Department of Human Services
Dr. Raquel Hatter, Commissioner

Child Support and Credit Worksheets – Thirty Seven (37) Steps***

***The 37 steps in the Detailed Walkthrough demonstrate the process for manually filling out every area of both the Child Support Worksheet and the Credit Worksheet. Every case will not require all 37 steps illustrated in this tutorial.  The illustration provided shows nearly all options for the purpose of the demonstration. PLEASE NOTE: A FREE AUTOMATED CALCULATOR IS AVAILABLE. THE CALCULATOR DRAMATICALLY DECREASES THE TIME IT TAKES TO DETERMINE CHILD SUPPORT ORDERS UNDER THE NEW Guidelines (from approximately 25 minutes to two minutes to calculate an order once the fields are filled in).  Click HERE to go to our "Downloads" page...

The example data presented for the Walkthrough has the following characteristics:

The Mother and Father have 2 children who are to be supported by the order. Mother also has other children: one living in her home, and one not living in her home to whom she is providing support pursuant to court order.  Father also has other children: one living in his home, and one not living in his home to whom he is providing support pursuant to court order. (Total of 6 children)

Step 1
In Part I of the Child Support Worksheet, enter the case specific information on the top section of the form:  name of mother and father (and/or non-parent caretaker where applicable). In the upper right corner of the page, designate each parent as either Primary Residential Parent (PRP), Alternate Residential Parent (ARP), or split (if split, both parents shall be designated as such).  You must also enter the docket number, court name, and TCSES case number (if applicable), name and date of birth of each child for whom support is being determined, and the number of days each child spends with each parent and/or non-parent caretaker.

In this example, all relevant demographic data has been entered as indicated below.  Because the mother (Janet Jones) has the majority of time with both children, she has been designated as the PRP, and the father (John Jones) has been designated as the ARP. The children to be supported in this case (Molly Jones and Michael Jones) have been entered along with their birthdates.

Step 2
From this point forward on the worksheet, all information for Mother will be entered in Column A, all information for Father will be entered in Column B.  In Parts III and IV of the Child Support Worksheet, information relevant to a non-parent caretaker will appear / be entered in Column C. 

Enter each parent’s monthly gross income in the appropriate column on Line 1 of the Child Support Worksheet.  Do not include child support payments received on behalf of other children or benefits received from means-tested public assistance programs.

In our example, the Mother's monthly gross income is $3500.00, and the Father's monthly gross income is $5300.00, so these amounts were entered on Line 1.

Step 3
Enter on Line 1a of the Child Support Worksheet the amount of any Social Security benefit the parent receives for the child(ren).

In our example, there are no Social Security benefits to be entered for either parent so these fields have been left blank.

Step 4
Enter on Line 1b of the Child Support Worksheet the amount of any self-employment tax actually paid by the parent.

Neither parent has claimed any self-employment tax so these fields have been left blank.

Step 5
To determine the subtotal on Line 1c for each parent, add the parent’s Social Security benefit for the child(ren) from Line 1a to the parent’s Gross Income on Line 1, then subtract any self-employment tax from Line 1b.