Child support in Delaware.
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 stateDelaware
Delaware is one of only a few states using the Melson formula, and it works in three steps rather than one. Step one: each parent keeps a Self-Support Allowance off the top, so nobody is ordered to pay themselves into poverty. Step two: whatever is left is used to cover the children's basic needs first, split between the parents in proportion to their remaining income. Step three: if income is still left over after basic needs are met, a share of that surplus, called the Standard of Living Adjustment, goes to the children so they benefit from a parent's higher income.
How Delaware works out the number
Authority: Delaware Child Support Formula, Delaware Family Court Civil Procedure Rules 500-510, adopted by the Family Court under 13 Del. C. § 513(c)(1); statutory support factors at 13 Del. C. § 514. The current revision was approved by the Family Court judges on October 13, 2022 and took effect February 1, 2Yes. Shared placement kicks in when the child spends 164 or more overnights a year with each parent. At that point each parent's obligation is reduced by the portion they already spend directly in their own household, and the parents split shared incidental expenses equally.
Use the state’s own calculator, not ours
Delaware publishes this itself, free. It is called Child Support Calculator – Automated (Excel) and Child Support Calculator – Manual, with Child Support Formula Instructions, all published by the Delaware Famil. 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 Delaware calculator →What goes into the calculation
What counts as income
Income includes wages, plus overtime and bonuses from a primary job. Second-job income and passive income such as interest, dividends and trust income are looked at case by case rather than counted automatically. Self-employment income must be documented with tax returns and corroborating records. Non-taxable income is grossed up by 25% to estimate its taxable equivalent. Need-based benefits such as TANF, SNAP and a parent's SSI are excluded, and a child's own SSI "shall not be included as income to either parent."
When a judge can treat you as earning more
Delaware sets a floor and a ceiling. The floor is a Minimum Income figure, the statewide entry-level wage published by the Delaware Department of Labor applied to 150 hours a month, rounded to the nearest $10 and reset each February 1. Above that, the court can find a Reasonable Earning Capacity using documented earnings for "employment commensurate with their training at and experience working at least 35 hours per week." For a parent who is unemployed or underemployed, income may be imputed at "50% of their prior income, or their unemployment benefits or minimum wage, whichever is greatest."
If you do not earn much
The Self-Support Allowance is the heart of Delaware's low-income protection. It is set at 120% of the Federal Poverty Guideline for a one-person household and is adjusted every January. The 2022 formula report listed it as $1,360 per month; because it tracks the poverty guideline it is higher now. The formula also caps how much of a parent's income can go to support: 50% in a standard case, and 35% for a parent supporting children in three or more households.
Childcare and health insurance
Work-related childcare is treated as a primary expense, meaning it is covered before the standard-of-living step. Health insurance is handled as a primary expense too: "75% of a party's out-of-pocket premium" is allocated to the children, dropping to 50% if that parent also supports other minor children. As of the 2022 revision, the premium is no longer simply deducted from income. Uninsured medical costs are split by each parent's primary share percentage, rounded to a multiple of 10% and never "greater than 90%, nor less than 10%."
Private school, special needs, activities
In shared placement cases the formula names a category of Shared Incidental Expenses that parents split equally: "Haircuts; school lunches; instrument rentals; school supplies… local recreational sports or extracurricular activities; and local field trips." Larger or unusual costs are handled through the deviation process rather than a fixed add-on.
When a judge can depart from the number
The formula result is "a rebuttable presumption for the establishment and modification of child support obligations." To depart from it, a parent must show "by a preponderance of the evidence that the results are not in the best interest of the child or are inequitable to the parties," and "Every contested order deviating from the Formula shall state the factual findings and reasoning for the deviation."
Delaware's formula is genuinely different from most states, and the practical consequence is that a low-earning parent in Delaware often owes less than they would elsewhere, while a high-earning parent may owe more, because the surplus step keeps sharing income upward. The other thing to watch: falling 90 days behind does not just create a debt, it permanently raises your monthly payment by 10%.
Later on
When it ends
Under 13 Del. C. § 517, a current support order ends when all the children reach 18; when a child who is over 18 and still in high school either receives a diploma or turns 19, whichever comes first; or when custody transfers to the paying parent. Any arrears keep running until they are paid off.
College and support after 18
Delaware's support statute does not provide for college or other post-majority support beyond the high-school extension to age 19. Parents who want college covered generally have to write it into an agreement.
Changing the amount later
13 Del. C. § 513(d) governs timing rather than a dollar trigger: an order "cannot be retroactively modified except from the date notice of a modification petition is served on the respondent."
How far back a change can reach
A modification reaches back only to the date the other parent was served with the petition. "Notice shall be effective on the date of delivery, first attempted delivery, or 3 days after posting (if by regular mail), whichever first occurs." File the day you decide to file; every week you wait is a week you cannot recover.
If someone stops paying
Under 13 Del. C. § 516, when a parent owes $1,000 or more, is at least 30 days delinquent, and the non-payment is willful, the court may suspend a driver's license and professional licenses. Delaware also has an automatic escalator on arrears: once arrearages have run for 90 days, the ordered support amount "automatically increases by 10% or $5.00, whichever is greater."
What we could not confirm
- We could not confirm the current-year dollar amount of the Self-Support Allowance, or the exact Standard of Living Adjustment percentages Delaware uses for one, two, three or more children. Both are published inside the Family Court's own calculator, so the safest move is to run the court's Excel calculator rather than rely on a figure you read anywhere else.
Compare all fifty states
The overnight thresholds, the ending ages and the college rules, side by side.