How is child support calculated in Connecticut?

1. Where the rules come from

Connecticut does not leave child support to case-by-case discretion. The Commission for Child Support Guidelines issues the Child Support and Arrearage Guidelines under C.G.S. § 46b-215a, and C.G.S. § 46b-215b makes the guidelines amount the presumptively correct amount in every Connecticut proceeding that sets support. The underlying duty to support a minor child sits in C.G.S. § 46b-84.

Because the guidelines are periodically reissued, the operative schedule and its income brackets change over time. Any figure produced from an older edition of the schedule is simply wrong for a current case, which is one reason a static explainer is more useful to the public than a generic estimator.

2. The income-shares model in four steps

Connecticut treats child support as a cost the parents share in proportion to their incomes, rather than a percentage taken from one parent's paycheck.

1. Determine each parent's gross weekly income from all sources.
2. Subtract the allowable deductions to reach each parent's net weekly income, then add the two together.
3. Look up the presumptive basic child support obligation on the guidelines schedule for that combined net income and number of children.
4. Split that obligation between the parents in proportion to each one's share of combined net income. The parent who is not the primary residential parent generally pays their share to the other parent as the current support order.

Qualifying child-care costs and the children's health insurance premiums are allocated between the parents on the same income-share percentages, as are unreimbursed medical expenses above the threshold set in the guidelines.

3. What counts as income, and what comes off it

Gross income under the guidelines is broad: wages, salary, commissions, bonuses, self-employment income, rental and investment income, pensions, and most benefits. Only the deductions the guidelines list are subtracted to reach net income — ordinary living expenses such as rent, a car payment, or credit card debt are not deductions.

• Federal and state income tax withholding, based on the parent's actual filing status and exemptions.
• Social Security and Medicare, or the self-employment equivalent.
• Mandatory retirement contributions and mandatory union dues.
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance premiums, excluding the portion covering the children in the case.
• Court-ordered support actually being paid for other dependants outside this case.

Where a parent is unemployed or underemployed, the guidelines and Connecticut case law allow the court to work from earning capacity rather than reported income. That is a fact-intensive question and a common reason two people looking at the same household reach very different numbers.

4. The CCSG-1 worksheet

The guidelines math is documented on worksheet CCSG-1, which is filed with the court. A completed worksheet shows:

• Each parent's gross weekly income from all sources.
• Each parent's allowable deductions and resulting net weekly income.
• Combined net weekly income and each parent's percentage share of it.
• The presumptive basic child support obligation from the guidelines schedule.
• Adjustments for qualifying child-care costs and the children's health-insurance premiums.
• The current support order, plus each parent's share of unreimbursed medical expenses.

The worksheet has to be consistent with the sworn financial affidavits filed in the same case. Inconsistencies between the two are one of the most common reasons a Connecticut family court sends an agreement back for correction.

5. When the guidelines number is not the order

The guidelines amount is a presumption, not a ceiling or a floor. A court may enter a different amount, but only if it makes a specific finding on the record that applying the guidelines would be inequitable or inappropriate, supported by one of the deviation criteria set out in the guidelines. The guidelines also protect a low-income obligor with a self-support reserve, so the presumptive amount at the bottom of the schedule is not a straight percentage.

Shared physical custody, extraordinary expenses, a parent's support obligations for other children, and the overall division of assets and liabilities in the divorce can all be relevant to a deviation. Whether they justify one in a particular case is a legal judgment, which is why the useful next step is a conversation with a Connecticut family law attorney rather than another calculator.

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