Child support in Texas starts from published math, not a judge’s impression, so you can check it yourself. Enter the paying parent’s gross monthly income from all sources and the number of children the order will cover, and the calculator works out net resources and returns the guideline figure a court would use. Only that parent’s resources set the percentage; your combined household income never enters the calculation, and the other parent’s finances only matter if a court is asked to depart from the guideline figure.
Net resources is the input people get wrong: it isn’t gross pay or take-home pay, but sits between the two through a defined set of subtractions and nothing beyond them, so a salary or take-home figure will throw off the result, sometimes badly. The guideline itself runs 20 percent of net resources for one child, 25 for two, adding five points per child to a cap of 40 percent at five or more; below $1,000 a month, a reduced schedule starts at 15 percent instead. Those percentages stop at $11,700 in monthly net resources, raised from $9,200 on September 1, 2025. [1]
Treat what comes back as a foundation for planning, not a verdict: a judge can move higher or lower once your children’s circumstances are actually in front of the court, and no calculator has access to that evidence. For the wider picture, our overview of Texas child support covers how an order is established, modified, and enforced.
A guideline estimate under Texas Family Code Chapter 154.
The estimate earns its keep early, while nothing has been settled. It gives you something concrete to build a budget around, a way to check whatever figure the other side has floated, and a feel for the way an obligation and a possession schedule affect one another.
Its limits come from its assumptions. The formula expects income that arrives on a regular paystub, for a child whose costs land somewhere near the middle. Plenty of households look exactly like that. A business owner whose draw shifts by quarter does not, nor does a family whose resources clear the cap, where the question stops being arithmetic and turns into a matter of proof. The calculator already accounts for a parent supporting children in another home, adjusting the percentage for it automatically.[2]
Those are the situations worth a conversation. Bring the figure you got here and we will work through what your circumstances do to it, then lay out the sequence in front of you. You leave knowing what to do next, not just what the formula said.
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Common questions
Often it is close, and it is never binding. The guideline amount carries a presumption of reasonableness, so a judge begins there. The same statute allows a court to move off that figure where following it would be unjust or inappropriate for a particular family, and courts do exactly that.
No. Texas orders health and dental coverage for the child in addition to the guideline amount, not instead of it. If the paying parent already covers the premium, that cost is deducted before net resources are calculated, so it isn’t paid twice. Beyond the premium, the child’s unreimbursed medical, dental, and vision expenses, along with deductibles and copays, are also divided between the parents as additional support.
Everything comes in first: wages, salary, overtime, commissions, bonuses, self-employment earnings, net rental income, interest, dividends, retirement benefits, and most other money actually being received, though a few things are excluded entirely, such as return of principal or capital, accounts receivable, TANF and other public assistance, and foster-care payments. A defined list then comes back out. Social Security taxes; federal income tax calculated using the tax rate for a single person claiming one personal exemption and the standard deduction, which is a fixed statutory assumption rather than a reflection of what the parent actually files or has withheld; state income tax; union dues; the cost of the child’s health insurance, dental insurance, or cash medical support; and nondiscretionary retirement contributions where a parent pays no Social Security tax. Whatever is left is net resources.[3] Because Texas levies no state income tax, that line normally reads zero for Texas earners.
Not for the basic guideline calculation. The percentages attach to the paying parent’s net resources alone, which is why the tool asks for one income rather than two. That does not set the other parent’s finances aside entirely. Where either party asks the court to depart from the guideline amount, the statute directs a judge to weigh the receiving parent’s net resources, along with that parent’s earning potential if they are intentionally unemployed or underemployed, income from their property and assets, possession time, child care costs, and the child’s particular needs.[4] So the second income shapes the argument for a different number rather than the guideline math itself.
Income past $11,700 of monthly net resources stops feeding the percentage calculation. That effectively fixes a guideline maximum: $2,340 a month for one child, $2,925 for two. A court can order more, but only on proof of what the child actually needs: the presumptive amount is subtracted from the child’s proven total needs, the remainder is allocated between the parents, and the paying parent can never be ordered to pay more than the greater of the presumptive amount or 100 percent of the child’s proven needs.
Because Texas does not use an overnight-based formula. Some states divide a combined obligation according to how the calendar splits, so the count of overnights changes the arithmetic directly. Texas does not work that way, which is why the tool has no field for it. Possession time is far from irrelevant, though. It is one of the enumerated factors a court weighs in deciding whether the guideline amount would be unjust or inappropriate, so an equal or near-equal schedule can support an argument for a different figure. It takes evidence and a ruling to get there rather than a formula.
Hicks Family Lawyers represents parents throughout Houston and Harris County, most of whom want two things: the number, and an honest picture of what carrying it will mean for the next several years. That picture includes more than the number: medical and dental coverage, plus a share of whatever insurance doesn’t reimburse, come with most orders too. The firm brings 27+ years of corporate law experience to the financial questions inside a family case, the kind our attorneys work through with you directly. Our approach begins with listening, then laying out the options in plain terms so the decision stays yours.
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