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Updated for 2026 guidelines

Michigan Child Support Calculator 2026

Michigan replaced its support formula on January 1, 2025, and one quiet change matters a lot: the overnight exponent dropped from 3.0 to 2.5. This page runs the current math on both parents net incomes and both overnight counts.

Reviewed by SupportDecode Editorial Team Page content reviewed Sources Methodology Update log

Estimate Michigan child support

This tool takes your net income figures as stipulated, so every result is an estimate. The official MiChildSupport calculator computes net income from gross and produces the figure Michigan courts expect.

Both parents' monthly net income

The 2025 Michigan Child Support Formula computes on NET income: gross income from all sources minus taxes and the MCSF chapter 2 deductions. Enter the after-tax figure; the official MiChildSupport calculator can do the gross-to-net math for you.

The same after-tax net monthly figure for the other parent.

Children and overnights

The 2025 MCSF supplement publishes General Care tables for 1 to 5 or more children.

Michigan needs the overnight count for BOTH parents: the Parental Time Offset weighs each side by the other parent overnights raised to the power 2.5 (MCSF 3.03). If the children have different schedules, average their overnights first.

Usually the rest of the 365 nights, but Michigan does not force the two counts to sum to 365. Every Michigan order must state the overnights it used.

Paying parent's other children (optional)

Biological or adopted minor children of the paying parent who are not part of this case. The 2.08(B) Additional Children table multiplies that parent net income by 83 percent for 1 child, down to 60 percent for 5 or more. Leave blank for none.

Add-ons (optional)

The 2025 supplement sets $200 per year for 1 child, up to $1,000 for 5 or more (MCSF 3.04). The paying parent income share is added to the monthly support. Leave blank to skip this component.

Actual, predictable net child care costs needed for work or education, apportioned between the parents by income share (MCSF 3.06).

The net out-of-pocket premium for the children of this case, apportioned by income share (MCSF 3.05(C)).

Estimated monthly child support: $667.00. This state's result is an estimate.

Estimate This state's result is an estimate.

The paying parent pays this amount to the receiving parent each month.

How this estimate was computed
Line itemAmount
Monthly net family income (below-threshold parents excluded per 2.09(B))2025 Michigan Child Support Formula Manual (SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau)$6,500.00
Payer base support obligation (general-care)Rounded to the nearest whole dollar (MCSF 3.02(B))2025 MCSF Supplement (January 2025; economic figures incl. $1,255 low-income threshold, General Care tables) (SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau)$810.00
Recipient base support obligation (general-care)Rounded to the nearest whole dollar (MCSF 3.02(B))2025 MCSF Supplement (January 2025; economic figures incl. $1,255 low-income threshold, General Care tables) (SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau)$506.00
Parental Time Offset (payer 110 overnights, recipient 255, exponent 2.5)Positive amount is owed by the payer to the recipient (MCSF 3.03)2025 Michigan Child Support Formula Manual (SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau)$666.68
Monthly child support (payer to recipient, rounded to whole dollars)2025 Michigan Child Support Formula Manual (SCAO Friend of the Court Bureau)$667.00

Assumptions

  • Inputs are stipulated net monthly incomes; the MCSF chapter 2 gross-to-net computation (taxes, mandatory deductions, imputation) is not performed, so this result is an estimate.
  • The Parental Time Offset uses exponent 2.5 per the 2025 MCSF (changed from 3.0 in the 2021 MCSF).
  • Overnights for multiple children are assumed to be pre-averaged by the caller (MCSF 3.03).
  • Ordinary medical expenses (MCSF 3.04) are excluded because no annual amount was provided.

Estimate only. The court or state agency calculation controls.

Michigan guidelines, effective 2025-01-01.

Michigan formula facts

Guideline model
Income shares on both parents monthly net incomessource
Authority
MCL 552.605; formula written by the Friend of the Court Bureau (SCAO)source
Current version
2025 MCSF manual and supplement, effective January 1, 2025source
Overnight exponent
2.5 in the 2025 manual, changed from 3.0 in the 2021 manualsource
Low Income Threshold
$1,255 per month (2025 supplement, from the 2024 poverty guideline)source
Ordinary medical amounts
$200 per year for 1 child, up to $1,000 for 5 or moresource
Official calculator
MiChildSupport, run by the state Office of Child Supportsource
Parameter set effective
January 1, 2025 (2025 MCSF and supplement)source
Next scheduled data review
January 1, 2027source

How the Michigan formula works

Michigan child support is not set by a statute full of percentages. MCL 552.605 tells every court to follow the Michigan Child Support Formula, a manual written by the Friend of the Court Bureau at the State Court Administrative Office. The current manual and its economic supplement took effect January 1, 2025, replacing the 2021 version.

