How Child Support Is Calculated in New Jersey

The guidelines are a presumption

Rule 5:6A says the guidelines in Appendix IX shall be applied when an application to establish or modify child support is considered, and may be modified or disregarded only where good cause is shown. Good cause consists of the considerations in Appendix IX-A or other relevant factors that may make the guidelines inapplicable, together with the fact that an injustice would result from applying them. A completed guidelines worksheet must be attached to any order or judgment that includes child support, and if the award differs from the guidelines amount, the worksheet states the reason and the guidelines amount.

Appendix IX-A, paragraph 2, says the guidelines must be applied in all actions in which child support is being determined, contested or uncontested, including temporary support, interstate cases, domestic violence, divorce and non-dissolution cases.

How the calculation works

• Income shares. The guidelines assume both parents are responsible for the child’s financial needs and divide a child-rearing amount between them in proportion to their incomes (Appendix IX-A, paragraph 4).
• Net income. The guidelines use combined net income. Generally, net income is gross income minus income taxes, mandatory union dues, mandatory retirement, previously ordered child support, and, when appropriate, a credit for other dependents (Appendix IX-A, paragraph 11; Appendix IX-B gives the detailed definitions).
• Weekly amounts. Everything on the worksheet is weekly: divide monthly amounts by 4.3 and annual amounts by 52 (Appendix IX-B).
• The schedule. The basic award comes from the Appendix IX-F schedule for the parents’ combined weekly net income and the number of children. The current schedule took effect September 1, 2025.

The Judiciary publishes the Sole Parenting Worksheet and the Shared Parenting Worksheet as fillable forms.

Imputed income

If the court finds that a parent is, without just cause, voluntarily underemployed or unemployed, it shall impute income (Appendix IX-A, paragraph 12). It must consider that parent’s specific circumstances, including assets, residence, work and earnings history, job skills, education, literacy, age, health, criminal record and other employment barriers, record of seeking work, the local job market, and the ages of children in the household and child care alternatives. Incarceration may not be treated as voluntary unemployment. The court must state its factual basis in writing or on the record.

Parenting time and shared parenting

• PAR Time adjustment. PAR Time (formerly visitation) is parenting time below the substantial equivalent of two or more overnights per week. If a parenting plan with a schedule is filed or ordered, or the non-custodial parent exercises regular PAR Time, the court may reduce the sole-parenting award to reflect that parent’s variable expenses (food and transportation), which the guidelines treat as 37% of child-related spending (Appendix IX-A, paragraph 13).
• Shared-parenting award. A shared-parenting calculation may be used if a parenting plan is filed with or ordered by the court and the parent of alternate residence has, or is expected to have, the child for the substantial equivalent of two or more overnights per week over a year or more (at least 28% of the time), with separate living accommodations for the child (Appendix IX-A, paragraph 14(c)). The criteria do not make a shared award presumptive.
• The primary household test. Unless the parties agree otherwise, the final order is not based on a calculated shared-parenting award if the primary household’s weekly net income plus the award is less than twice the poverty guideline for its size, or if the court finds the primary household’s remaining income insufficient to maintain the household for the child (Appendix IX-A, paragraph 14(d)).

Expenses added to the basic award

Appendix IX-A, paragraph 9, lists expenses that are not in the schedule and are added if incurred: the net cost of work-related child care; the marginal cost of the child’s health insurance; predictable and recurring unreimbursed health care above $250 per child per year; and other predictable and recurring expenses the court approves, such as private school or special needs. Health care above $250 per child per year that is not predictable and recurring is shared in proportion to income as incurred.

Very low and very high incomes

• Self-support. If an obligor’s net income after paying their share of support would be below 150% of the poverty guideline for one person ($460 per week as of January 1, 2026), the court reviews the obligor’s income and expenses to set the most that can reasonably be ordered while leaving a minimum subsistence level, subject to the exceptions in paragraph 20(a). For combined net incomes under $180 per week, the award should be between $5 per week and the schedule amount at $180 (Appendix IX-A, paragraph 20(a); Appendix IX-F).
• Above the schedule. If the parents’ combined net income is more than $187,200 a year ($3,600 a week), the court applies the guidelines up to that amount and adds a discretionary amount based on the factors in N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23. The schedule is not extrapolated (Appendix IX-A, paragraph 20(b); Appendix IX-F).

When support ends

Unless an order, judgment or court-approved preexisting agreement provides otherwise, the obligation to pay current child support ends by operation of law when the child marries, dies or enters the military, and when the child turns 19, unless an exception applies (N.J.S.A. 2A:17-56.67(a)). The exceptions include a later age set by order or judgment (no later than 23), a severe mental or physical incapacity, an out-of-home placement through the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, and a written request to continue that the court approves, for a child still in high school, enrolled full-time in post-secondary education, or with a qualifying disability. For cases the Probation Division administers, both parents receive written notice before the proposed termination date (N.J.S.A. 2A:17-56.67(d); R. 5:6-9(b)).

Primary sources

Rules and forms change. Check the current version at the source before you file. New Jersey statutes are published by the Legislature, and the Rules Governing the Courts by the Judiciary. Neither site offers a stable link to a single section, so statute and Court Rule links open the official search page; search there for the citation shown.

• R. 5:6A, child support guidelines
• Appendix IX-A, considerations in the use of the guidelines
• Appendix IX-B, use of the guidelines, sole parenting
• Appendix IX-F, schedule of child support awards
• N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23, factors for child support
• N.J.S.A. 2A:17-56.67, termination of child support
• R. 5:6-9, termination of child support obligations
• Appendix IX-C, Sole Parenting Worksheet (CN 10788)
• Appendix IX-D, Shared Parenting Worksheet (CN 10727)
• NJ Courts, child support