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Updated for the July 2025 schedule

Virginia Child Support Arrears Calculator 2026

In Virginia, interest on unpaid child support is not a maybe. The statute says an arrears order shall include interest at the 6 percent judgment rate, and only a written waiver from the person owed the money turns it off.

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Estimate a Virginia arrears balance with interest

Arrears owed

The unpaid support amount itself, before any interest.

Accrual period
How do you want to enter the period?

Estimated arrears with interest: $5,300.00

Interest of $300.00 at 6% simple per year (Va. Code § 20-78.2; § 6.2-302).

How this estimate was computed
Line itemAmount
Arrears principalVa. Code § 20-78.2 (interest on support arrears at judgment rate, mandatory unless obligee waives in writing) (Virginia General Assembly)$5,000.00
Simple interest at 6% per year for 12 month(s) (Va. Code § 20-78.2; § 6.2-302)Interest on support arrears is mandatory ("shall") at the 6% judgment rate of § 6.2-302 unless the obligee waives collection of the interest in a writing submitted to the court (§ 20-78.2). Simple interest; no statutory compounding identified.Va. Code § 20-78.2 (interest on support arrears at judgment rate, mandatory unless obligee waives in writing) (Virginia General Assembly)$300.00
Arrears principal plus interestVa. Code § 20-78.2 (interest on support arrears at judgment rate, mandatory unless obligee waives in writing) (Virginia General Assembly)$5,300.00

Assumptions

  • Accrual period expressed as 12 month(s); partial months prorate.

Estimate only. The court or state agency calculation controls.

Virginia arrears interest under Va. Code § 20-78.2; § 6.2-302; rules last reviewed 2026-08-07.

How arrears interest works in Virginia

Arrears are support payments that came due and were not paid. Each missed Virginia payment becomes a fixed obligation on its due date, and the Division of Child Support Enforcement tracks the running balance for cases in its system.

Virginia is one of the strict-interest states. Code of Virginia section 20-78.2 says an order for arrears "shall also include an amount for interest on the arrearage" at the judgment interest rate. The word is shall, not may. The one exit: the obligee, the person owed the support, can waive collection of the interest in a writing submitted to the court.

The rate comes from section 6.2-302, which sets the judgment rate of interest at 6 percent a year. Courts apply it as simple interest on support arrears; no statute provides for compounding, so this tool computes simple interest only.

Interest is one tool among many. Virginia also enforces arrears through income withholding, tax refund interception, license actions, and liens, and the 2025 support bill directed the guidelines panel to study the penalty side of enforcement. The balance DCSE certifies is the one that counts.

Interest on arrears
Mandatory: an arrears order "shall" include interest (Va. Code § 20-78.2)source
Rate
6% per year, the judgment rate of § 6.2-302, applied as simple interestsource
The only opt-out
The obligee may waive interest collection in a writing submitted to the courtsource
Who keeps the ledger
Virginia DCSE for enforcement cases; the court record otherwisesource

How to use this estimate

Enter the arrears principal, the total of the missed payments, and how many months the balance has been outstanding. The tool applies 6 percent simple annual interest for that period and shows principal, interest, and total separately.

Real ledgers are messier than one number. Payments usually accrue at different times, partial payments land in between, and interest is figured installment by installment. Treat this as a good-faith approximation of scale, not the certified balance.

If the obligee signed a written interest waiver and filed it, the interest line of this estimate does not apply to your case. And if your case runs through DCSE, ask them for the official arrears certification; that is the figure courts and employers act on.

What this estimate includes

  • The arrears principal you enter
  • 6 percent simple annual interest for the months you specify, per §§ 20-78.2 and 6.2-302
  • A principal-plus-interest total with the statutory citations attached

What it leaves out

  • Installment-by-installment accrual; the tool treats the principal as one balance
  • Partial payments, tax refund offsets, and DCSE ledger adjustments
  • Any written interest waiver the obligee may have filed
  • New support that keeps accruing under the current order

Virginia arrears FAQs

Do Virginia child support arrears really earn interest automatically?

Yes, by statute. Section 20-78.2 requires an order for arrears to include interest at the judgment rate, currently 6 percent a year under section 6.2-302. That makes Virginia stricter than states where interest waits for a separate money judgment or a judge’s choice. The obligee can waive collection of interest, but the waiver has to be in writing and submitted to the court.

Is the 6 percent simple or compound?

Simple. The judgment rate statute sets 6 percent per year and no Virginia statute adds compounding for support arrears, so interest accrues on the unpaid principal only. On a $10,000 balance that is $600 a year, or $50 a month, until the principal moves.

Can a Virginia court forgive back child support?

Not retroactively. Support installments vest as they come due, and a court can modify support only from the date a modification petition was served. The interest is the one piece the receiving parent can give up voluntarily, through the written waiver section 20-78.2 describes. The principal itself stays owed.

Why is my DCSE balance different from this estimate?

Because DCSE computes interest payment by payment against the actual charge and payment history, and applies collections in a set order. A single principal figure with one accrual period cannot match that exactly. Use this page to understand the scale of a balance and how fast 6 percent grows it, then get the certified number from DCSE or the court clerk.

Does interest keep running during enforcement actions?

Yes. Withholding, license suspension, and other enforcement steps do not pause accrual; interest runs until the principal is paid. That is why long-standing Virginia arrears balances often carry an interest component close to the size of the original debt.

What did the 2025 legislation change about arrears?

SB 805, the bill that re-based the child support schedule, also directed the Child Support Guidelines Review Panel and DCSE to study arrearages and license-restriction penalties. It did not change the 6 percent rate or the mandatory-interest rule; those still come from sections 20-78.2 and 6.2-302.

Official sources

Official sources last verified: .

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

Changelog: page first published with the mandatory 6 percent judgment-rate rule and the written-waiver exception. Material changes are dated in the update log.