About SupportDecode
SupportDecode is a free, independent website that estimates child support and related family law numbers for all 50 states and Washington, DC. It offers child support, alimony, arrears and interest, and wage garnishment calculators, plus custody and parenting-time schedule tools. Each calculator result shows its math line by line and cites the official source behind each rule.
Who the site is for
We build for people who need a guideline number before they talk to a lawyer, or who do not have one. That includes parents working out a first estimate, mediators preparing for a session, and legal-aid staff who want a cited starting point. The pages use plain language, and no tool asks you to create an account.
Who runs SupportDecode
SupportDecode is an independent editorial website operated by Support Decode at 810 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1115, New York, NY 10019, USA. It is not a law firm, not a lawyer referral service, and not affiliated with any state or federal government agency.
Pages are researched and reviewed by the SupportDecode Editorial Team, working from official documents. No attorney currently reviews this site, and no page claims otherwise. The editorial policy explains what is in place today and what is only planned. Our arrears-interest research snapshot is an original compilation by Abu Hasnat, published by SupportDecode, and its original compilation elements are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
How the calculators are built and checked
Every calculator has two parts. A rule pack holds the numbers a state's law sets, such as guideline percentages, income caps, and interest rates. An engine applies the state formula to your inputs step by step. Each number in a rule pack cites an official source, usually a statute, court rule, or state guideline document, plus the date we last reviewed it. The build fails if a published rule is missing either one. The methodology page covers this in detail.
All of those citations point to one public registry. The sources page lists all 491 official sources, with the effective date where one is recorded and the date we last checked each one.
Each of the 51 jurisdictions has ten test scenarios worked out by hand, 510 in total. Of those, 58 match outputs from official state calculators or estimators, and 3 match worked examples published in official rules or workbooks. The other 449 were worked from official formula documents, and 156 of those still need an official cross-check. On every code change, 510 scenarios run as regression tests against the calculation engines. The verification page shows these counts for each state.
When a state rule needs facts a calculator does not collect, the tool says so instead of guessing. A blank stays blank. We do not publish an invented figure to fill it. Our research follows the same rule: the 50-state and DC arrears-interest dataset leaves a rate empty and names the open question when the official record does not settle it.
Source reviews, rule changes, and corrections are logged with dates on the updates page. The latest entry is dated .
What this site does not do
- It does not give legal advice, and using it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
- It does not store what you type. The calculators run in your browser, and your inputs are not sent to our servers.
- It does not set your support amount. A court or state child support agency can reach a different number, and judges can deviate from guideline amounts. Their calculation controls.
- It does not replace official resources. State pages link to the official state resource, so you can compare our estimate with the state's own materials.
The disclaimer and terms of use spell out these limits in full.
How the site is funded
SupportDecode is free to use, with no accounts and no logins. The site shows no ads today. Advertising is planned. As the privacy policy explains, it would come only after an ad network approves the site, together with a consent tool that asks for your choice where the law requires it, and the privacy policy will be updated before it ships. The rules this project runs under do not allow advertising or referral arrangements to influence calculator results or editorial content.
Google Analytics runs only if you choose to allow it. Before you choose, no analytics script loads. Measurement never receives incomes, results, or case details, and declining never limits a calculator.
Report an error or request a correction
If a number on this site does not match an official source, please contact us. Include the page, the number, and the official source you checked. We triage every reported error within 48 hours, and every material fix gets a dated entry on the updates page. We do not correct silently. The full correction policy is on the editorial policy page. We cannot answer questions about a specific case.