North Carolina Child Support
Understanding Child Support in North Carolina
When parents separate or divorce, one of the most important questions is how the children’s financial needs will be met. In North Carolina, child support is designed to make sure both parents share in the costs of raising their children. This includes everything from daily living expenses to health care and education.
Whether you live in Wake, Durham, Orange, Chatham, or Johnston County, the same state guidelines apply, but the process and local court procedures can vary slightly. Knowing the basics helps you plan, communicate, and make informed decisions for your family.
The Purpose of Child Support
Child support ensures that children continue to benefit from both parents’ financial resources after separation. It covers essentials like:
- Food, clothing, and shelter
- Childcare and school expenses
- Health insurance and medical costs
- Transportation and extracurricular activities
In most cases, the parent who spends less time with the children (the “noncustodial parent”) pays child support to the parent with primary custody. But child support can also apply in shared custody arrangements, depending on income and time spent with each parent.
How Child Support Is Calculated
North Carolina uses statewide guidelines to determine child support amounts. The goal is to make calculations consistent and fair.
The formula considers:
- Each parent’s gross monthly income
- Number of overnights each parent has with the child
- Work-related childcare costs
- Health insurance premiums for the child
- Extraordinary expenses, such as private school tuition or special medical needs
The North Carolina Child Support Guidelines are updated periodically (most recently in 2023) and can be found on the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts website.
Most local courts, including those in Wake, Durham, Orange, Chatham, and Johnston Counties, rely on these guidelines as the starting point. Judges can deviate from the guideline amount only if there’s a good reason to do so.
Income and Imputation
Child support is based on all sources of income including business income, bonuses, commissions, rental income and dividend or interest income. For both parents we use the Gross (before taxes) income amounts.
How Long Child Support Lasts
In North Carolina, child support typically continues until the child turns 18 years old, or graduates from high school (if still enrolled), but no later than age 20.
Enforcement of Child Support
If a parent fails to pay child support, enforcement options include:
- Wage withholding (automatic deductions from paychecks)
- Tax refund interception
- License suspension (driver’s, professional, or recreational)
- Contempt of court, which can lead to fines or jail time in extreme cases
Modifying Child Support
North Carolina Child support orders are not set in stone. A parent can request a modification if there’s been a substantial change in circumstances, such as:
- A significant increase or decrease in income
- Changes in custody arrangements
- Increased medical or educational expenses
Courts in Wake, Durham, Chatham, Johnston, and Orange counties each have procedures for filing these motions, and most allow parents to request a review every three years.
NC Child Support Resources
- What You Need to Know About Child Support in NC
- Child Support Overview Video
- NC Child Support Guidelines
- Can I Change My Child Support Agreement?
- Extra Expenses and Child Support: Who Pays?
- College and Divorce: Providing a Future For Your Children
- How is Child Support Calculated if a Parent is Self-Employed?
- What is a Qualified Medical Child Support Order?
- What if My Spouse is Manipulating Their Income?
- Is Your Spouse Hiding Assets?
- Are Grandparents Obligated to Pay Child Support?
Helpful Tools for Child Support
Child Support FAQs
There are four adjustments that can have an impact on the amount of child support owed by a parent: preexisting child support obligations and responsibility for other children, payments for health insurance premiums, work-related child care costs, and extraordinary expenses for a child’s medical bills, education, transportation and the like.
- The deduction from gross income for preexisting obligations refers to the amount an individual is bound to pay pursuant to an existing court order or separation agreement.
- The deduction for responsibility for other children refers to the money paid to support other minor children from either the current marriage or a previous one.
- The health insurance deduction takes into account the employee’s cost to insure the minor child. Work-related child care costs are deducted at a rate of only 75%, thus taking into account the 25% federal tax credit for child care. “Work-related” daycare costs include not only those costs related to the parent’s working but also to the parent’s looking for work.
- Finally, extraordinary expenses encompass a child’s out of the ordinary medical, educational, and transportation expenses, whether permanent or temporary. If the expenses are short-term, this should be noted on both the worksheet and within any court order.
Yes. Joint custody doesn’t negate a child support obligation. Even if both parents share custody on an equal basis, one parent will inevitably owe some amount in child support. Unless of course both parents earn exactly the same income and spend exactly the same amount of time with the children, which is highly unlikely.
The reason why there still is a child support obligation even when custody is shared equally, is because our child support guidelines calculate the obligation based on time spent with each parent and the income of each parent. So even if the child spends equal time with each parent, the parent with the higher income will owe child support.
Child support is available under North Carolina law during a child’s minority (until age 18). If a child is otherwise emancipated prior to age 18, child support would end at that earlier age under our current law. There are, however, also two situations in which child support can run past the age of majority.
One such situation is that of a child who has not yet, as of age 18, graduated from high school. Provided the child is enrolled in secondary school, child support will continue until age 20 or graduation from school, whichever comes first.
The second situation is a parent’s written agreement to pay support past the age of the child’s minority. If such a contract is valid and enforceable, the post-majority obligation spelled out in the contract can be imposed by the court called on to interpret the contract.
Generally, the answer is no. If an ex-spouse who is paying child support has another child with his or her new spouse, the amount of child support being paid should not be affected. Child support in North Carolina is based on the combined income of the respective parties, the number of overnights spent with each parent, expenses for any special needs of the child, and any pre-existing child support obligations.
The only recourse for a spouse who wants to lower his or her child support obligation for a child from his or her first marriage would be through a motion to the court to deviate from the child support guidelines. In order to deviate from the guidelines the spouse would have to show that the current child support obligation was unfairly burdensome or unjust in some way.
No, child support obligations are not dischargeable in bankruptcy court.
In rare circumstances grandparents have responsibilities for paying child support. Read the below article by Laura Wish Morgan on grandparents’ responsibilities for paying child support.
Stock options and IRAs can be considered income for calculating child support amounts. Read this article below by Laura Wish Morgan on stock options and IRAs for a further explanation.
In such cases, the parties either need to negotiate an amount of support satisfactory to both parties; or the parties need to ask the court to decide whether a deviation above the maximum guideline amount is justified under the circumstances.
