Child support in Nevada.
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 stateNevada
Nevada looks primarily at the paying parent's gross monthly income and applies a percentage that steps down as income rises. Since February 2020 the percentages are tiered: a higher rate on the first slice of income, a lower rate on the next slice, and a lower rate still above that. The receiving parent's income is not part of the base calculation, though it can matter for adjustments and in joint physical custody cases.
How Nevada works out the number
Authority: Nevada Administrative Code chapter 425, adopted under NRS chapter 125B (NRS 125B.070 and 125B.080); regulation filed February 11, 2020In joint physical custody, NAC 425.115 requires an offset: each parent's obligation is calculated and "the child support obligations must be offset so that the party with the higher child support obligation pays the other party the difference." There is no published overnight count inside NAC 425 itself that triggers this; whether an arrangement counts as joint physical custody is decided under Nevada custody law.
Use the state’s own calculator, not ours
Nevada publishes this itself, free. It is called Child Support Worksheet, published by the Nevada Supreme Court self-help center; the Division of Welfare and Supportive Services publishes the Nevada Child Supp. 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 Nevada calculator →What goes into the calculation
What counts as income
NAC 425.025 defines gross monthly income to include "Salary and wages, including, without limitation, money earned from overtime pay if such overtime pay is substantial, consistent and can be accurately determined," plus investment income, Social Security benefits, pensions, workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, military allowances, undistributed business income and alimony received. Excluded: child support received, foster care payments, SNAP, SSI and most public assistance.
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
NAC 425.145 directs the court to use "a low-income schedule which is based on the current federal poverty guidelines" when the paying parent's economic circumstances limit their ability to pay. That schedule is published each year by the Administrative Office of the Courts by March 31.
Private school, special needs, activities
NAC 425.150 lets the court adjust the obligation for a range of factors, including "any special educational needs of the child," the obligor's responsibility to support others, the cost of transportation for visitation, the relative income of both households, and "other necessary expenses for the benefit of the child."
When a judge can depart from the number
NAC 425.150 lists the factors a court may use to adjust the guideline amount, including special education needs, responsibility to support others, the value of services contributed by either parent, public assistance, transportation costs for visitation, and the relative income of both households.
Two things surprise people. First, Nevada is a percentage state, so if you are the paying parent your ex's income mostly does not lower your number, which is the opposite of how most of these states work. Second, the tiers are steep at the bottom and gentle at the top: for one child it is 16% of the first $6,000 a month, then 8% of the next $4,000, then just 4% above $10,000. And Nevada lets a parent go back four years for support that was never ordered, which is a longer reach than most states.
Later on
When it ends
Under NRS 125B.200(2), a "minor child" is a person "under the age of 18 years" or "under the age of 19 years, if the person is enrolled in high school."
College and support after 18
Nevada's statutory definition of a minor child stops at 18, or 19 while enrolled in high school. We found no statutory authority for court-ordered college support.
Changing the amount later
NRS 125B.145(1) provides that an order must be reviewed "at least every 3 years" upon a request for review. NRS 125B.145(4) adds that "A change of 20 percent or more in the gross monthly income of a person who is subject to an order for the support of a child shall be deemed to constitute changed circumstances requiring a review."
How far back a change can reach
Where no order was in place, NRS 125B.030 allows a custodian to "recover not more than 4 years' support furnished before the bringing of the action," and NRS 125B.040(2) applies the same four-year limit to reimbursement from a non-supporting parent.
If someone stops paying
NRS 125B.140(2)(c) requires the court to determine "interest upon the arrearages at a rate established pursuant to NRS 99.040." Income withholding runs through NRS 125B.240 and chapter 31A of NRS.
What we could not confirm
- We could not confirm the current dollar amounts on Nevada's low-income schedule, the standard for imputing income to an unemployed or underemployed parent, or exactly how childcare and health insurance premiums are handled inside the guideline calculation. We also could not confirm the number of overnights that makes an arrangement joint physical custody in Nevada. The state's own guidelines calculator applies the current-year figures, and the Nevada Supreme Court self-help center publishes the worksheet.
Compare all fifty states
The overnight thresholds, the ending ages and the college rules, side by side.