How Is Child Support Calculated in Minnesota?

Martine Law PLLC | Updated October 26, 2026

Minnesota calculates child support with an income shares formula set by statute. The court adds both parents’ incomes, looks up a guideline amount for that combined income and the number of children, splits it by each parent’s share of income, and then adjusts for parenting time. Child care support and medical support are calculated as separate pieces of the same order, and health insurance contributions can raise or lower the final payment. The state publishes an official Minnesota child support calculator that runs the same steps.

This guide walks through each step in plain terms so you know what the numbers mean before you sit down with the calculator or walk into court.

What formula does Minnesota use for child support?

Minnesota uses an income shares model. The idea is that a child should receive the share of parental income the child would have received if the parents lived together. Both parents’ incomes count, not just the income of the parent who pays.

The statute sets the order of operations. Under section 518A.34, the court must:

1. Find each parent’s gross income.
2. Subtract the deduction for any legal nonjoint children to get each parent’s PICS, short for parental income for determining child support.
3. Add the two PICS figures together and work out each parent’s percentage of the total.
4. Find the combined basic support obligation on the state guideline table.
5. Multiply that combined amount by each parent’s percentage.
6. Apply the parenting expense adjustment to decide who pays and how much.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.34, computation of child support obligations

How do I use the Minnesota child support calculator?

The state runs an official guidelines calculator that applies the same statutory steps a court applies. Have these numbers ready before you start:

• Each parent’s gross monthly income from every source, including self-employment and Social Security or veterans benefits.
• Any court-ordered support either parent pays for other children, and the number of other children each parent is legally responsible for.
• The number of joint children.
• Each parent’s overnights per year under the parenting time order.
• Monthly work related child care costs and who pays them.
• The monthly cost of the child’s health and dental coverage and which parent carries it.

Treat the result as an estimate. The court decides the actual income figures from the evidence each parent provides, so reliable income records matter. If the other parent’s income is unclear, self-employed, or recently changed, the calculator is only as accurate as the numbers you feed it.

Official Minnesota Child Support Guidelines Calculator

What counts as income for child support in Minnesota?

Gross income includes almost any regular payment. The statute lists wages, salaries, commissions, self-employment income, workers’ compensation, unemployment benefits, pensions, disability payments, and spousal maintenance received. Contributions to a 401(k), IRA, or other retirement plan are not deducted.

Some money is excluded. Gross income does not include child support a parent receives, the income of either parent’s new spouse, or need-based public assistance. Spousal maintenance a parent pays under a court order is subtracted from that parent’s income.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.29, calculation of gross income

How is self-employment income counted?

For a business owner, gross income is business receipts minus cost of goods sold and ordinary and necessary business expenses. Accelerated depreciation and investment tax credits are not deducted, and the court can disallow any expense it finds inappropriate or excessive. If the other parent challenges a deduction, the business owner has to prove it.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.30, income from self-employment or operation of a business

What about Social Security or veterans benefits paid for the child?

Social Security or apportioned veterans benefits that a joint child receives because of a parent’s eligibility count in that parent’s gross income. When the benefits are based on the paying parent’s eligibility and go to the other parent for the child, the benefit amount is subtracted from the paying parent’s net support obligation.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.31, Social Security or veterans benefit payments

Does overtime count?

Usually yes. In an initial support case, pay for work beyond 40 hours a week is excluded only if the court finds every one of these conditions. The extra work started after the case was filed. It is more hours than the parent worked in the two years before the filing. It is voluntary, not a condition of the job. It is paid by the hour. And the parent’s pay structure was not changed to affect support or maintenance. Support must also be ordered at or above the guideline amount on the income that remains.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.29, paragraph (b)

A separate overtime test applies when an existing order is being modified. It looks at work that began after the existing order was entered.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.39, subdivision 2

What if a parent quits or cuts back hours?

If a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, the court calculates support on potential income. Minnesota presumes a parent can work full time. Potential income can be based on the parent’s work history and the local job market, actual unemployment or workers’ compensation benefits, or 30 hours a week at 100 percent of the current federal or state minimum wage, whichever is higher.

There are exceptions. A temporary drop that will lead to higher income, incapacity, or incarceration can defeat the presumption. A career change counts only if it is genuine and its benefit outweighs the effect of the lower income on the child. A parent who stays home to care for the joint child is evaluated under a separate set of factors, including the child’s age and the cost of child care.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.32, potential income

How do other children affect the calculation?

