Florida combines both parents' net incomes, looks the total up on the schedule printed in the child support statute, and divides the result in proportion to what each parent earns. Two things catch people out: the schedule runs on net income rather than gross, and crossing 20% of the overnights increases the whole obligation by half.
Four questions. The estimate updates as you type, and you can open the working to see which figure drives it.
Net income, not gross: take gross pay and subtract tax, mandatory retirement, union dues, health-insurance premiums and any court-ordered support already being paid.
Count the nights the children sleep at your home. This matters financially: 90 overnights is the threshold for an automatic 10% reduction.
Enter both incomes to see an estimate.
Estimate onlyBasic support before health insurance, child care and medical costs are added. Courts can depart from the guideline figure. Based on Fla. Stat. 61.30, last checked 2026-07-29.
Florida uses the income-shares model, with the guidelines schedule written directly into Fla. Stat. 61.30 rather than published separately by an agency.
Elena and Tom have two children. Elena's monthly net income is $3,600 and Tom's is $2,400. The children stay with Elena most of the time, and Tom has them 60 nights a year.
Tom pays Elena roughly $695 a month in basic support. If he had 73 overnights instead of 60, the basic obligation would rise to $2,605.50 and his 40% share to about $1,042 — which is why the 20% threshold is worth understanding before agreeing a schedule.
Florida's schedule is built on net income, which makes it one of the easiest states to over-estimate. Allowable deductions include federal, state and local income tax, FICA, mandatory union dues, mandatory retirement contributions, health-insurance premiums excluding the children's portion, court-ordered support for other children actually paid, and spousal support from a previous marriage.
Fla. Stat. 61.30(3)If each parent exercises at least 20% of the annual overnights — 73 nights — the entire basic obligation is multiplied by 1.5 before being split. This is a cliff, not a slope: at 72 nights there is no uplift, at 73 the obligation jumps by half. It usually still reduces what the payer owes on balance, because the larger figure is then apportioned across both parents' time, but the arithmetic surprises people.
Fla. Stat. 61.30(11)(b)The schedule stops at $10,000 of combined monthly net income. Beyond it the obligation is the top-row figure plus a flat percentage of everything above $10,000, which means Florida keeps producing a guideline number for high earners rather than handing the whole question to the judge.
Fla. Stat. 61.30(6)(b)Below the bottom of the schedule a court sets support case by case, and the payment cannot exceed 90% of the difference between the paying parent's monthly net income and the federal poverty guideline for one person. The principle is to establish a payment obligation without pushing the payer below subsistence.
Fla. Stat. 61.30(6)(a)Work-related, job-search or education-related child care is added to the basic obligation and shared in the same income proportion, as is the cost of the children's health coverage. Money a parent has already prepaid for child care is credited back to them.
Fla. Stat. 61.30(7), (8)A judge can vary the guideline figure by up to 5% after considering the child's needs, age, station in life and the parents' financial status. Going further than 5% requires written findings explaining why the guideline amount would be unjust — for example extraordinary medical needs, a seasonal income, or substantial independent income of the child.
Fla. Stat. 61.30(1)(a), (11)Kidtime records every overnight, swap and handover as it happens, so the parenting-time figure behind your support order is evidence rather than an estimate. Free to start.
Support is set as part of a divorce or paternity case in the circuit court where the child lives, or through the Department of Revenue, which administers Florida's child support programme at no charge and can establish paternity, obtain an administrative order and arrange income deduction. Both routes require a financial affidavit from each parent, and the guidelines worksheet is filed with it.
Either parent can petition to modify when circumstances have substantially changed, and a recalculation that differs from the existing order by at least 15% or $50, whichever is greater, is treated as a substantial change. Support is not modified retroactively beyond the date the petition was filed, so filing promptly matters — waiting does not preserve the difference.
It depends on both incomes combined. As a sense of scale, $6,000 of combined monthly net income gives a basic obligation of $1,121 a month for one child, which is then split in proportion to each parent's earnings — so a parent providing 60% of the income is responsible for about $673 of it.
Not usually. Equal time takes both parents past the 20% overnight threshold, so the basic obligation is multiplied by 1.5, and then split by income share. If the incomes are also equal the two shares offset and nothing is owed. But where one parent earns meaningfully more, they will normally still pay something even on a perfectly even schedule.
If each parent has the children for at least 20% of the year's overnights — 73 nights — the guidelines multiply the basic obligation by 1.5 to reflect the cost of maintaining two homes for the children, then divide it according to both income and time. It applies at exactly 73 nights and not at 72, so a schedule that sits just below the line is worth a second look.
Net. This is the single most common mistake in Florida estimates. The schedule is keyed to combined monthly net income after tax, FICA, mandatory retirement, union dues and certain other deductions, so using gross pay will overstate the obligation substantially.
Until the child turns 18, or up to 19 if the child is still in high school with a reasonable expectation of graduating. It can continue indefinitely for a child who is dependent because of a mental or physical incapacity that began before adulthood. Orders should state a termination date and a step-down amount when more than one child is covered.
Only with the court's approval. A judge can accept a figure within 5% of the guideline without explanation, but a larger departure needs written findings that the guideline amount would be unjust or inappropriate. Agreements that simply ignore the guideline are routinely rejected, and paying less than the order says accrues arrears regardless of what the parents agreed privately.
This calculator gives an estimate of basic guideline support for general information. It is not legal advice and it is not the figure a court will order — judges can and do depart from the guideline, and the calculation leaves out health insurance, child care and medical costs. For the controlling text see Fla. Stat. 61.30, compare against the state's own calculator, and consult a licensed Florida family-law attorney about your situation. Last reviewed 2026-07-29.