Child support in North Carolina.
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 stateNorth Carolina
North Carolina combines both parents' adjusted gross incomes and reads a basic obligation off the state schedule for that income and number of children. Work-related childcare, health insurance premiums and certain extraordinary expenses get added on. Each parent owes the percentage that matches their share of the combined income, and which worksheet you use depends entirely on the custody schedule.
How North Carolina works out the number
Authority: North Carolina Child Support Guidelines effective January 1, 2023, prescribed by the Conference of Chief District Court Judges under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50-13.4(c1)Yes, and the trigger is 123 nights. Shared custody applies where the child lives "with each parent for at least 123 nights during the year," and at that point the combined obligation is "increased by 50% (multiplied by 1.5)" before being divided and offset. Below 123 nights for one parent, Worksheet A applies and no shared-custody credit is given.
Use the state’s own calculator, not ours
North Carolina publishes this itself, free. It is called Worksheet A (primary custody, AOC-CV-627), Worksheet B (joint or shared physical custody), Worksheet C (split custody). 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 North Carolina calculator →What goes into the calculation
What counts as income
Income includes "salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, severance pay, etc." and income from "ownership or operation of a business, partnership, or corporation." Where income is irregular, the guidelines let the court "average or prorate" it over a period of time, which is how bonuses, commissions, overtime and seasonal work are normally handled.
When a judge can treat you as earning more
North Carolina uses a bad-faith standard, which is stricter than many states. Potential income is used only where "a parent's voluntary unemployment or underemployment is the result of the parent's bad faith or deliberate suppression of income." The court must consider the "specific circumstances of the parent, including the presence of a young or physically or mentally disabled child."
If you do not earn much
The self-support reserve is "$1,133 per month," based on the "2022 federal poverty level for one person." For a paying parent whose adjusted gross income is below "$1,150" per month, the minimum order is "$50."
Childcare and health insurance
Work-related childcare costs are "added to the basic child support obligation and prorated" by each parent's income share. Health insurance premiums for the children are added and prorated the same way. A parent must provide coverage if it is "available at a cost to the parent that does not exceed five percent (5%) of the parent's gross income."
Private school, special needs, activities
The guidelines allow add-ons for "expenses related to special or private elementary or secondary schools" and "expenses for transporting the child between the parent's homes," both prorated by parental income.
When a judge can depart from the number
Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50-13.4(c) the guidelines are presumptive. A court may deviate if applying them would "not meet, or would exceed, the reasonable needs of the child" or would be "unjust or inappropriate," and a court that deviates must make written findings explaining the criteria that justify it.
The 123-night line is the number to know. It works out to roughly every other weekend plus one midweek overnight plus extended summer time, and crossing it moves you from Worksheet A to Worksheet B and can change the number substantially. The other surprise is how hard it is to have income imputed to you in North Carolina: unlike most states, a judge cannot just decide you should earn more, they have to find you suppressed your income in bad faith.
Later on
When it ends
Support generally ends at 18. If the child is still in primary or secondary school at 18, it continues until graduation, until the child stops attending regularly, until the child fails to make satisfactory academic progress, or until age 20, whichever comes first, unless the court orders otherwise. For students in cooperative innovative high school programs it continues through the fourth year of enrollment or age 18, whichever is later. Termination is automatic on graduation or at 20; no court order is needed. Arrears keep running until paid.
College and support after 18
North Carolina's statute provides only the high-school extension described above. There is no statutory authority for a court to order college support, though parents can bind themselves by agreement.
Changing the amount later
A difference of "15% or more" between the current order and the guideline amount is presumed to be a substantial change in circumstances once "three years" have passed since the order was entered or last modified.
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.
If someone stops paying
Immediate income withholding applies to child support orders initially entered on or after January 1, 1994, under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50-13.4(d1) and § 110-136.5(c1).
What we could not confirm
- We could not confirm from an official source how far back an initial North Carolina order can reach for support in the period before you filed, or what enforcement tools beyond income withholding the state uses. Ask your county child support office or the clerk of court.
Compare all fifty states
The overnight thresholds, the ending ages and the college rules, side by side.