How Texas Calculates Child Support

The guidelines apply set percentages to monthly net resources: 20 percent for one child, 25 for two, 30 for three, 35 for four, and 40 for five or more. Multiple-household adjustments apply when a parent supports children in more than one home. Our Texas child support calculator applies this exact math to your numbers and shows the guideline figure a court would start from.

Net resources reach nearly all income: wages, bonuses, commissions, self-employment income, rental income, dividends, and most everything else, minus a short list of allowed deductions. Tex. Fam. Code sec. 154.062.^[2]
Texas has no state income tax, so no state tax deduction applies.

Effective September 1, 2025, the guidelines apply to the first $11,700 of monthly net resources, an increase from the prior $9,200 cap. Above the cap, additional support turns on the child’s proven needs rather than an automatic percentage. Tex. Fam. Code sec. 154.126.^[3]

High Incomes, Business Owners, and Variable Pay

Guideline math assumes income that is easy to see. Executive compensation, distributions from a closely held business, bonuses, and equity income require characterization before they can be counted, and how they are counted changes the number materially.

For owners and independent professionals, child support with self-employed or variable income turns on documentation: what the business actually yields, what is legitimately expense, and what is income by another name. This is where corporate financial depth earns its place in a support case.

Above the cap, proven needs govern. Private schooling, therapies, activities, and the child’s established standard of living are demonstrated with evidence, not asserted, and we build that record deliberately.

What a Texas Support Order Covers

Support runs until the child turns 18 or graduates from high school, whichever is later, and can continue indefinitely for a child with a disability. Tex. Fam. Code sec. 154.001 .^[4]

Medical and dental support are ordered alongside the monthly obligation, typically through insurance coverage plus an allocation of uninsured costs. Tex. Fam. Code sec. 154.008.^[5]

When Courts Deviate From the Guidelines

Guideline amounts are presumed reasonable, but a court may set a different number when applying the guidelines would be unjust or inappropriate. The Family Code lists the deviation factors, including the child’s needs, each parent’s resources, and the time each parent has possession of the child. Tex. Fam. Code sec. 154.123.^[6]

Deviation is won with evidence and findings, not sentiment. Whether you are asking for more or defending against too much, the record decides it.

Modifying and Enforcing Support

Orders can be realigned when life changes. A child support modification updates the number when circumstances have materially and substantially changed, or when current guidelines would produce a meaningfully different amount, including under the 2025 cap increase.

When payments stop, child support enforcement brings the tools Texas provides: wage withholding, judgments, license consequences, and contempt where warranted. Enforcement protects the household the support was ordered to sustain.

Past-due support does not fade with time. Back child support and arrears accrue interest, survive most attempts to avoid them, and remain collectible long after the child grows up.

How Hicks Family Lawyers Approaches Support

Support cases are income-determination cases, and income determination is what a corporate legal background is built for. We map the true financial picture early, characterize compensation correctly, and put numbers in front of the court that hold up under scrutiny.

We represent both paying and receiving parents with the same standard: an order that reflects reality. Accurate at the start, defensible if challenged, and steady for the years your child depends on it.

Related Practice Areas

Support connects to the rest of the family’s legal structure:

• Divorce. Support ordered inside a marriage ending runs through our Texas divorce practice.
• Child custody. Possession schedules and support interact, and both are covered in our Texas child custody practice.
• Paternity. Support obligations begin with legal parentage, established through our Texas paternity practice.

Plan What Comes Next

A well-built support order does quiet work for years: predictable for both households, fair to the child, and sturdy enough that nobody needs to come back to court. That is the standard we build to.