Child support in New York

How child support is figured in New York

Model

Percentage of income

How it works

New York's Child Support Standards Act adds both parents' incomes together (combined parental income) and multiplies it by a set percentage for the number of children, up to a yearly cap. Each parent pays a share in proportion to income. Child care, health care and sometimes education costs are added, and the court can go above the cap or adjust the amount if the result would be unjust.

Percentages

1 child 17%, 2 children 25%, 3 children 29%, 4 children 31%, 5 or more children at least 35% of combined parental income.

Law: Fam. Ct. Act § 413(1)(b)(3)

Low income

If support would push the paying parent below the federal poverty guideline for one person, basic support is $25 a month. If it would push the parent below the self-support reserve (135% of the poverty guideline, updated every March 1) but not below poverty, basic support is $50 a month or the difference between income and the reserve, whichever is greater. The court can still order a different amount if this is unjust.

Law: Fam. Ct. Act § 413(1)(b)(6), (d)

Official calculator

Official New York child support guidelines

Health insurance and medical costs

Orders must address the child's health insurance. Coverage is presumed 'reasonable in cost' if the cost of adding the child (premium and deductible) is no more than 5% of the parents' combined gross income.

Law: Fam. Ct. Act § 416

Law: Fam. Ct. Act § 413; Dom. Rel. Law § 240(1-b); Soc. Serv. Law § 111-i (combined parental income cap)

Change a child support order in New York

When a change is allowed

The court can modify an order when there is a substantial change in circumstances. Unless the parents opted out in a written agreement, the court can also modify when 3 years have passed since the order was entered or last changed, or when either parent's gross income has changed by 15% or more. A lower income counts only if the loss was involuntary and the parent has tried hard to find comparable work. Incarceration is not voluntary unemployment. Past-due support (arrears) cannot be reduced for the time before you filed.

How to ask

File a petition to modify in Family Court describing the change, with a certified copy of the current order. In child support agency cases, an administrative cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) review is available every 2 years at a parent's request (automatic in TANF cases); it is made when the cost-of-living index has risen 10% or more.

Law: Fam. Ct. Act § 451(3); Fam. Ct. Act § 413-a; Soc. Serv. Law § 111-n

Can I ask for a change? Check your situation

Ask the agency to review (change) your order

Collect unpaid child support in New York

Arrears means support that is past due. The child support agency can use these tools to collect it:

Collection tools

• Income withholding
• Driver's license suspension
• Professional, business and occupational license suspension
• Recreational license suspension
• Federal and state tax refund offset
• Money judgments for arrears
• Contempt / violation petition in Family Court

License suspension

Driver's, professional and recreational licenses can be suspended when past-due support equals or exceeds four months of support.

Law: Soc. Serv. Law § 111-b; Fam. Ct. Act § 458-b

Contempt of court

If the court finds a parent willfully failed to pay, it must order the parent to pay the other side's lawyer fees and can send the parent to jail for up to 6 months. Not paying as ordered is treated as evidence of willful violation.

Law: Fam. Ct. Act § 454(3)

Interest on unpaid support

9% a year on unpaid support that a court has turned into a money judgment.

Law: CPLR 5004

Law: Soc. Serv. Law § 111-b; Fam. Ct. Act §§ 454, 458-b, 458-c

Ask the agency to collect unpaid support

When child support ends in New York

Support ends

21

Exceptions

Parents can agree to support beyond 21. A parent can also be ordered to support an adult child with a developmental disability up to age 26 if the child lives with and depends mainly on the parent asking for support. A child who is emancipated earlier (for example, self-supporting, married or in the military) may lose support.

Law: Fam. Ct. Act § 413-b

Law: Fam. Ct. Act § 413(1)(a); § 413-b

When does support end? Check your situation

Good to know in New York

• In New York, child support normally lasts until age 21, later than in most states (Fam. Ct. Act § 413).
• Most New York orders can be changed after 3 years, or when a parent's gross income changes by 15% or more, even without other changes (Fam. Ct. Act § 451(3)(b)).
• Support can be ordered for an adult child with a developmental disability up to age 26 if the child lives with and depends mainly on the parent asking for support (Fam. Ct. Act § 413-b).

Changes in 2024–2026

The combined parental income cap and self-support reserve change on a set schedule: the reserve every March 1, and the income cap every two years on March 1. Current amounts are published in OTDA's Child Support Standards Chart.

Law: Soc. Serv. Law § 111-i

Federal rules in every state

• Applying. If you don't get TANF, Medicaid or foster care help, a state may charge an application fee of up to $25 to open a child support case. Law: 42 U.S.C. 654(6)(B)(i)
• Yearly fee. If you never got TANF and the agency collected at least $550 for you in a year, the state charges a $35 yearly fee. It can come out of your support, but never out of the first $550. Law: 42 U.S.C. 654(6)(B)(ii)
• Review every 3 years. If your case is with the child support agency, either parent can ask it to review the order every 3 years and adjust it to the guidelines. Law: 42 U.S.C. 666(a)(10)(A); 45 CFR 303.8
• Past-due support. Each unpaid payment becomes a judgment on the day it is due. It can't be lowered later, except back to the date the other parent got notice of a request to change the order. Law: 42 U.S.C. 666(a)(9)
• Tax refunds. The federal government can take a federal tax refund to pay past-due child support. Law: 42 U.S.C. 664
• Passports. A parent who owes more than $2,500 in past-due support can be refused a passport. Law: 42 U.S.C. 652(k)
• Pay withholding limit. For support, up to 50% of take-home pay can be withheld if the parent supports another spouse or child, or 60% if not. It is 55% or 65% when support is more than 12 weeks behind. Law: 15 U.S.C. 1673(b)
• How long support lasts. How long support lasts follows the law of the state that made the order, even if you move. Law: 28 U.S.C. 1738B(h)(2)

Questions about child support in New York

More help on our sister sites

• Divorce and custody in New York (Divorce Law Map)
• Other legal problems (RobinClaim)

Sources

Other states