• Virginia Family Law Editorial Team
• September 3, 2026

The Virginia child support guidelines worksheet, explained

General information about how Virginia’s child support guidelines are commonly described. This is not legal advice or a calculator, and figures here are illustrative only. See our child support overview for broader context.

When people search for the child support “worksheet,” the “table,” or the “calculator,” they are generally looking for the same thing: the guideline calculation Virginia courts use under Va. Code §§ 20-108.1 and 20-108.2. The state follows an income-shares model — the idea that a child should receive the same share of parental income as if the parents lived together. The official form simply walks through that math step by step. Nobody would call it gripping reading, but it is more navigable than it first appears — and this article walks through it in plain terms.

How the child support guidelines generally work

The calculation starts with both parents’ gross monthly incomes — pre-tax income from essentially all sources (the statutory definition of income is nothing if not thorough). The combined figure is looked up in the schedule of monthly basic child support obligations in Va. Code § 20-108.2(B), which converts combined income and the number of children into a presumptive basic obligation. The form then adds specific items on top — most commonly work-related childcare costs and the cost of the children’s health-insurance premiums — and allocates the total between the parents in proportion to their shares of combined income.

Child support in sole, shared, and split custody

The guidelines come in three variants, and choosing the right one matters because the math differs significantly.

The sole custody version is the default: one parent has the child most of the time, and the other pays their income share of the guideline amount. The shared custody calculation generally applies when a parent has the child for more than 90 days per year; it adjusts the obligation to reflect the time and expenses each household carries, so the payment commonly decreases as the paying parent’s custodial days increase. The split custody formula applies when each parent has primary custody of at least one of the children, and it effectively offsets the two obligations against each other. Custody schedules themselves are covered in our child custody overview.

What the § 20-108.2(B) guidelines table looks like

The statutory schedule is a genuinely long table — the kind of document perhaps only an economist could love: combined gross monthly income runs down the left side, and the number of children runs across the top. The following excerpt is illustrative only — it shows the table’s shape, not current statutory figures, which the General Assembly revises periodically. Always read the current schedule in Va. Code § 20-108.2 itself.

Presumptive child support amounts and deviations

The guideline result is presumptively correct — courts generally start there and order that amount unless a party shows a reason to deviate. Va. Code § 20-108.1 lists the factors that may justify a deviation, commonly including arrangements agreed between the parents, a child’s independent financial resources, special needs, imputed income for a voluntarily unemployed or underemployed parent, tax consequences, and the standard of living established during the marriage. When a court deviates, it generally must state the guideline amount and explain in writing why a different figure serves the child’s best interests.

Once an order is entered, payment is commonly collected through wage withholding from the paying parent’s employer, and many cases are administered by the Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE). Unpaid support accrues as arrears, which generally cannot be retroactively forgiven — one reason informal, undocumented changes to a support arrangement so often end badly. To ask the J&DR court to change an order it has entered, see our guide to Form DC-630, the motion to amend or review an order.

Where to find Virginia’s official worksheet and calculator

The official forms are published by the Virginia court system as standard district court forms, available through the Virginia Judicial System’s forms pages and its court self-help site — which also commonly links a child support calculator that can compute a guideline estimate from the figures you enter. The Virginia Department of Social Services, whose Division of Child Support Enforcement administers many support cases, provides similar calculation resources. A calculator can be a useful preview, but the worksheet filed with the court is what the judge ultimately reviews, so treat the two as companions rather than substitutes. Clerk’s offices generally have the current forms as well; our court locator lists courts by locality, and our legal aid page links free and low-cost help with support cases.

Common mistakes reading the table

The guideline math is straightforward once you know its habits. These are the places where it most commonly trips people up — all of them fixable, and none of them a reflection on anyone’s case.