A parent who is legally responsible for a child from another relationship gets a deduction before PICS is set. Court-ordered support the parent pays for that child is deducted from gross income. For a nonjoint child with no existing support order, the deduction is 75 percent of the guideline amount for that parent’s income and the number of those children, counting up to six.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.33, deduction from income for nonjoint children

What happens when parents earn a high income?

The guideline table stops at a combined PICS of $20,000 a month. Above that, the presumed basic support is the amount for $20,000. The court can order more only if it finds the child has a disability or other substantial, demonstrated need and the extra support will directly benefit the child.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.35, guideline used in child support determinations

How does parenting time affect child support in Minnesota?

Parenting time changes the result directly. The parenting time percentage is the share of the year a child is scheduled to spend with each parent under a court order, averaged over two years. It can be counted in overnights or in overnight equivalents, which are significant daytime periods when the child is in a parent’s direct care without staying the night.

Minnesota uses a formula, not a set of brackets. Under section 518A.36, the court cubes each parent’s annual overnights and weighs them against each parent’s share of the basic support obligation. The result tells the court which parent pays and how much. Because the overnights are cubed, the support amount shifts gradually as parenting time moves toward equal, rather than dropping at fixed cutoffs.

There is one more lever. If a parent has between 10 and 45 percent parenting time and there is a significant income gap between the parents, the court may decline to order that parent to pay basic support when an order would be harmful to the child.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.43, subdivision 1a

If there is no court order setting parenting time yet, the court calculates support without this adjustment and applies it once a parenting time order exists.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.36, parenting expense adjustment

A parent with more than 55 percent of court-ordered parenting time is presumed to owe zero basic support. The other parent can try to rebut that presumption by showing a significant income gap, the effect on the child, and that applying it would be unjust or inappropriate.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.26, subdivision 14

Does 50/50 custody mean no child support in Minnesota?

Not always. If parenting time is equal and both parents’ PICS are also equal, no basic support is paid unless the court finds expenses are not shared equally. If parenting time is equal but incomes differ, the higher earning parent will usually still owe some basic support.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.36, subdivision 3

What does a sample calculation look like?

Here is a hypothetical, not a real case. One joint child. Parent A has PICS of $3,600 a month and Parent B has PICS of $2,400 a month. They have equal court-ordered parenting time.

1. Combined PICS is $6,000 a month.
2. The guideline table lists $988 a month for one child at that combined income.
3. Parent A earns 60 percent of the combined income, so Parent A’s share is $592.80. Parent B’s share is $395.20.
4. With equal parenting time, the parenting expense formula weighs each share at 50 percent: half of $592.80 minus half of $395.20 equals $98.80.

Parent A would owe about $98.80 a month in basic support before child care support, medical support, or any other adjustment. Equal time lowered the payment sharply, but it did not erase it, because the incomes are not equal.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.35, subdivision 2, guideline table and Minnesota Statutes 518A.36, subdivision 2

Are child care and medical costs part of child support?

Yes, but they are calculated separately from basic support. Child care support is based on work related or education related child care costs for the joint children, reduced by the estimated federal and state child care credit, and split by each parent’s share of combined PICS unless the parents agree otherwise and the court approves. A lower amount can apply when the paying parent’s income qualifies for the state’s child care sliding fee program.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.40, child care support

Basic support covers the child’s housing, food, clothing, transportation, education and other care expenses. It does not include child care or medical costs.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.26, subdivision 4

Medical support covers the child’s health and dental coverage plus uninsured and unreimbursed health related expenses. The order must list basic support, child care support and medical support separately.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.34, computation of child support obligations

Medical support does not always increase the payment. The cost of the child’s coverage and any unreimbursed or uninsured medical expenses are split by each parent’s share of combined PICS unless the parents agree otherwise and the court approves. If the parent who pays basic support also carries the child’s insurance, the other parent’s share of the premium reduces that basic support payment. If the other parent carries the insurance, the paying parent’s share of the premium is added to the payment. A parent asking to be reimbursed for an uncovered medical bill has two years from the date of the expense to make the request.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.41, medical support

What if the paying parent cannot afford the guideline amount?

Minnesota presumes support should not exceed a parent’s ability to pay. The court subtracts a monthly self-support reserve equal to 120 percent of the federal poverty guideline for one person from the paying parent’s PICS. If what remains is less than the guideline amount, the court reduces medical support first, then child care support, then basic support.

