Child support in Vermont.
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 stateVermont
Vermont starts from the idea that "children should receive the same proportion of parental income after separation or divorce of their parents as they would receive if their parents were living together in one household." It builds a total support obligation from both parents' available incomes, adds child care and extraordinary medical and education costs, then divides the whole thing "between the parents in proportion to their respective available incomes." Unusually, the guideline itself is a rule written by the Secretary of Human Services, not by the legislature or the courts.
How Vermont works out the number
Authority: 15 V.S.A. §§ 650–663; § 654 directs that "The Secretary of Human Services shall prescribe by rule a guideline for child support," reviewed "not less than once every four years"15 V.S.A. § 657, and Vermont is refreshingly direct about the unit of measure: "'Physical custody' means keeping the children overnight." At 30 percent or more of overnights the total obligation is increased by 50 percent to reflect the cost of running two households, allocated by income and custody share, and the two figures are offset. Between 25 and 29 percent a separate shared-costs table adopted by the Agency of Human Services applies, which also reflects the 50 percent increase. The payment cannot exceed what would have been ordered under the ordinary guideline.
Use the state’s own calculator, not ours
Vermont publishes this itself, free. It is called OCS Form 131A (sole and split custody) and OCS Form 131C (shared custody), plus a Self Employment Adjustment Worksheet — all published by the Vermont Office of . 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 Vermont calculator →What goes into the calculation
What counts as income
15 V.S.A. § 653 defines gross income as the "actual gross income of a parent" including "salaries, wages, commissions, royalties, bonuses, dividends, severance pay" and other sources, plus imputed income from nonproductive assets. Available income is gross income less spousal and child support obligations, health insurance costs, FICA (7.65 percent for employees, 15.3 percent for the self-employed) and calculated state and federal income taxes based on filing status. Self-employed parents use the state's Self Employment Adjustment Worksheet.
When a judge can treat you as earning more
15 V.S.A. § 653 includes the "potential income of a parent who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed," unless the parent is physically or mentally incapacitated, is attending job training, or the unemployment is in the child's interest.
If you do not earn much
The self-support reserve is defined in 15 V.S.A. § 653 as "120 percent of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services poverty guideline per year for a single individual," adjusted annually. The Office of Child Support publishes the current figure: effective February 2, 2026, "the Self Support Reserve is $1,596 per month." Under § 656(b), when a parent's income falls below the guideline minimums the court "shall require payment of a nominal support amount," and § 656(c) limits arrears collection where paying would push a parent below the reserve.
Childcare and health insurance
These are added into the total support obligation before it is divided. On the state's worksheet, line 7 is the guideline amount, line 7a is child care costs, line 7b is extraordinary medical expenses and line 7c is extraordinary educational expenses; the four are summed to get combined family expenditures. Health insurance premiums are also deducted from gross income in arriving at available income.
Private school, special needs, activities
Extraordinary medical expenses and extraordinary educational expenses have their own lines on the state worksheet and are added to the total obligation. 15 V.S.A. § 659 also lets a judge adjust for "the physical and emotional condition of the child," "the standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the marital relationship not been discontinued," and "extraordinary travel and other travel-related expenses incurred in exercising the right to parent-child contact."
When a judge can depart from the number
15 V.S.A. § 659: "If, after consideration of these factors, the court finds that application of the guidelines is unfair to the child or to any of the parties, the court may adjust the amount of child support." The statute lists ten considerations, ending with "Any other factors the court finds relevant."
Two Vermont quirks. The self-support reserve and the "presumed income" figure change mid-year and are no longer printed on the guidelines reference sheet — you have to check the Office of Child Support's calculator page for today's number. And you do not need a change in circumstances at all if your order is three years old: 15 V.S.A. § 660 lets a court skip that requirement, which makes a three-year check-in worth calendaring.
Later on
When it ends
15 V.S.A. § 658: "The court may order support to be continued until the child attains the age of majority or terminates secondary education, whichever is later."
College and support after 18
Vermont's statute extends support to the later of majority or the end of secondary education. We found no authority in the guideline statutes for a court to order college support over a parent's objection.
Changing the amount later
15 V.S.A. § 660(a)(1) requires "a showing of a real, substantial and unanticipated change of circumstances." Section 660(b) makes that automatic: an order "which varies more than ten percent from the amounts required to be paid under the support guideline, shall be considered a real, substantial, and unanticipated change of circumstances." A court may also waive the change requirement entirely if the order has not been modified for at least three years.
How far back a change can reach
A modification applies to "future support installments and installments which accrued subsequent to the date of notice of the motion to the other party or parties," with the filing date of the motion establishing when notice is deemed to have occurred.
What we could not confirm
- We could not confirm Vermont's official rules on license suspension, income withholding or interest on arrears from the sources we could read, and we could not confirm a fixed minimum order dollar amount — the statute says only that the court shall order a "nominal" amount when income is very low.
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 Vermont. Every figure is quoted from Vermont’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.