About this calculator
Source of truth
The engine implements the Louisiana child support guidelines (La. R.S. 9:315 et seq.), an income-shares model. The Schedule of Basic Child Support Obligations is loaded from the official Department of Children and Family Services publication of the R.S. 9:315.19 table, as amended by [2025 LA schedule citation — confirm].
- Schedule effective date: 2025-01-01
- Schedule rows: 782 ($50 brackets, 1–6 children), digitized in full
- Combined-income lookup matches the nearest $50 schedule row; the $100 floor is built into the lowest row
- Treatise worked examples (Worksheet A and Worksheet B) reproduce; the full schedule was confirmed against the DCFS source
How the order is built
Both parents' adjusted gross incomes are combined; the basic obligation is read from the schedule and prorated by income share (Worksheet A). Mandatory add-ons — the children's health-insurance premium (9:315.4), net work-related childcare (9:315.3), and extraordinary uninsured medical above $250/child/year (9:315.5) — are prorated. For approximately-equal custody, Worksheet B multiplies the obligation by 1.5, cross-multiplies each parent's share by the other parent's share of physical-custody time, and offsets; the result is capped at the domiciliary-worksheet amount — a ceiling, never a floor (9:315.9). Above the $40,000 combined-income cap, the top schedule amount is a floor and any addition is discretionary (Falterman). A self-sufficiency reserve protects low-income obligors (9:315(B)(1)).
What this does NOT do
- Generate a fillable AcroForm Worksheet A/B — Louisiana publishes the worksheets, but not (as confirmed) as a fillable PDF; use this as the computation and transcribe
- Split custody across separate custody groups (9:315.10)
- The discretionary increment above the $40,000 schedule cap
- Extraordinary educational expenses as an automatic add-on (9:315.6 is discretionary — handle as a deviation)
A note on rounding: where a treatise example rounds the income-share percentage before multiplying, the order can differ by $1 from a full-precision computation. This calculator carries full precision and rounds the final order to the nearest dollar; the underlying convention is being confirmed against the official Worksheet B.
Other states
Calculators for seven Southeastern states are on the state picker, with more planned.
Disclaimer
This tool produces an estimate based on the inputs you provide. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Outcomes depend on facts, evidence, judicial discretion, and deviation analysis this tool does not perform. Consult a licensed Louisiana attorney before relying on any number produced here.
Maintained by
TCB Law, PLLC.