How Child Support Is Calculated in Virginia

Virginia uses an income shares model. There is a rebuttable presumption that the guideline amount is correct. A basic support obligation is taken from a statutory schedule based on the parents' combined monthly gross income, health care and work-related child care costs are added, and the total is divided between the parents in proportion to their incomes. Support generally continues past 18 for a full-time high school student living at home who is not self-supporting, until age 19 or graduation, whichever comes first. The Department of Social Services directs parents to the court's Child Support Guidelines Worksheet to estimate support.

Apply for child support services with the Virginia Department of Social Services, Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE). Applying online through the MyChildSupport portal is the fastest way. You can also download a paper application and upload it through MyChildSupport, request a paper copy at 1-800-468-8894, mail it to DCSE, P.O. Box 28450, Richmond, VA 23228-8450, or pick up and drop off an application at a DCSE District Office. You can apply even without every document; a case manager contacts you after the case is opened. The page read does not state an application fee.

Child support generally ends at 18. The court must order support to continue for a child over 18 who is a full-time high school student, not self-supporting and living in the home of the parent seeking support, until the child turns 19 or graduates from high school, whichever comes first. The court may also order support for a child over 18 who is severely and permanently mentally or physically disabled, if the disability existed before age 18, the child cannot live independently and support themselves, and the child lives in the parent's home.

Either parent (or the court, or Social Services) can ask the court to revise a support or custody order when circumstances change. A change in support applies only from the date the other party was given notice of the petition, not to earlier periods. DCSE may also start a review of a court order; a material change is presumed when the guideline amount differs from the current award by at least 10% (and at least $25 a month), and either party may ask for a hearing within 30 days of notice of a proposed modified order. DCSE says most orders can be reviewed every three years, based on when the order was set or last reviewed, and reviews can be requested through MyChildSupport.

Virginia law lets DCSE collect support through immediate and default income withholding, liens on property (including foreclosure and seizure and sale of property), orders to withhold and deliver property such as bank accounts, set-off of debts including tax refunds, reporting arrears to credit bureaus, requiring security or a bond, attaching unemployment and workers' compensation benefits, and a most-wanted delinquent parent list. Driver's licenses can be suspended when a parent is 90 days or more or $5,000 or more behind (after notice and, if requested, a court finding that nonpayment was willful), and courts must suspend business, professional, occupational and recreational licenses at the same threshold unless an alternative remedy is likely to work. Support orders include interest on arrears at the judgment interest rate unless the parent owed support waives it in writing.

Virginia's child support agency is the Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE) of the Virginia Department of Social Services. DCSE helps parents and caregivers establish paternity, open or manage a child support case, establish a support order, and get help with payments. Apply on the Apply for Child Support page or start and manage a case in the MyChildSupport portal; payment options are on the Easy Ways to Pay page. Child Support Customer Service Center: 1-800-468-8894 (Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.).

The Virginia Department of Social Services (Division of Child Support Enforcement) says you can estimate your support amount using Virginia's Child Support Guidelines Worksheet (court form DC-637), which includes instructions on page two; DSS notes this is only an estimate. Virginia reviews its child support guidelines every four years under Va. Code § 20-108.2.