Texas is unusual: only the paying parent's income counts. The other parent could earn nothing or twice as much and the guideline figure would be identical — it is a flat percentage of the payer's monthly net resources, rising with the number of children. That makes Texas support easier to predict than most states, provided you work out net resources correctly.
Four questions. The estimate updates as you type, and you can open the working to see which figure drives it.
Texas uses “net resources”, not gross pay: gross income less federal income tax for a single filer, Social Security tax, union dues and the children’s health and dental premiums.
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 Tex. Fam. Code § 154.125, last checked 2026-07-29.
Texas uses the percentage-of-obligor model: a set percentage of the paying parent's monthly net resources, with no reference to what the other parent earns.
Priya has the children most of the time. Ravi has two children with her, and his monthly net resources work out at $4,500 after tax, Social Security and the children's health premium.
Ravi pays $1,125 a month in guideline support. If his net resources rose to $15,000, the figure would stop climbing at $2,925 — 25% of the $11,700 cap — unless the children's proven needs justified more.
This is the number people get wrong most often. Net resources is gross income less income tax computed for a single filer with one exemption, Social Security and Medicare, union dues, and the children's health and dental premiums. It does not deduct rent, car payments, other debts, or 401(k) contributions — so net resources is usually higher than the amount that actually lands in your bank account.
Tex. Fam. Code § 154.062The percentages apply only to the first $11,700 of monthly net resources, a figure the Attorney General re-adjusts for inflation every six years and publishes in the Texas Register. It rose from $9,200 on 1 September 2025. Above the cap, a court can order more only if the children's proven needs justify it.
Tex. Fam. Code § 154.125(a), § 154.126; Texas Register, 15 Aug 2025If the paying parent's net resources are under $1,000 a month, the percentages drop by five points across the board — 15% for one child instead of 20%, and so on. It is easy to miss, and it means Texas is not the single flat percentage it is usually described as.
Tex. Fam. Code § 154.125(c)This surprises people moving from other states. The Texas guideline contains no overnight adjustment: a parent with the children 100 nights a year pays the same percentage as one with 40. Extra time can support a request to depart from the guideline, but there is no automatic arithmetic credit of the kind Ohio applies at 90 overnights.
Tex. Fam. Code § 154.123If the paying parent has children from another relationship, the percentages are reduced using an alternative table, because the duty of support is spread across more children. The reduction depends on how many children are in each household.
Tex. Fam. Code § 154.128, § 154.129Ordered in addition to the guideline amount. Whoever carries the coverage is named in the order, and the cost is reimbursed or offset rather than absorbed into the percentage.
Tex. Fam. Code § 154.182, § 154.1825Kidtime 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.
You can seek support in a divorce or a suit affecting the parent-child relationship in the county where the child lives, or apply through the Attorney General's Child Support Division, which is free and can establish paternity, obtain an order and set up income withholding. Most Texas support is collected by wage withholding through the state disbursement unit rather than paid parent to parent.
A court can modify an order if circumstances have materially and substantially changed, or if three years have passed since the last order and a recalculation differs from it by either 20% or $100. The Attorney General's office will review an order on request. Until an order is changed it stays fully enforceable — an informal agreement to pay less leaves arrears accruing at 6% interest.
20% of the paying parent's monthly net resources, so it depends entirely on that parent's income. On $4,000 of net resources it is $800 a month; on $6,000 it is $1,200. The maximum guideline figure for one child is $2,340, which is 20% of the $11,700 cap.
Not under the guideline. Texas looks only at the paying parent's net resources, so the receiving parent's earnings do not change the percentage or the amount. This is a genuine difference from most states, which combine both incomes. A court can consider both parents' circumstances when deciding whether to depart from the guideline, but the starting figure ignores them.
No. Because the guideline has no overnight adjustment, equal time does not by itself reduce or eliminate support — a parent designated as the obligor with an even schedule can still owe the full percentage. In practice courts often set a lower figure or none where time and incomes are both close to equal, but that is a deviation from the guideline, argued for rather than automatic.
The guideline percentages stop at $11,700 of monthly net resources, which caps guideline support at $2,340 for one child, $2,925 for two, $3,510 for three, $4,095 for four and $4,680 for five. A court can order above those figures only where the children's proven needs require it. The cap is inflation-adjusted every six years — it was $9,200 until September 2025.
Yes. All wage and salary income counts, including overtime, bonuses, tips and commissions, along with self-employment income, rental income, interest, dividends and most benefits. Courts can average irregular income over time rather than annualising an unusually high or low period.
A court can find a parent intentionally underemployed and apply the percentage to what they could earn rather than what they report. Where there is no evidence of income at all, the court may presume net resources based on full-time work at the federal minimum wage. Undocumented cash income is routinely reconstructed from bank records and lifestyle evidence.
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 Tex. Fam. Code ch. 154, compare against the state's own calculator, and consult a licensed Texas family-law attorney about your situation. Last reviewed 2026-07-29.