Child support in South 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 stateSouth Carolina
South Carolina uses "The Income Shares Model," which figures the share of parental income that would have been spent on the children in an intact household and divides it between the parents in proportion to their gross incomes. The guidelines are a regulation issued by the Department of Social Services, not a statute, and they are reissued every few years — the current one is the 2024 Edition.
How South Carolina works out the number
Authority: South Carolina Child Support Guidelines, codified at Article 47 of Chapter 114 of the South Carolina Code of Regulations, issued under S.C. Code §§ 43-5-580(b) and 63-17-470(D); 2024 EditionShared custody applies when "each parent has court-ordered visitation with the children overnight for more than 109 overnights each year (30%)." Between 109 and 128 overnights the support amount is graduated rather than jumping. Split custody — where each parent has physical custody of at least one child — is calculated separately for each household and then offset, with the parent owing more paying the difference.
There is a worksheet, but no calculator
South Carolina publishes The guidelines booklet includes worksheets for sole custody, shared custody and split custody cases 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
"Gross income includes income from any source including salaries, wages, commissions, royalties, bonuses, rents (less allowable business expenses), dividends, severance pay, pensions, interest, trust income, annuities, capital gains, Social Security benefits." Self-employment income is gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary business expenses, and the guidelines specifically disallow accelerated depreciation and investment tax credits taken for tax purposes. Means-tested public assistance (TANF, SSI), other household members' income, and in-kind income are excluded — except business reimbursements that reduce a parent's living expenses.
When a judge can treat you as earning more
The court may impute income when a parent is "voluntarily unemployed or underemployed," calculating support "based on a determination of potential income." It considers employment history, skills, education, health, criminal record, the local job market and the availability of employers.
If you do not earn much
The self-support reserve is "$1,010.50 per month." When combined income is below $750 per month, the minimum order is "no less than $100.00 per month."
Childcare and health insurance
Actual child care costs are added, then reduced for the federal and state tax credit. The adjustment is "the lesser of (1) Actual Credit from state and federal tax return OR (2) .27 of Actual Expenses OR (3) $68 for 1 child or $135 for 2 or more children." For health insurance, "the cost of the coverage should be added" with a credit to the parent paying it. The guidelines assume the parent receiving support pays up to $250 per year per child in uninsured medical expenses.
Private school, special needs, activities
"Reasonable and necessary unreimbursed medical expenses in excess of this $250 per child per year shall be divided in pro rata percentages based on the proportional share of combined monthly adjusted gross income." Medical expenses that recur regularly should be "incorporated into the monthly support calculation for concurrent payment as opposed to reimbursement" rather than chased down after the fact.
When a judge can depart from the number
S.C. Code § 63-17-470 makes the guideline figure a rebuttable presumption: "there is a rebuttable presumption that the amount of the award which would result from the application of the guidelines required under Section 43-5-580(b) is the correct amount of child support to be awarded." The guidelines add that "Deviation from the guidelines should be the exception rather than the rule. When the court deviates, it must make written findings that clearly state the nature and extent of the variation from the guidelines."
The 110th overnight is the number to know — shared custody only starts above 109 overnights a year, which is 30 percent. And South Carolina's license suspension rules bite fast: $500 in arrears or two months of nonpayment, then forty-five days to fix it or your license goes. That covers more than a driver's license.
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
S.C. Code § 63-17-325 provides that interest accrues on retroactive support obligations "based on the applicable interest rate for money decrees and judgments in this State established annually by the South Carolina Supreme Court."
If someone stops paying
Income withholding under S.C. Code § 63-17-1410 and following reaches "any periodic form of payment to an individual regardless of source including, but not limited to, wages, salary, commission, bonuses," and in Title IV-D cases it starts immediately, without waiting for arrears to build. Under §§ 63-17-1020 and 63-17-1030 a person is out of compliance once arrears exceed five hundred dollars or they have not paid in full for two consecutive months, and "the licensee's license must be revoked unless within forty-five days of receiving notice" they pay or reach a consent agreement. Interest on arrears runs at the rate the Supreme Court sets annually (§ 63-17-325).
What we could not confirm
- We could not confirm on an official South Carolina source when the support obligation ends (the age, and whether it continues through high school graduation), whether a court can order college support, or the standard for modifying an order. South Carolina also does not appear to publish a free public calculator — the worksheets are inside the guidelines booklet on the DSS website.
- 1 official page 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.