How to Use an NC Child Support Calculator

North Carolina allows a custodial parent or guardian to sue a biological parent for child support. The person seeking to collect child support (the obligee) can attempt to estimate the amount due by using a NC child support calculator. The obligee can then file a lawsuit in North Carolina courts to get an order for child support from a noncustodial biological parent (the obligor).

Note:

When a judge creates a support order, he or she will use some basic state guidelines for support. These guidelines are not an exact formula per se. Thus, when you use a North Carolina child support calculator, the figures arrived at may be different than an actual order.

This state has North Carolina Child Support Guidelines that are used by judges in North Carolina district court to determine how much a parent owes. The guidelines are created by the Conference of Chief District Court Judges.

If you would like to delve deep into the specifics of the guidelines, then you can do so from the guidelines link in the Resources below. However, this would take a long time. You can go straight to the NC child support calculators linked to in that section if you want to quickly estimate how much a district judge would order a parent to pay in North Carolina.

In short, though, it is helpful to know that North Carolina child support is based on the income of both parties, where the children live, and daycare and medical insurance/expenses. For example, if an obligor (person who has to pay support) takes care of a child half of the time, he or she would presumably owe less in support on a monthly basis.

Make sure you know or can at least estimate the monthly income of both parties before using the North Carolina child support calculators. If you do not know the salary of a parent, then ask around the workplace or try to get a friend or family member to spill the beans on that information. Otherwise, you cannot estimate that parents NC child support obligation.

Once you have this information, then you need to select the appropriate child support calculator. There are three different worksheets/calculators provided by the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts – one where the parent not paying has primary custody, one where the parents share custody and one where there is split custody (like one child with one parent and another child with the other). Use the links in the Resources below to find the correct calculator.

Enter the variables in the calculator to determine the estimated monthly child support payments of the obligor. Because a judge must find facts first before making an order, use of a calculator can only measure reasoned estimates of actual payments. In addition, some family situations are very complex and may produce different results in a real courtroom setting.

Resources:

North Carolina Child Support Guidelines

North Carolina Child Support Calculator for Primary Custody

NC Child Support Calculator for Joint or Shared Custody

NC Child Support Calculator for Split Custody