VIRGINIA Part 87

Calculating Child Support Payments – the Guidelines

The guidelines are a formula. To use them, you need to know the number of children to support and the incomes of both parents. If you have children with more than one parent, then you need to estimate child support from each parent separately. For example, let’s say you have three children – one with Parent A and two with Parent B. If you're seeking child support from Parent A, then you count only one child. If you are seeking child support from Parent B, then you count only two children.

Take the number of children and the combined income amount, and then look here at the guidelines. The guidelines look like a schedule, listing the number of children at the top and amount of income per month down the side at 50-dollar increments. So, they go from $600 to $650 to $700 and so on all the way up to $10,000. If you have one child, for example, and your combined monthly income is $1,000, then the total amount of child support will be $196 per month.