Child support in Arizona.
What the state’s own guideline says, where the number comes from, and the one figure that moves it more than anything you will argue about.
See a different stateArizona
Arizona adds both parents' incomes together and looks up what a family at that combined income typically spends raising this number of children. That total is then split between the parents in proportion to what each one earns. The parent who has the children less of the time pays their share to the other parent, minus credits for parenting time and for things like insurance premiums.
How Arizona works out the number
Authority: Arizona Child Support Guidelines, adopted by the Arizona Supreme Court effective January 1, 2022 (Administrative Order 2021-56, revised by AO 2021-131, AO 2021-149 and AO 2022-116), issued under A.R.S. § 25-320Yes, and Arizona uses a published table keyed to parenting days per year: 0-19 days = no adjustment; 20-34 = .025; 35-49 = .050; 50-69 = .075; 70-84 = .10; 85-99 = .15; 100-114 = .175; 115-129 = .20; 130-142 = .25; 143-152 = .325; 153-163 = .40; 164 or more days = .50. A "parenting day" is 24 hours; 12 hours or more counts as a full day, 6 to 11 hours counts as a half day, and 3 to 5 hours counts as a quarter day.
Use the state’s own calculator, not ours
Arizona publishes this itself, free. It is called 2022 Child Support Calculator, published by the Arizona Judicial Branch in two versions: an interview-style tool for self-represented parents and an Excel versi. We are not going to build a competing calculator and ask you to trust it — this is the one a judge will recognize.
Open the Arizona calculator →What goes into the calculation
What counts as income
Child Support Income includes wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses and self-employment income, with self-employment figured as "gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary expenses." On extra work the guidelines are unusually protective: "The court generally does not include more income than earned through full-time employment," and each parent "should have the choice of working additional hours through overtime or at a second job without increasing the child support obligation." Overtime can still be counted if it was "historically earned and is anticipated to continue into the future."
When a judge can treat you as earning more
If a parent is unemployed or working below capacity, the court presumes that parent is capable of "full-time employment of at least the applicable state or federal adult minimum wage, whichever is higher," normally figured at 40 hours per week. Before going higher, the court looks at employment history, job skills, educational attainment and the local job market.
If you do not earn much
The Self-Support Reserve equals "80% of the monthly full-time earnings at the state minimum wage." The 2022 guidelines worked this out as $1,685 per month using the then-current $12.15 minimum wage; because it is tied to the minimum wage, the dollar figure rises as the minimum wage rises. If support would push a paying parent below that reserve, the court may reduce the order. There is also a floor at the bottom: if the calculated support is less than the Support Clearinghouse Fee, the court does not enter a child support award at all.
Childcare and health insurance
Childcare paid "so a parent can work or seek employment may be added to the Basic Child Support Obligation." Medical insurance for the children is added and credited to the parent who pays it; dental and vision are optional but counted if a parent provides them. Unless the parents agree otherwise, the duty to carry insurance falls on "the parent who has the greater amount of parenting time." Uninsured medical, dental and vision costs are split by the percentages in the order, and a parent must ask for reimbursement "within 180 days of the date when the cost was incurred."
Private school, special needs, activities
The basic obligation "may be adjusted to provide for costs incurred for a gifted or special needs child" and for "reasonable and necessary expenses for attending private or special schools." These are add-ons the court decides on, not automatic.
When a judge can depart from the number
A judge may depart from the guideline number only after finding that (1) "Applying the Guidelines is inappropriate or unjust" and (2) "The court has considered the child's best interests," and must put in writing the guideline amount, the amount actually ordered, and the reason for the difference. Listed grounds include a large income disparity, lopsided sharing of expenses, travel costs, and the child's health care needs.
Two things surprise people here. First, Arizona genuinely tries not to punish you for working harder: the guidelines say a parent should be able to take overtime or a second job without that raising the child support number, unless the overtime has been steady for years. Second, parenting time is measured in days, and partial days count. Six hours of a Saturday is worth a quarter of a day. Keeping an accurate calendar is worth real money, because the jump from 163 days to 164 days doubles the adjustment from 40% to 50%.
Later on
When it ends
Support runs to "the last day of the month of the 18th birthday of the youngest child." If the court finds the child will not graduate high school by 18, it continues to "the last day of the month of the anticipated graduation date, or age 19, whichever occurs first."
College and support after 18
The guidelines contain no authority for a court to order college support. Support past 18 is limited to the high-school extension described above. Parents can still agree to pay for college in a settlement.
Changing the amount later
Under the simplified modification procedure, "A 15% variation in the amount of the order is considered evidence of substantial and continuing change of circumstances."
How far back a change can reach
We could not confirm this state’s rule on how far back an order or a change can be applied. It matters: in some states the clock starts the day you file, so filing late costs money you do not get back.
What we could not confirm
- We could not open the Arizona statute site (it requires a browser with JavaScript), so we could not confirm from the official text how far back an Arizona order can reach or what the state's enforcement tools are. We also could not confirm the exact self-support reserve dollar figure for the current year; the $1,685 in the 2022 guidelines was based on a $12.15 minimum wage, and Arizona's minimum wage is higher now. Ask the Self-Service Center at your county Superior Court, or run the state's own calculator, which updates these figures.
- 2 official pages we tried to read refused automated access. We did not try to get around the block, so some detail above comes from a different official source rather than the one we would have preferred.
Compare all fifty states
The overnight thresholds, the ending ages and the college rules, side by side.