Child Support

Both parents have a legal obligation to support their children financially. When parents get divorced or no longer live together, the question of who pays child support will largely depend on their custody and parenting time arrangements:

Sole or primary physical custody: When the children will live most of the time with one parent (the custodial parent), the noncustodial parent will pay child support.

Joint/Shared custody: When both parents will have their kids for approximately the same amount of time, they’ll use a separate worksheet to calculate the guideline amount of support. That worksheet takes into account the added expenses of maintaining two separate homes for the kids, as well as the exact percentage of time the children spend with each parent. The parent with a higher income will usually pay child support.

How Louisiana’s Child Support Calculation Works

The basic steps for calculating child support in Louisiana are:

• Based on both parents’ adjusted gross incomes and the number of children they have, the schedule in the guidelines assigns them a total basic support obligation.
• That basic obligation is adjusted to include certain child-related expenses.
• Each parent is responsible for a share of the adjusted total support obligation, based on their proportionate share of the combined incomes.

There are some additional steps when parents have shared custody. But when you fill in the correct information about your income, children, and custody arrangements, Louisiana’s automated worksheets will do the actual calculations for you—including the built-in “self-sufficiency reserve” meant to help ensure that very low-income parents will have enough money left over after paying child support to meet their own basic needs.

What Counts as Income When Calculating Child Support in Louisiana?

Louisiana’s child support guidelines use the parents’ combined adjusted gross income to determine child support. You’ll need to gather information about each parent’s gross income, as well as certain allowed deductions. Gross income includes income from almost any source, such as:

• Salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, and severance pay
• Income from self-employment or a business (minus the ordinary expenses needed to produce that income)
• Significant employment-related expense reimbursements or in-kind payments that are received through employment, self-employment, or the operation of a business, as long as they reduce a parent’s living expenses (such as free housing, a company car, or meal reimbursements)
• Dividends, interest, annuities, and capital gain
• Recurring gifts of money
• Workers’ compensation, disability, and unemployment benefits
• Social Security benefits and pensions
• Spousal support (alimony) received from a previous spouse under a preexisting order

When Does Child Support End in Louisiana?

Under Louisiana law, child support usually ends when the child turns 18 or is otherwise emancipated, unless the child:

• Is a full-time high school student in good standing
• Hasn’t turned 19
• Is dependent on either parent