Arkansas · Administrative Order No. 10
How it works
Arkansas uses the income-shares model: the child support obligation is the amount the parents would spend on the children if the household were intact, split between them in proportion to income. Every step below is what the calculator does, with the rule that authorizes it.
Step 1
Determine each parent's income
AO 10 § III
Start from each parent's gross income, then subtract court-ordered pre-existing child support actually paid for other children. The result is each parent's child-support income. The income page covers self-employment, imputation, and what counts as income.
Step 2
Combine income and read the chart
AO 10 § III(D); § III(19)
Add both parents' incomes. Round the combined figure down to the nearest $50 row on the Family Support Chart, then read the basic obligation for the number of children. The chart is tabulated for 1–6 children and runs to $30,000 combined monthly income.
Step 3
Prorate by income share
AO 10 § III
Each parent is responsible for the basic obligation in proportion to their share of combined income. The non-residential parent pays their share to the residential parent.
Step 4
Add the mandatory add-ons
AO 10 § IV
The children's health-insurance premium (§ IV(1)), work-related childcare (§ IV(3)), and extraordinary uninsured medical above the $250/child/year already built into the chart (§ IV(2)) are added and prorated by income share. A parent who pays an add-on directly is credited for it.
Step 5
Shared custody — the dual-worksheet offset
AO 10 § V(2)
For approximately-equal custody, a worksheet is run for each parent as payor and the smaller obligation is offset against the larger; the higher earner pays the difference. Arkansas uses a straight offset with no 1.5× multiplier and no time-share cross-multiplication. Between 141 and 182 overnights the adjustment is discretionary (the court may, but need not, adjust); under 141 is standard.
Step 6
Self-support reserve and the minimum order
AO 10 § II(3)
When the paying parent's gross income is under $900/month, the obligation is computed from the payor's gross alone (not combined), the add-ons drop out, and a presumptive minimum order of $125/month applies — so a low-income payor keeps enough to live on.
Step 7
Above the chart, and deviations
AO 10 § II; § II(2); Parnell v. ADFA, 2022 Ark. 52
Above $30,000 combined monthly income the highest charted amount is a floor; any additional support is discretionary, based on the children's needs and the parents' ability to pay (a flat percentage-of-payor formula above the chart is reversible). A court may deviate from the presumptive amount in either direction with written findings explaining why the guideline amount is unjust or inappropriate.