Updated for 2026 guidelines
Minnesota Child Support Arrears Calculator 2026
Minnesota stopped charging interest on child support arrears in August 2022. Calculators that still add it are computing under repealed law. What remains is the principal: real, enforceable, and no longer growing on its own.
Reviewed by SupportDecode Editorial Team Page content reviewed Sources Methodology Update log
Check a Minnesota arrears balance
Estimated arrears with interest: $5,000.00
Interest of $0.00 at 0% none per year (Minn. Stat. 548.091 subd. 1a; 549.09).
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Arrears principalMinn. Stat. 548.091 (child support judgments; subd. 1a: NO interest accrual beginning 2022-08-01) (Minnesota Revisor of Statutes) | $5,000.00 |
| No interest accrues on arrears (Minn. Stat. 548.091 subd. 1a; 549.09)Beginning August 1, 2022, interest does not accrue on any past, current, or future judgment for child support in Minnesota (548.091 subd. 1a, enacted by 2021 1st Spec. Sess. ch. 30). Interest that had accrued before that date under the 549.09 Treasury-indexed judgment rate (minimum 4 percent) stays on the ledger but stopped growing; those historical accruals are not recomputed here.Minn. Stat. 548.091 (child support judgments; subd. 1a: NO interest accrual beginning 2022-08-01) (Minnesota Revisor of Statutes) | $0.00 |
| Arrears principal plus interestMinn. Stat. 548.091 (child support judgments; subd. 1a: NO interest accrual beginning 2022-08-01) (Minnesota Revisor of Statutes) | $5,000.00 |
Assumptions
- Accrual period expressed as 12 month(s); partial months prorate.
Estimate only. The court or state agency calculation controls.
Minnesota arrears interest under Minn. Stat. 548.091 subd. 1a; 549.09; rules last reviewed 2026-08-07.
How arrears work in Minnesota now
Arrears are support payments that came due and were not paid. In Minnesota each missed payment becomes a judgment by operation of law, and the county child support office keeps the running ledger for cases in the state system.
The 2021 special session legislature changed what happens to that ledger over time. Minn. Stat. 548.091 subd. 1a now says that beginning August 1, 2022, interest does not accrue on a past, current, or future judgment for child support, and the same bar covers confinement and pregnancy expenses and genetic testing fees. The judgment interest statute, 549.09, carries a matching exclusion. The change was part of a broader move away from interest charges that mostly deepened uncollectable debt.
The word beginning matters in both directions. Interest that had lawfully accrued before August 1, 2022 did not vanish; it sits in the balance as part of the principal owed. It just stopped compounding. Before the change, Minnesota support judgments grew at the 549.09 rate, an annual figure tied to Treasury yields with a 4 percent floor, so older balances can contain years of pre-2022 interest.
Because the current rate is a statutory zero, this tool does something unusual for an arrears calculator: it returns your principal unchanged, with the citation. That is not a limitation; it is the answer. Any Minnesota arrears figure that grows month over month after August 2022 is being computed under law that no longer exists.
- Interest rate on arrears
- Zero. Interest does not accrue on child support judgments since August 1, 2022source
- Statute
- Minn. Stat. 548.091 subd. 1a, with the matching 549.09 exclusionsource
- Pre-2022 interest
- Accruals before August 1, 2022 remain owed but stopped growingsource
- Arrears collection
- Withholding adds 20 percent of the monthly obligation until arrears clear (518A.53 subd. 10)source
How to use this estimate
Enter the arrears principal and the period. The tool reports the principal back with a zero-interest line and the statute behind it. Under current Minnesota law there is no interest arithmetic to run, whatever the length of the period.
If your balance was built before August 2022, the county ledger may already include interest that accrued under the old 549.09 mechanism. That amount is part of what you owe; it simply stopped growing. This tool does not reconstruct historical year-by-year accruals, because the certified annual rates for those years are not in our verified data.
Remember that arrears keep growing the ordinary way: every new missed payment adds principal. No interest does not mean no consequences, either. Withholding takes an extra 20 percent of the monthly obligation toward arrears, and license suspension, tax refund interception, and contempt all remain available.
What this estimate includes
- The arrears principal you enter, unchanged
- The statutory zero-interest rule with its effective date and citation
- The note that pre-August-2022 accrued interest stays owed but frozen
What it leaves out
- Reconstruction of interest that accrued before August 1, 2022 under 549.09
- New missed payments accruing while the balance sits
- Partial payments, tax intercepts, and the running county ledger
- Interest on spousal-maintenance-only judgments, which follow different 549.09 treatment
Minnesota arrears FAQs
Do Minnesota child support arrears earn interest?
Not anymore. Minn. Stat. 548.091 subd. 1a says interest does not accrue on any past, current, or future child support judgment beginning August 1, 2022. The rule covers old balances and new ones alike from that date forward. Minnesota is one of the states that concluded interest on support debt mostly made poor obligors poorer without moving money to children.
What happened to interest that accrued before August 2022?
It stayed in the balance. The statute stops future accrual; it does not erase interest that had already been lawfully added under the old rules. A balance from 2015 can therefore contain years of interest at the 549.09 Treasury-indexed rate, frozen at its August 1, 2022 size, plus every missed payment since.
Why do some calculators still add interest to Minnesota arrears?
Because they were built before the 2021 special session law, or copied from a national template that assumes every state charges something. The change is recent enough that stale tools are common. Checking is easy: the current text of 548.091 subdivision 1a is one paragraph, linked in the sources below, and it says interest does not accrue.
Does no interest mean I can pay arrears slowly?
The balance will not grow on its own, but enforcement does not relax. Income withholding automatically takes an extra 20 percent of the current monthly obligation toward arrears until they are paid (518A.53 subd. 10), and the child support agency can intercept tax refunds, suspend licenses, report to credit bureaus, and seek contempt. The zero rate changes the math, not the machinery.
Can Minnesota arrears be reduced or forgiven?
Support that lawfully came due generally stays owed; courts cannot retroactively modify it except back to the date a modification motion was served. Arrears owed to the state can sometimes be compromised through agency programs, and a parent owed arrears can agree to settle them. Modification of the ongoing order going forward runs under 518A.39.
Where do I find my official Minnesota arrears balance?
Through the county child support office on the case or the state child support online portal. That ledger controls: it reflects every charge, payment, intercept, and any pre-2022 interest, which no outside calculator can reconstruct from a single number.
Official sources
Official sources last verified: .
- Minn. Stat. 548.091 (child support judgments; subd. 1a: NO interest accrual beginning 2022-08-01)
Minnesota Revisor of Statutes Last checked
- Minn. Stat. 549.09 (judgment interest: annual Treasury-indexed rate, min 4%; family-court exclusion from 10% rule; child-support no-interest echo)
Minnesota Revisor of Statutes Last checked
- Minn. Stat. 518A.53 (income withholding; CCPA 1673(b) cap; +20% arrears withholding subd. 10)
Minnesota Revisor of Statutes Last checked
Reviewed by SupportDecode Editorial Team Page content reviewed Sources Methodology Update log
Changelog: page first published with the August 2022 interest elimination stated plainly and pre-2022 accruals explained. Material changes are dated in the update log.