Child support in Maryland.
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 stateMaryland
Maryland adds both parents' adjusted actual incomes together, reads a basic child support obligation off the statutory schedule for that combined figure and the number of children, and divides it in proportion to each parent's income. Work-related child care, health insurance and extraordinary medical costs are added on top and split the same way. The schedule itself is printed in the statute.
How Maryland works out the number
Authority: Md. Code, Family Law §§ 12-201 through 12-204; the schedule of basic child support obligations is at § 12-204(e)Shared physical custody starts at more than 25 percent of the year — at least 92 overnights. Below that, Worksheet B says to "STOP HERE … Shared physical custody does not apply." When it does apply, the basic obligation is multiplied by 1.5 and then allocated by income share and overnight share, and the two figures are offset. Between 25 and 30 percent (92 to 109 overnights) a graduated adjustment applies, multiplying the theoretical obligation by a factor that steps down from 0.10 to 0.02 as the overnight percentage rises.
There is a worksheet, but no calculator
Maryland publishes CC-DR-034, "Worksheet A — Child Support Obligation: Primary Physical Custody" and CC-DR-035, "Worksheet B — Child Support Obligation: Shared Phys and expects you to work through it by hand. Anyone selling you a paid calculator for this state is selling you arithmetic the court already published.
What goes into the calculation
What counts as income
The statute works from "actual income" and "adjusted actual income," both defined in Family Law § 12-201. We could not read § 12-201 on the state legislature's website — see blocked — so we are not going to state what it says about overtime, bonuses, a second job or self-employment. Worksheet A shows the adjustments made to monthly actual income: subtract preexisting child support paid, subtract alimony actually paid, add or subtract alimony awarded in this case, and subtract a multifamily adjustment.
When a judge can treat you as earning more
We could not confirm how this state handles a parent a judge believes is under-earning on purpose.
If you do not earn much
The schedule in § 12-204 marks certain low-income entries with an asterisk, which indicates "a child support obligation adjusted by the self-support reserve." The schedule starts at the $0–$1,200 combined income level. Maryland's own 2022 guidelines review used a self-support reserve of $1,246 per month (110 percent of the federal poverty guideline for one person), but that was a review recommendation, not a figure we confirmed in the enacted statute.
Childcare and health insurance
"Actual child care expenses incurred on behalf of a child due to employment or job search" are added to the basic obligation and divided between the parents in proportion to their adjusted actual incomes. Health insurance costs and extraordinary medical expenses are added and divided the same way. Worksheet A also has a line for "cash medical support," which applies only in Title IV-D cases.
Private school, special needs, activities
"Expenses for attending a special or private elementary or secondary school" may be added to the basic obligation and divided between the parents in proportion to their adjusted actual incomes, as may extraordinary medical expenses and certain transportation expenses.
Two things worth knowing. The 92nd overnight is a real cliff in Maryland: at 91 overnights you use Worksheet A and shared custody does not apply at all; at 92 you switch to Worksheet B, the basic obligation is multiplied by 1.5, and the whole calculation changes. And Maryland's schedule now runs all the way up to $30,000 a month of combined adjusted actual income — above that the judge has discretion.
Later on
When it ends
We could not confirm the exact ending age and conditions on a state source. This is worth one phone call to the clerk.
College and support after 18
We could not confirm whether a court here can order support for college.
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
- The Maryland General Assembly's statute website would only serve us § 12-204 no matter which section we asked for, so we could not read § 12-201 (the definitions of income, potential income and voluntary impoverishment), § 12-202 (what a judge must find to depart from the guidelines), or § 12-104 (the modification standard and how far back a change can reach). We also could not confirm when Maryland support ends or whether the state publishes its own calculator. Ask the family law self-help resources at your circuit court, or a Maryland attorney, for those pieces.
- 3 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.
The rest of what we have written about Maryland. Every figure is quoted from Maryland’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.