When income is very low, a minimum basic support amount applies. The statute sets it at $50 a month for one child, rising by $10 for each additional child up to $100 a month for six or more children. A parent ordered to pay the minimum is presumed unable to pay child care support and medical support. The minimum does not apply if the paying parent is incarcerated, receives general assistance, Supplemental Security Income, or a cash assistance grant, has no income and no ability to earn income, or if the parenting expense adjustment already brings basic support below the minimum.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.42, ability to pay and minimum support

Can child support be changed later?

Yes. Either parent can ask the court to modify support when circumstances change in a way that makes the current order unreasonable and unfair. Common grounds include a substantial change in income, a change in the child’s needs, new child care costs, or a change in health coverage.

The law creates a rebuttable presumption that the current order is unreasonable and unfair in some situations. The other parent can still contest it. One is when running the guidelines on current numbers produces an amount at least 20 percent and at least $75 a month higher or lower than the current order. If the current order is under $75 a month, a 20 percent change is enough. Another is when a parent’s gross income drops by at least 20 percent through no fault or choice of that parent.

Timing matters. A modification generally can only reach back to the date the other parent was served with notice of the motion, not the date the circumstances changed. Every month between the change and service is a month the old order still controls.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.39, subdivision 2

How is a Minnesota child support order enforced?

If support payments are missing, contact your county child support caseworker when the county is already involved. If it is not involved, you can apply for county child support services. The available enforcement route depends on the order and the circumstances.

Source: Minnesota Judicial Branch, enforcing a child support order

Income withholding is a central collection tool addressed in Minnesota support orders. The statute also provides circumstances in which withholding may be waived and procedures for requesting it later. Review the actual order rather than assuming every case uses the same payment arrangement.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.53, income withholding

County enforcement tools can include income withholding, tax refund offsets and license suspension when their requirements apply. Ask the caseworker which options fit your case. For court forms, use the Minnesota Judicial Branch child support forms.

Source: Minnesota Judicial Branch, child support enforcement options

Have the signed support order, payment records, case number and a clear list of missed payments ready for the caseworker or attorney. If the parenting time schedule is also disputed, read our Minnesota custody and parenting time guide.

Questions people ask

How much is child support in Minnesota for one child?

There is no single number. The amount depends on both parents’ combined income, each parent’s share of that income, parenting time, child care, and insurance costs. The state calculator gives the guideline figure for your specific inputs.

Is Minnesota child support a fixed percentage of income?

No. The basic amount comes from a guideline table based on the parents’ combined PICS and the number of joint children, and it is then split by each parent’s share of income and adjusted for parenting time.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.35

Is Minnesota child support based on gross or net income?

Gross income. Minnesota starts from gross income under section 518A.29, then subtracts the deduction for any legal nonjoint children to reach PICS. Retirement contributions are not deducted.

Does a new spouse’s income count?

No. The income of either parent’s spouse is excluded from gross income.

Can we agree to a different amount than the guidelines?

Parents can submit an agreement, but the court must review it against the guideline calculation. The court can deviate from the guidelines after weighing factors such as each parent’s resources, the child’s extraordinary needs, and the standard of living the child would have had if the parents lived together. If the order departs from the guideline amount, the court must make written findings that state each parent’s gross income and PICS, the guideline amount, the reasons for the deviation, and how the deviation serves the child’s best interests. That applies even when both parents have lawyers and have signed an agreement.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 518A.43, deviation factors and Minnesota Statutes 518A.37, written findings

When can I ask for back child support?

It depends on whether an order already exists. Unpaid support under an existing order is an arrearage that can be enforced. Before any order exists, the rules are narrower. In a parentage case, for example, past support is limited to the two years before the action was started. Read our guide on whether you can get back child support if you never filed.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 257.66, subdivision 4

For the full picture of how a Minnesota divorce works, see our guide to Minnesota divorce laws.

Talk with Martine Law about child support in a divorce or custody case

Child support rarely stands alone. It turns on the parenting time schedule and on how each parent’s income is proven, which is why Martine Law handles support as part of a Minnesota divorce or child custody case.

If you are starting a divorce, negotiating a parenting plan, or facing a custody dispute where support is on the table, contact Martine Law PLLC or call (612) 482-9475. Phones and chat are answered 24/7, with AI covering when no staff is free. Tell us where the case is filed and what stage it is in.

Who assists with an initial consultation request?

A Director of Client Engagement (non-attorney) may help with intake and scheduling. This role does not provide legal advice. An attorney evaluates the support questions within the agreed representation. Bring the existing orders, income documents, parenting schedule, and court notices to the consultation.

This article provides general information about Minnesota child support law. The amount in any case depends on the specific incomes, schedule, and court findings.