The formula runs on net income, meaning income after taxes and the deductions the manual allows. Both parents net monthly incomes are added into a family income figure. The supplement then supplies a General Care table row for that income and the number of children: a base dollar amount plus a marginal percentage of the income above the row level. Each parent is assigned a share of that figure in proportion to income, so each parent carries a base support obligation.

Overnights decide who pays whom. The Parental Time Offset weighs each parent base obligation by the other parent annual overnights raised to the power 2.5, then nets the two. More overnights shrink what you pay and grow what the other parent owes you. This is why Michigan needs the overnight count for both parents, and why every Michigan order must state the overnights it used.

The 2.5 exponent is new. The 2021 manual used 3.0, and the two exponents produce different results whenever parenting time is shared. A calculator still built on the 2021 formula will disagree with the current worksheet in exactly the 50/50 cases where parents check the math most. Our test suite pins the exponent at 2.5 against the 2025 manual text.

Low earners get their own equations. A parent whose net income is at or below the Low Income Threshold, $1,255 a month in the 2025 supplement, pays a flat 10 percent of net income. Just above the threshold, a transition equation caps how fast the obligation climbs, and a below-threshold parent income is left out of the family income entirely.

This tool is an estimate by design. It takes the net incomes you type in as given and does not redo the manual chapter 2 tax and deduction math. The state runs the official MiChildSupport calculator, which computes net income from gross and produces the figure courts expect; use it before relying on any number here.

Worked example: $4,000 and $2,500 net, 1 child, 110 and 255 overnights

  1. Take a paying parent with $4,000 in monthly net income and 110 overnights a year, and a receiving parent with $2,500 and 255 overnights, with 1 child.
  2. Family net income is $4,000 plus $2,500, which is $6,500. On the one-child General Care table, the highest row not above that income starts at $4,531.37, with a base of $1,039.04 plus 14.05 percent of the income over the row level.
  3. The income over the row level is $1,968.63, and 14.05 percent of it is $276.62. Added to the base, the family-level figure is $1,315.66.
  4. Each parent carries a share of that figure by income. The paying parent earns 61.54 percent of the family income, so their base obligation is $810 after rounding to whole dollars. The receiving parent share is 38.46 percent, a base obligation of $506.
  5. The Parental Time Offset nets the two. Each base is weighted by the other parent overnights raised to the power 2.5: 110 overnights against the $506, and 255 overnights against the $810. The offset works out to $666.68 owed by the paying parent.
  6. Rounded to whole dollars, the paying parent pays $667 a month. Run the same inputs through the old 2021 exponent of 3.0 and the answer shifts, which is how you can spot a calculator that never updated.

The steps above follow the calculation method described on our methodology page.

Michigan formula history

  1. The 2013 MCSF manual took effect.source
  2. The 2017 MCSF manual took effect.source
  3. The 2021 MCSF manual took effect, with the Parental Time Offset exponent at 3.0.source
  4. The 2025 MCSF manual and supplement took effect: the offset exponent moved to 2.5, ordinary medical treatment was restructured, and the Low Income Threshold was set at $1,255.source

Michigan child support FAQs

What changed in the Michigan child support formula in 2025?

The 2025 manual and supplement replaced the 2021 versions on January 1, 2025. The Parental Time Offset exponent moved from 3.0 to 2.5, ordinary medical expenses were restructured into a fixed annual amount apportioned by income, the low-income rules were clarified, and the supplement reset the economic figures, including the $1,255 Low Income Threshold. Existing orders did not change on their own.

Does Michigan use gross or net income for child support?

Net. The formula starts from gross income from all sources, then subtracts taxes and the deductions listed in manual chapter 2 to reach net income. This calculator asks for the net figure directly and treats it as stipulated. The official MiChildSupport calculator performs the full gross-to-net computation, which is one reason its number can differ from this estimate.

Why do overnights matter so much in Michigan?

Because the offset weights each parent base obligation by the other parent overnights raised to the power 2.5. Small changes in the schedule move real dollars, and at near-equal time the support amount approaches zero when incomes match. Every Michigan support order must state the overnight counts it used, so those numbers are worth getting right.

