Child support in Utah.
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 stateUtah
Utah combines both parents' monthly adjusted gross incomes, finds the base combined obligation on a statutory table, and splits it by each parent's percentage of the combined income. Utah then adjusts for overnights on a sliding scale once a parent passes 110 nights a year, and treats work-related childcare and medical costs as separate obligations shared equally rather than folded into the base number.
How Utah works out the number
Authority: Utah Code Title 81, Chapter 6 (Child Support), effective September 1, 2024 — recodified from the former Title 78B, Chapter 12 (Utah Child Support Act). Key sections: § 81-6-202 (guidelines and deviation), § 81-6-203 (gross income and imputation), § 81-6-204 (base combined obligation), § 81-6-206 (joint physical custody).Yes, and the number is 110. Under § 81-6-206(4), for the parent with the lesser number of overnights the court multiplies "the number of overnights over 110 and under 131 for that parent by .0027" and "the number of overnights over 130 for that parent by .0084," applies each to the base combined obligation, and subtracts both from that parent's share. So overnight 111 starts helping, and overnights past 130 help roughly three times as much each. Under an equal parent-time schedule, the lower-earning parent's time "is considered 183 overnights, regardless of whether the parent receives 182 overnights or 183 overnights."
Use the state’s own calculator, not ours
Utah publishes this itself, free. It is called Child Support Obligation Worksheet, generated by the Office of Recovery Services child support calculator and filed with the court. 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 Utah calculator →What goes into the calculation
What counts as income
Section 81-6-203 counts "prospective income from any source, including earned and nonearned income sources," naming "salaries, wages, commissions, royalties, bonuses" and capital gains among others. Self-employment income is figured by "subtracting necessary expenses required for self-employment or business operation from gross receipts." Utah's distinctive rule is a cap on how hard the court can assume you work: income is generally based on "one full-time 40-hour job," but the court may count extra hours where a parent has "normally and consistently worked more than 40 hours" — so a second job or steady overtime that is a real pattern is in, while occasional extra shifts are not.
When a judge can treat you as earning more
Utah gates imputation procedurally. Under § 81-6-203(6), income may be imputed only if "the parent stipulates to the amount imputed, the parent defaults, or… a hearing is held and the court… enters findings of fact." The findings must rest on "employment opportunities… work history… occupation qualifications… educational attainment… literacy… age… health… criminal record" and "prevailing earnings and job availability." The floor is "federal minimum wage for a 40-hour work week." Imputation is prohibited where "reasonable costs of child care… approach or equal the amount of income the custodial parent can earn" or where the parent is "physically or mentally unable to earn minimum wage."
If you do not earn much
Utah publishes a separate low income table at § 81-6-305, which applies when combined adjusted gross income is $0 or when a parent's income falls below the lowest amount on the main table. There is a hard floor: in sole physical custody cases a base child support award "may not be less than $30" (§ 81-6-205(5)).
Childcare and health insurance
Both sit outside the base award and are shared equally, not by income percentage. Parents "share equally the reasonable work-related child care expenses" (§ 81-6-209(1)(a)). For medical, the court orders "each parent to share equally the out-of-pocket costs of the premium actually paid" (§ 81-6-208(3)(d)), and each parent must "equally share all reasonable and necessary uninsured and unreimbursed medical and dental expenses," including co-payments and deductibles (§ 81-6-208(3)(e)).
Private school, special needs, activities
Utah's code does not create a separate "extraordinary expenses" category. Medical and childcare are handled as their own statutory line obligations. Anything else — private school, activities, unusual needs — has to come in as a deviation under § 81-6-202, where the court weighs "standard of living," "relative wealth," "ability to earn" and the child's "needs."
When a judge can depart from the number
Section 81-6-202(2) makes the guidelines a "rebuttable presumption." Deviation is allowed if "complying with a provision of the child support guidelines… would be unjust, inappropriate, or not in the best interest of a child," and the court must then set support "after considering all relevant factors." An order counts as a deviation if it "includes a written finding that the order is a deviation" or the worksheet has "the box checked for a deviation."
Two things to know. Utah just moved its entire child support law: what used to be Title 78B, Chapter 12 became Title 81, Chapter 6 on September 1, 2024. If a form, article or older order cites 78B-12, it is not wrong, just renumbered — but make sure whoever is advising you is reading the current chapter. Second, the overnight math rewards persistence: every night above 110 lowers your number, and nights past 130 count roughly three times as much as nights between 111 and 130.
Later on
When it ends
Section 81-6-213(1)(a): emancipation occurs when the child "becomes 18 years old or graduates from high school during the child's normal and expected year of graduation, whichever occurs later," or when the child "dies, marries, or becomes a member of the armed forces."
College and support after 18
No general authority to order college support. Utah's emancipation rule ends the obligation at 18 or normal-year high school graduation, whichever is later. Parents can agree to share college costs and have that agreement made part of the decree.
Changing the amount later
Two tracks. Within three years of the order, you need a substantial change in circumstances — § 81-6-212(3)(c) gives "material changes… of 30% or more in the income of a parent" as an example — and the change must produce "a difference of 15% or more between the obligor's ordered support amount and the obligor's support amount" under the current guidelines. If no order has been issued or modified in the previous three years, § 81-6-212(5) allows adjustment on "a difference of 10% or more" so long as the existing order "does not deviate from the child support guidelines."
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
Utah orders include "provisions for income withholding as a means of collecting child support, in accordance with Title 26B, Chapter 9" (§ 81-6-202(10)(f)). Where no prior order exists, "the court or administrative agency shall determine and assess all arrearages based upon the child support guidelines" (§ 81-6-202(1)(b)).
What we could not confirm
- We could not confirm from the Utah Code itself the effective date of a modification — how far back a change reaches once you file — or Utah's published enforcement tools beyond income withholding, such as license suspension and interest on arrears. Ask the Office of Recovery Services or your attorney to confirm the effective date before you sign a stipulation.
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 Utah. Every figure is quoted from Utah’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.