Child support in South Dakota.
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 Dakota
South Dakota works from NET income, not gross — an unusual choice. Each parent's gross income is reduced by taxes, FICA, retirement contributions up to 10%, unreimbursed business expenses and other support orders. The two net figures are combined, a statutory schedule gives the total obligation, and it is 'divided proportionately between the parents based upon their respective net incomes. The noncustodial parent's proportionate share establishes the amount of the child support order.'
How South Dakota works out the number
Authority: S.D. Codified Laws ch. 25-7, principally §§ 25-7-6.1 through 25-7-6.27 (the support obligation schedule is § 25-7-6.2)Two separate mechanisms. The abatement, § 25-7-6.14: 'If the child resides with the obligor six or more nights in a month pursuant to a custody order, the court may, if deemed appropriate under the circumstances, grant an abatement of not less than thirty-eight percent nor more than sixty-six percent of the basic child support obligation for the nights the child resides with the obligor.' The paying parent must show the increased non-duplicated costs they actually incur — routine clothing, extracurriculars, school supplies. The cross credit, § 25-7-6.27, requires a detailed shared parenting plan under which 'the child will reside no less than one hundred eighty nights per calendar year in each parent's home': the combined obligation is multiplied by 1.5, split by income share, each share is multiplied by the percentage of nights the child is with that parent, and the two are offset. No abatement may exceed the cross credit. Both presume the parenting time is actually exercised — and if it is not, 'either party may petition the court for a modification of the support order without showing any other change in circumstances.' If the paying parent does not exercise the extended time in a given year, 'the noncustodial parent is required to repay the abated amount of child support to the custodial parent.'
Use the state’s own calculator, not ours
South Dakota publishes this itself, free. It is called Child Support Obligation Worksheet, and the Shared Parenting Plan Cross Credit Child Support Obligation Worksheet, both published by the South Dakota Department. 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 South Dakota calculator →What goes into the calculation
What counts as income
Section 25-7-6.3 lists gross income as: compensation for personal services 'whether salary, wages, commissions, bonus, or otherwise designated'; self-employment income including gain, profit or loss from a business, farm or profession; pensions and retirement payments including Social Security, veteran's benefits, disability payments and insurance contracts; interest, dividends, rentals, royalties or other gain from investment of capital assets; gain or loss on the sale or conversion of capital assets; reemployment assistance or unemployment benefits; workers' compensation; and benefits in lieu of compensation including military pay allowances. Then the key sentence: 'Overtime wages, commissions, and bonuses may be excluded if the compensation is not a regular and recurring source of income for the parent.' Seasonal income is annualized to a monthly average. A second job is not called out separately — it is compensation for personal services, and the regular-and-recurring test is what matters.
When a judge can treat you as earning more
Section 25-7-6.26 lets a court impute income when a parent does not produce sufficient proof of income, has unknown employment status, is underemployed, or is unemployed. 'The income amount imputed may not be less than the current state minimum wage multiplied by one thousand eight hundred twenty hours.' The court may consider age, criminal record, education, experience, health, occupational skills and local employment opportunities, and may base the number on past income, Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, or job advertisements. Two exclusions: 'No income may be imputed to a parent who has been sentenced to serve a term of incarceration or confinement of more than one hundred eighty days, or to a parent who is physically or mentally disabled to the extent that the parent cannot earn income.' Separately, § 25-7-6.4 presumes every parent is 'capable of being employed and earning an annual gross income of not less than one thousand eight hundred twenty hours multiplied by the current state minimum wage.'
If you do not earn much
Section 25-7-6.2: 'The emboldened areas of the schedule include a self-support reserve of eight hundred seventy-one dollars per month that accounts for the subsistence needs of the obligated parent with a limited ability to pay. If the obligation using only the noncustodial parent's monthly net income is an obligation within the emboldened areas of the schedule, that amount must be compared to the noncustodial parent's proportionate share using both parents' monthly net incomes. The lesser amount establishes the noncustodial parent's child support order.' The schedule's bottom row (0 to $950 net monthly) is $79 for any number of children. Separately, § 25-7-6.10(2) presumes financial hardship where the total obligation including health insurance and child care 'exceeds fifty percent of the obligor's monthly net income.'