Is a calculator using the old 3.0 exponent still accurate?

Not for shared custody. The 2021 manual weighted overnights with an exponent of 3.0; the 2025 manual uses 2.5. With one parent holding nearly all the overnights the difference fades, but in the shared schedules where parents most often compare tools, the two exponents produce different amounts. Our engine carries a test that fails if the exponent ever drifts from 2.5.

What is the Low Income Threshold?

A monthly net income line, $1,255 in the 2025 supplement, taken from the 2024 federal poverty guideline. A parent at or below it pays 10 percent of net income as base support, and that parent income stays out of the family income used for the other parent math. Just above the line, a transition equation keeps the obligation from jumping.

What if the paying parent has children with someone else?

The formula adjusts income before this case is computed. The Additional Children table multiplies the parent net income by 83 percent for 1 additional minor child, 75 percent for 2, 68 percent for 3, 64 percent for 4, and 60 percent for 5 or more. The manual also deducts that parent premium cost for covering those children first, a step this estimate does not collect.

How does Michigan handle very high incomes?

The General Care tables top out at $17,871.57 of monthly family net income. Above that, the formula keeps extending the top row, the base amount plus its marginal percentage. When income greatly exceeds the top level, the manual lets the court exercise discretion instead, so the extension is a default rather than a promise.

What does the Friend of the Court do?

Each county has a Friend of the Court office that investigates, runs the formula, recommends support amounts to the judge, collects payments through the state disbursement unit, and enforces orders. Most Michigan parents interact with the FOC far more than with the courtroom, so its ledger and recommendation are the practical center of a case.

Good to know in Michigan

  • Michigan is a formula-manual state, not a schedule-lookup state. There is no table of final dollar amounts; the General Care Equation computes them from a base plus a marginal percentage, which is why two tools can round slightly differently.
  • The manual is revised roughly every 4 years: 2013, 2017, 2021, then 2025. The next full revision is expected around 2029, but the economic supplement can refresh between manuals, so the dollar figures deserve a check every January.
  • MiChildSupport, the state calculator from the Office of Child Support at MDHHS, has been free to the public since April 2017. It asks for gross income and computes net for you, the step this estimate skips on purpose.
  • Ordinary medical amounts are prepaid, not billed later: the paying parent income share of the annual figure, $200 a year for 1 child, rides along with the monthly support as advance reimbursement.
  • The offset applies to nearly every case between two parents, but not when a nonparent has custody of the children.

How to use this estimate

Enter each parent monthly net income, meaning income after taxes and the deductions the manual allows. If you only know gross pay, the official MiChildSupport calculator computes net income for you; this tool takes your net figures as stipulated and does not redo that tax math, which is why it labels every result an estimate.

Count annual overnights for both parents, not just one. The offset formula needs both numbers, and they do not have to sum to 365. If the children of the case keep different schedules, average their overnights before you enter them.

If the paying parent supports other minor children from different relationships, enter how many. The formula shrinks that parent income with the Additional Children table before anything else runs, so the count changes the result more than people expect.

Treat the output as a starting point for a conversation, not an order. The Friend of the Court office in your county prepares the recommendation the judge sees, and MCL 552.605 lets a court deviate from the formula only with written findings.

What this estimate includes

  • The 2025 supplement General Care tables for 1 to 5 or more children
  • The Parental Time Offset with the current 2.5 exponent and both parents overnights
  • The $1,255 Low Income Threshold, the 10 percent equation, and the transition equation
  • The Additional Children multipliers for the payer, 83 percent down to 60 percent
  • Ordinary medical expenses apportioned by income share when you enter the annual amount
  • Child care and children health care premiums apportioned by income share with who-pays credit
  • The top-bracket extension when family net income passes $17,871.57 a month

What it leaves out

  • The gross-to-net computation itself: taxes, deductions, and imputed income from manual chapter 2
  • The premium deduction for other children that runs before the Additional Children multiplier
  • Per-case allocation when the same parents share children across multiple cases
  • Deviations, which require findings by the court under MCL 552.605

Official sources

Official sources last verified: .

Reviewed by SupportDecode Editorial Team Page content reviewed Sources Methodology Update log

Changelog: page first published with the 2025 MCSF General Care tables, the 2.5 overnight exponent, and the $1,255 Low Income Threshold. Material changes are dated in the update log.