New York child support guidelines and the income cap

New York child support is one calculation applied to both parents' incomes together, then split between them by what each earns. The percentages are fixed. The disputes are almost always about what counts as income.

And New York support runs until 21, not 18, which adds three years most people do not budget for.

How is child support calculated in New York?

Five steps, set out in section 240(1-b)(c) of the Domestic Relations Law:

1. Determine each parent's income and add them together. That total is the combined parental income.

2. Multiply the combined income, up to the cap, by the child support percentage.

3. Prorate that number between the parents in the same proportion as each parent's income bears to the combined income. The non-custodial parent pays their share.

4. Add child care expenses, prorated the same way, where the custodial parent works or is in school and incurs them because of it.

5. Add health insurance and unreimbursed medical costs, prorated the same way.

The Child Support Standards Chart, form LDSS-4515, is the state's published version of this arithmetic, and it has to be served on your spouse with the summons when there are children under 21.

What are the child support percentages in New York?

Fixed by the number of children, in section 240(1-b)(b)(3):

• One child: 17 percent of combined parental income

• Two children: 25 percent

• Three children: 29 percent

• Four children: 31 percent

• Five or more children: no less than 35 percent

Note the phrasing on the last one. For five or more children the statute sets a floor rather than a figure.

What is the income cap for child support in New York?

$193,000 of combined parental income, effective March 1, 2026, per the court system's combined maintenance and child support worksheet.

The percentages apply automatically to combined income up to that figure. Above it, section 240(1-b)(c)(3) gives the court a choice: decide support on income over the cap using the statutory factors, or apply the child support percentage, or both.

That discretion is the main event in a high-income New York case. Two parents earning $600,000 between them are arguing about roughly $400,000 of combined income that no formula controls, and the arguments run to the child's actual standard of living, the non-custodial parent's resources, and what the children's needs really are. The high-asset divorce chapter covers how those cases get built.

The cap rises every two years on March 1 with the CPI-U, so check the current figure before relying on it.

What counts as income for New York child support?

More than your salary. The statute's definition starts with gross income as reported on the most recent federal tax return and then adds back categories people do not think of as income, including investment income, workers' compensation, disability and unemployment benefits, social security, veterans benefits, pensions and retirement benefits, fellowships and stipends, and annuity payments.

The court can also add the value of employment perks that reduce personal expenses, like a company car or free housing, and money or services regularly provided by friends and relatives.

Deductions are narrow. Unreimbursed employee business expenses except to the extent they reduce personal spending, maintenance actually paid to a spouse in this case or another, child support actually paid for other children, public assistance, supplemental security income, New York City or Yonkers income or earnings taxes actually paid, and FICA. Federal and state income tax are not deductions, which is why New York's numbers look higher than states that work from net income.

Self-employment gets two add-backs written straight into the statute. Any depreciation deduction larger than straight-line depreciation goes back into income, and so do entertainment and travel allowances deducted from business income to the extent they reduce personal spending. Both exist because a business return is written to lower a tax bill, not to describe what a parent actually has to spend.

Can a New York court impute income to a parent?

Yes, and it does so regularly. Where a parent's reported income does not match their apparent lifestyle, or where a parent has reduced their earnings, the court can impute income based on former earnings, earning capacity, or the resources available to them.

This is the reason a self-employed parent's tax return is the beginning of the analysis rather than the end. A return that shows $40,000 of income alongside personal spending running through a business account invites the court to look at the spending instead.

How long does child support last in New York?

Until the child turns 21. Section 240(1-b)(b)(2) defines child support as a sum paid for the care, maintenance, and education of any unemancipated child under the age of 21.

New York is one of a small number of states that goes past 18, and it catches out-of-state payors by surprise. Support can end earlier if the child becomes emancipated by marriage, full-time employment with self-sufficiency, entry into the military, or leaving the parents' home and refusing parental control.

College costs are not automatically part of support. A court can direct a contribution to educational expenses where the circumstances warrant, and most negotiated agreements address it expressly. If yours does not, you have left a fight for later.

How do you modify child support in New York?

Three separate routes, under section 236(B)(9)(b)(2):

• A substantial change in circumstances. The general standard, always available.

• Three years have passed since the order was entered, last modified, or adjusted.

• Either party's gross income has changed by 15 percent or more since the order was entered, last modified, or adjusted.

The second and third routes exist unless the parties specifically opted out of them in a validly executed agreement, which is a clause worth reading carefully in any settlement you sign.

There is a guard on the income route. A reduction in income does not count unless it was involuntary and the party has made diligent attempts to find work matching their education, ability, and experience. Quitting a job does not lower your support obligation.

Incarceration is expressly not treated as voluntary unemployment and does not bar a finding of substantial change.

How does maintenance affect child support in New York?

It moves the inputs before the percentages get applied. Maintenance is calculated first, then subtracted from the payor's income and added to the payee's income for the child support calculation.

So an increase in maintenance mechanically lowers the child support number, and a decrease raises it. The two cannot be negotiated in isolation, which is why the maintenance chapter treats them as one problem.

The maintenance factors also address what happens when child support ends before maintenance does in a case where maintenance was set lower because child support was being paid.

How does child support get collected in New York?

Usually by income withholding, and usually automatically. When the court issues a support order it must issue an immediate income withholding order, unless child support services are being provided through a local support collection unit or the court makes written findings of good cause or an alternative arrangement agreed by the parties.

The uncontested divorce packet includes the withholding forms, the support collection unit information sheet, and a qualified medical child support order for health coverage. The filing guide lists which of them your case needs.