges Move Off the Table Amount

The guideline figure is a starting point, not a ceiling or a floor. A judge can set support higher or lower, but only after written findings that explain the deviation and state what the guideline amount would have been. Virginia law lists more than a dozen factors the court weighs.²

The ones that come up most often:

Support a parent is already providing for other children from another relationship or for former family members.
Significant travel costs tied to exercising visitation.
A child’s physical, emotional, or medical special needs.
The standard of living the child was accustomed to before the parents separated.
Each parent’s earning capacity and overall financial resources, including a parent with substantial assets but modest income.
Tax consequences, such as who claims the child as a dependent and who takes the child tax credit or child-care credit.
Property division from the divorce, especially income-producing marital property.

None of these produces an automatic adjustment. The judge still has to conclude that applying the table amount would be unjust or inappropriate on the specific facts.²

Imputed Income

If a parent quits a job without good reason, turns down available work, or deliberately works below their skill level, the court can impute income to them. The calculation then treats the parent as earning what they could reasonably make given their education, work history, and qualifications. This stops a parent from shrinking a support obligation by choosing not to work.²

The rule has limits. A court cannot impute income to a custodial parent whose child is not yet in school if childcare is unavailable and childcare costs are not included in the support calculation. And if a parent left a job or cut hours to attend an educational or vocational program that will maintain or increase their earning potential, the court looks at the good faith and reasonableness of the decision rather than reflexively penalizing it. Incarceration for 180 or more consecutive days is not treated as voluntary unemployment, so a parent serving a sentence of six months or longer can use that incarceration as grounds to modify support instead of having income imputed as if they chose not to work.²

Changing the Support Amount Later

Either parent can ask the court to change a child support order when circumstances shift. Common reasons include job loss, a substantial change in either parent’s income, a shift in the custody arrangement, or significant new medical expenses for the child. The question for the court is whether the change genuinely affects the parent’s ability to pay or the child’s financial needs. A parent who voluntarily cuts their own income generally will not succeed in lowering payments, because the court can impute their prior earning capacity.³

Timing is critical. Virginia does not allow retroactive modifications. A modified amount applies only from the date the petition was filed and the other parent was given notice. It cannot reach back to cover earlier months, no matter how dramatic the change was. Until a judge signs the new order, the original obligation remains in effect and any missed payments continue to accrue as arrears. If your income drops or the child’s needs grow, file right away.³

When Support Ends

Child support in Virginia generally ends when the child turns 18. If the child is still in high school on their 18th birthday and is reasonably expected to graduate before turning 19, support continues until graduation. If there’s no reasonable expectation the child will graduate before 19, the obligation ends at 18.

Support can continue indefinitely for an adult child who has a severe physical or mental disability, cannot live independently, and resides with the parent receiving support. Expert evaluations are typically needed to establish both the severity of the disability and the child’s inability to be self-supporting.

1
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-108.2 – Guideline for Determination of Child Support
2
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-108.1 – Determination of Child or Spousal Support
3
Virginia Code Commission. Virginia Code 20-108 – Revision and Alteration of Such Decrees