Child Support If You Make $500 a Week in Delaware
Delaware does not use income shares. It runs the Melson formula, and at $500 a week the primary-needs stage is what shapes the table below.
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Guideline child support scenarios at $500 a week
The paying parent earns $500 a week ($2,166.67 a month) in every cell below. The other parent's monthly income changes across rows, and the number of children changes across columns; both genuinely change the result.Every figure is computed with the real Delaware guideline engine, the same one behind the full calculator, not a lookup table built for this page.
| Other parent's income | 1 child | 2 children | 3 children |
|---|---|---|---|
| No reported income | $283.34 | $283.34 | $283.34 |
| $2,000 a month | $283.34 | $283.34 | $283.34 |
| $4,000 a month | $202.47 | $283.34 | $283.34 |
| $6,000 a month | $160.00 | $240.00 | $266.82 |
Every dollar figure is a monthly amount, the presumptive guideline result before add-ons like child care or health insurance and before any court deviation. "Not available" means the engine behind this site declined to compute that specific combination rather than guess; the reason is shown next to it.
The Melson formula at a low income
Delaware is one of three Melson-formula states on this site, along with Hawaii and Montana. The Melson approach protects a self-support allowance for each parent first, then meets the primary needs of the children, and only then applies a standard-of-living adjustment. It is structurally different from the income-shares states in this series.
At $500 a week, $2,166.67 a month gross, the payer sits low enough that the primary-needs stage dominates. In the rows where the other parent reports no income or $2,000 a month, the obligation lands at the same $283.34 figure for one, two, or three children, and only as the other parent income rises does the child-count split begin to appear.
Reading the primary-needs stage in the table
Look at the top two rows of the table below: the $283.34 figure repeats for one, two, and three children. That is the Melson primary-needs minimum dominating the calculation, before any standard-of-living adjustment can scale the number by child count.
In the $4,000 and $6,000 a month rows, the higher other-parent income changes how the primary needs are shared, and the child-count columns begin to differ. The fixed baseline on this page is no deductions for either parent.
What this estimate includes
- The Melson primary-needs stage and its effect at low payer income
- The self-support allowance Delaware protects for each parent first
- Results for 1, 2, or 3 children across four other-parent incomes
What it leaves out
- Health-insurance, retirement, or other deductions, held at zero by the baseline
- Extensive shared-custody adjustments, which use a separate Delaware worksheet
- Child care and other add-ons
Worth knowing
Melson is notable for protecting a self-support allowance before any support is allocated, which means the lowest-income payers owe relatively little. At $500 a week the primary-needs minimum is what remains after that protection.
The flat rows at low income are a Melson signature and are not a mistake. Readers used to income-shares tables, where child count almost always scales the number, will see Delaware behave differently at the bottom of the range.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Melson formula?
Melson protects a self-support allowance for each parent, then meets the primary needs of the children, then adds a standard-of-living adjustment. Delaware is one of three Melson states on this site, alongside Hawaii and Montana.
Why does the same figure appear for one, two, and three children in some rows?
At this income the primary-needs minimum dominates, so the obligation lands on the same amount regardless of child count in the lower other-parent rows. Once the other parent income rises, the standard-of-living stage produces a child-count split.
What is the fixed baseline on this page?
Delaware reads deductions such as health insurance and retirement from each parent, and this page family sets them to zero for both parents. That is the no-deductions baseline disclosed on every Delaware page in this series.
How does Delaware convert gross pay to its calculation basis?
The Delaware engine runs its own tax and net-income conversion internally on the supplied gross income. That is why Delaware can appear in this gross-based series at all, despite Melson traditionally being seen as a net-income formula in some states.
Does the other parent income change the result at $500 a week?
Partially. The first two rows hold at $283.34 for every child count, but the $4,000 and $6,000 rows shift, with one child dropping to $202.47 and then $160 while two and three children also respond.
Where can I check the Melson math against an official source?
The full Delaware child support calculator on this site walks through the Melson stages, and the official Delaware worksheets apply the same formula, linked in the sources for this page.
About the numbers on this page
Every figure in the table above comes from running the real Delaware child support engine on this site, the same engine and data pack behind the full Delaware child support calculator. Nothing on this page is a separate estimate or a reimplementation of the math. See the sources below for the statutes and official worksheets behind the Delaware guideline.
Reviewed by SupportDecode Editorial Team Page content reviewed Sources Methodology Update log
Changelog: page first published as part of the child support by income series. Material changes are dated in the update log.