Wisconsin Child Support Calculator 1

(updated 12/4/03)

Based on Wisconsin's new DWD40 Child Support Standard , which officially became effective January 1, 2004. (At this time, this calculator does not factor in the new special provision for low income payers with incomes below $950/month.)

Fill out information below and click "Calculate".

CALCULATOR 2 (Old DWD40)     CALCULATOR 3 (AB250/SB156)     

COMPARISON OF PROPOSALS     

1. If a parent has one or more prior child support obligations, subtract all prior child support obligations from the gross income of that parent, before calculating child support for subsequent child/ren. See provision in DWD40.04(1)(serial-family payer).

2. In split-custody cases, perform separate calculations for each child/ren with a similar custody/placement schedule. Then subtract the smaller obligation from the larger obligation to determine the amount the parent with the larger obligation should pay as support. See provision in DWD40.04(3).

3. In re Marriage of Randall v. Randall, 2000 WI App 98, 235 Wis. 2d 1, 612 N.W. 2d 737, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals decided that, even though the administrative rule setting out the special method for calculating child support for shared-time, serial-family, and split-custody payers is permissive in the rule, a court is required to use the special method if the payer is a shared-time, serial-family, or split-custody payer because the special method is part of the percentage standard, which the court is required to use under the statute.

4. In defining placement time the new provisions of DWD 40.04 (2) 1. state: " The period of placement for each parent shall be determined by calculating the number of overnights or equivalent care ordered to be provided by the parent" and "equivalent care" is defined DWD 40.02 (10) to mean "a period of time during which the parent cares for the child that is not overnight, but is determined by the court to require the parent to assume the basic support costs that are substantially equivalent to what the parent would spend to care for the child overnight."

Disclaimer:

A fair child support order is important to provide a positive economic and emotional environment of raising children in non-intact families. This calculator was developed to provide a convenient way to define the child support amount defined by the DWD40 child support standard, and to demonstrate if this amount of child support is fair to the children and both parties.

The use of this Wisconsin child support calculator does not constitute legal advice. Although testing has been completed for a wide range of cases to assure the same results as with manual calculations, we do not accept any liability from your use of the program. Additionally, because of possible changes in administrative rules, statutes and case law relating to the application of the information contained on this web page, all persons or entities involved in any way in preparation of the website disclaim all responsibility for the legal effects or consequences of the interpretation of the information provided. Individuals intending to use this data as an information resource in any legal action should seek advice from a family law attorney.

Before the results of this calculator are used in any legal purpose, these results should be verified independently by all parties to assure the output of the calculator has not been tampered with.