Childcare and health insurance
Medical support: § 25-7-6.16 requires an order addressing how the child's health care needs will be met, including insurance if it is accessible and available at reasonable cost. 'Medical insurance is considered reasonable in cost if the cost attributable to the child is equal to or less than eight percent of the parent's net income.' The cost attributable to the child is the cost of adding the child, a child-only policy, or the family premium divided by the number of people enrolled — and that cost 'must be apportioned between the parents on the basis of income.' Uninsured medical, optometric, dental, orthodontic or counseling costs above $250 per child per year are apportioned in proportion to each parent's support obligation, and 'The parent that has primary physical custody of the child is responsible for the first two hundred fifty dollars of health care costs each calendar year.' Child care: § 25-7-6.18 lets the court allocate reasonable child care costs due to employment, job search, or training or education needed to get a job or raise earning potential; if the federal child care tax credit is available to the custodial parent, 'it shall be calculated at twenty-five percent of the eligible expense.'
Private school, special needs, activities
Handled as deviation grounds under § 25-7-6.10, which lists 'Any necessary education or health care special needs of the child' and 'The effect of agreements between the parents regarding extra forms of support for the direct benefit of the child.' Private school and extracurriculars are not named in the statute. Travel costs can be allocated by the court under § 25-7-6.15.
When a judge can depart from the number
Section 25-7-6.10: 'Deviation from the schedule in § 25-7-6.2 must be considered if raised by either party and made only upon the entry of specific findings' based on one of seven listed factors — a subsequent spouse's income or a third party's contribution (but only if the schedule works a financial hardship), any financial condition making the schedule inequitable (with the 50%-of-net-income hardship presumption), necessary education or health care special needs, the effect of agreements about extra forms of support, an obligation to support subsequent or step-children (but an existing order 'may not be modified solely for this reason'), a voluntary and unreasonable act causing unemployment or underemployment, or the federal tax consequences of claiming the child as a dependent.
Two things are distinctive. First, South Dakota runs on net income, so the same paycheck produces a very different starting number than it would in a gross-income state, and pretax retirement contributions up to 10% of gross actually reduce your support. Second, the abatement for extra nights is not automatic and it is not free: you must document the extra non-duplicated costs you really incur, and if you do not exercise the time you promised, you have to pay the abated money back to the other parent. Ask about the abatement early — six nights a month is enough to qualify.
Later on
When it ends
S.D. Codified Laws § 25-5-18.1: parents must support the child 'until the child attains the age of eighteen, or until the child attains the age of nineteen if the child is a full-time student in a secondary school.'
College and support after 18
We could not confirm whether a court here can order support for college.
Changing the amount later
Section 25-7A-22, for orders entered or modified after July 1, 1997: 'The order may be modified upon showing a substantial change in circumstances if the petition is filed within three years of the date of the order; or The order may be modified without showing any change in circumstances if the petition is filed after three years of the date of the order.' Separately, § 25-7-6.13 provides that all orders entered and in effect before July 1, 2026 may be modified without showing any change in circumstances at all. If an adjustment would exceed 25%, § 25-7-6.17 lets the court phase it in over time.
How far back a change can reach
Section 25-7-7.3: 'Any previously ordered support payments that have become due, whether paid or unpaid, are not subject to modification by a court or administrative entity of this state, except those accruing in any period in which there is pending a petition for modification of the support obligation, but only from the date that notice of hearing of the petition has been given.' Note that the clock runs from the notice of hearing, not from the filing. There is a narrow exception in § 25-7-6.19: if the paying parent actually had primary physical custody for more than four consecutive months by agreement or court order, the court may credit arrears that built up during that time.
What we could not confirm
- We could not confirm from an official South Dakota source whether a court can order support past 19 or for college (the statute stops at 18, or 19 if the child is still in secondary school), or South Dakota's official enforcement tools such as license suspension and interest on arrears. The Department of Social Services Division of Child Support can answer both. Also note that several of these statutes were amended in the 2026 session, so if you are working from an older printout it may be out of date.
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 South Dakota. Every figure is quoted from South Dakota’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.