Tennessee Child Support Calculator

Tennessee uses the income shares model under Tennessee's Child Support Guidelines (Rule 1240-02-04). Both parents' monthly adjusted gross incomes are combined and looked up on the Basic Child Support Schedule to find the Basic Child Support Obligation (BCSO) for the number of children. That obligation is divided between the parents in proportion to each parent's percentage of the combined income. Tennessee then applies a parenting time adjustment based on the number of days the alternate residential parent (the paying parent) spends with the child, and adds each parent's pro-rata share of work-related childcare and the child's health insurance premium to reach the presumptive child support order.

Gross income in Tennessee includes income from all sources including wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, self-employment income, dividends, severance pay, pensions, interest, trust income, annuities, Social Security benefits, unemployment benefits, disability insurance, and workers' compensation. Tennessee courts may impute income to a parent who is willfully and voluntarily unemployed or underemployed.

Tennessee's guidelines include a built-in parenting time adjustment based on the number of days per year the alternate residential parent (ARP, the paying parent) spends with the child. Standard parenting time is about 80 days, and no adjustment is made between 69 and 91 days. When the ARP has 92 or more days, a parenting time credit reduces the ARP's obligation: a variable multiplier of 0.0109589 per day is applied to the combined obligation, and the other parent's share of the resulting extra expense is credited against the ARP's payment. When the ARP has 68 or fewer days, the obligation is increased by (69 minus the number of days) divided by 365, multiplied by the ARP's share of the obligation.

Yes, either parent can petition to modify child support when there has been a significant variance between the current order and the amount that would result from applying the current guidelines. Tennessee generally requires a variance of 15% or more (or $15 per month for low-income cases) before a modification is granted. Common reasons include significant income changes, changes in parenting time, changes in childcare or medical costs, or a child aging out of the order.

In Tennessee, child support continues until the child turns 18. If the child is still in high school at 18, support continues until graduation or until the class graduates, whichever comes first, but generally not past age 19. Support may continue past 18 for a child with a severe disability. Tennessee courts generally cannot order parents to pay for college as part of a standard child support order.

Yes. Under Tennessee's Child Support Guidelines, work-related childcare costs and the cost of the child's health insurance premium are added to the basic child support obligation before it is divided between the parents. Each parent's share of these additional costs is proportional to their share of the combined gross income.

This calculator provides an estimate based on Tennessee's Child Support Guidelines. Actual court-ordered support may differ because judges may deviate from the guidelines based on factors including the child's extraordinary educational or medical needs, special expenses, the financial resources of each parent, and other relevant circumstances. Consult a Tennessee family law attorney for an accurate assessment.