Child support in Louisiana.
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.
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Louisiana combines both parents' adjusted gross incomes, looks the combined figure up on a schedule published in the statute, and gets a basic support amount for that number of children. Childcare, health insurance premiums and certain extraordinary costs are added on. Each parent owes the share that matches their percentage of the combined income, and the parent the children do not primarily live with pays their share over.
How Louisiana works out the number
Authority: La. R.S. 9:315 through 9:315.22, with the Schedule for Support at R.S. 9:315.19 and the official worksheets at R.S. 9:315.20Two different rules. First, under R.S. 9:315.8(E), where the non-domiciliary parent has physical custody "for more than 73 days," the court may order a credit against that parent's obligation, weighing the time with each parent, the change in each household's financial burden, and the child's best interests. Second, under R.S. 9:315.9, if the arrangement is true shared custody, meaning "each parent has physical custody of the child for an approximately equal amount of time," the basic obligation is multiplied by 1.5, split by income, then adjusted by the actual percentage of time with each parent, and the parent owing more pays the difference. That calculation uses Worksheet B.
Use the state’s own calculator, not ours
Louisiana publishes this itself, free. It is called Worksheet A (sole or joint custody) and Worksheet B (shared custody), set out in La. R.S. 9:315.20. 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 Louisiana calculator →What goes into the calculation
What counts as income
"Gross income" covers "salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, dividends, pensions, interest, annuities, capital gains" and Social Security benefits. Self-employment income is "gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary expenses." "Expense reimbursement or in-kind payments received by a parent… if the reimbursements or payments are significant" also count. Louisiana carves out one notable exclusion: gross income excludes "extraordinary overtime including but not limited to income attributed to seasonal work" where the court finds counting it would be inequitable. "Income" itself means either actual gross income "if the party is employed to full capacity" or potential income if the party is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed.
When a judge can treat you as earning more
Under R.S. 9:315.11, the court sets income based on earning potential, weighing employment history, job skills, education, age, health, criminal record and the local job market. "There is a rebuttable presumption that the party can earn a weekly gross amount equal to thirty-two hours at" minimum wage. A parent is not treated as voluntarily unemployed if they are caring for a disabled unmarried child who needs substantial supervision, or if the unemployment is a direct result of incarceration.
If you do not earn much
R.S. 9:315.2 makes clear that the bottom of the schedule is not a floor on the judge's discretion: "the lowest basic amount of child support in the schedule" does not limit the court's authority to deviate downward under R.S. 9:315.1(C).
Childcare and health insurance
Under R.S. 9:315.8, the total obligation is built by "adding together the basic child support obligation amount, the net child care costs, the cost of health insurance premiums, extraordinary medical expenses, and other extraordinary expenses," then splitting the total by each parent's income percentage. Net child care costs are governed by R.S. 9:315.3, health insurance premiums by R.S. 9:315.4 and extraordinary medical by R.S. 9:315.5.
Private school, special needs, activities
R.S. 9:315.6 lets the court or the parents add three categories: "Expenses of tuition, registration, books, and supply fees required for attending a special or private elementary or secondary school" to meet the child's needs; the cost of transporting the child between the parents; and "special expenses incurred for child rearing intended to enhance the health, athletic, social, or cultural development," naming camps, music and art lessons, travel and school-sponsored extracurriculars.
When a judge can depart from the number
R.S. 9:315.1 makes the guideline amount "a rebuttable presumption." A judge may depart when applying the guidelines "would not be in the best interest of the child or would be inequitable to the parties," and must give reasons on the record. The statute lists nine considerations, including support owed for other dependents, multiple-family situations, extraordinary medical expenses, community debt, temporary support needs, disability, support for a disabled adult child, and the status of minor parents.
The 73-day rule catches people off guard. Louisiana does not automatically discount your support for every overnight; you have to clear 73 days of physical custody in a year before the judge may even consider a credit, and even then the credit is discretionary. The other thing worth knowing is the overtime exclusion: if you work heavy or seasonal overtime, Louisiana is one of the few states whose statute lets a judge leave "extraordinary overtime" out of your income entirely.
Later on
When it ends
Under R.S. 9:315.22, support terminates automatically when a child reaches the age of majority or is emancipated, with no action required by the paying parent. It continues automatically for an unmarried child who turns 18 "as long as the child is a full-time student in good standing in a secondary school or its equivalent, has not attained the age of nineteen, and is dependent upon either parent."
College and support after 18
No general college-support authority. The exceptions are for disability: support may continue for a child with a developmental disability to age 22 if enrolled full time in secondary school, and for other disabled children under R.S. 9:315.22.1.
Changing the amount later
R.S. 9:311 requires "a material change in circumstances of one of the parties" that is "substantial and continuing since the last award for support." Where the Department of Children and Family Services is providing enforcement services, there is "a rebuttable presumption that a material change in circumstances exists when a strict application of the child support guidelines… would result in at least a twenty-five percent change in the existing child support award." Separately, a court "may modify the amount of the existing child support award every three years if the existing award differs from the amount which would otherwise be awarded," with no material change required.
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 confirm from the statute how far back an initial Louisiana order or a modification can reach (that rule lives in R.S. 9:315.21), and we could not confirm Louisiana's enforcement tools such as license suspension or interest on arrears. We also could not pull the actual dollar amounts at the bottom of the support schedule. Ask the clerk of your district court or run the state's own estimator.
Compare all fifty states
The overnight thresholds, the ending ages and the college rules, side by side.