Child support formula

This section explains how the child support formula works for different family circumstances. The formula ensures a balanced and flexible way of working out child support payments for parents with a child support assessment.

You can navigate to different parts of the Child support formula section using the menus on the left-hand side of the page or by clicking on the hyperlinks below.

Learn more about your child support options, your rights, your responsibilities, and how we and other services can support you after separation.

The basics of the formula

Provides information about child support assessments and the child support formula. Read this section first because it provides a good explanation of how the formula works.

Different family situations

Provides an explanation of how the formula works for different family situations: parents with no other dependent children, parents with other dependent children, parents with two or more child support assessments and non-parent carers.

Your income

Provides information about the income we use for both parents when applying the child support formula, and the options for parents who earn extra income after separation.

Care and costs of children

Provides information about the costs of raising children, how the formula recognises your care of your children, recognising your care of children from second and subsequent families, and your options for making care arrangements.

Formula examples

Provides details on the Basic Child Support formula and information on how this applies to different family situations.

Child support tables

Provides the care and costs of children tables we use when applying the child support formula.

Print this page Top of page