Updated: June 2026
Minnesota child support is the money one parent pays the other to share the cost of raising their children after the parents separate or divorce. It’s important to keep in mind that both parents are financially responsible for their children, and Minnesota sets the amount with a formula called the income shares model that looks at both parents’ incomes together. Courts apply this formula in every case, whether you are paying support, receiving it, or working out an agreement.
This guide explains how child support is calculated in Minnesota, what it covers, how long it lasts, and how to change or enforce an order.
For years the assumption was that the father paid support to the mother, because the mother was presumed to be the custodial parent and the father the breadwinner. Those assumptions are not the way it works today . Today either parent can be the one who pays or the one who receives, and the amount turns on income and parenting time, not gender. Where one parent is the children’s primary home, the other parent usually pays support toward everyday expenses.
The court always has the final word on whether an amount is fair and reasonable. When parents reach their own agreement the court’s role is smaller, but a judge still reviews and approves the order. The goal is an amount high enough to support the child and still sustainable for the parent who pays.
Both parents have a legal duty to support their children, even if one parent has little or no parenting time. Child support is treated as a right that belongs to the child, not to either parent. That is why a parent cannot simply waive it, and why support is decided in essentially every divorce or custody case involving minor children.
Minnesota uses the income shares model. The idea is straightforward: the court estimates what the parents would have spent on the children if the family were still together, then divides that amount between the parents in proportion to their incomes. The parent with the larger share of the combined income pays the larger share of the support.
When parents have similar incomes and split parenting time close to equally, the payment can be small or, in some cases, nothing at all. In most families, though, one parent pays the other each month.
Minnesota child support is set by a guideline formula in Minnesota Statutes section 518A.35. The court combines both parents’ monthly gross incomes into a single figure, called Parental Income for Determining Child Support (PICS), then reads a basic support amount off a statutory table for the number of shared children. Each parent is then responsible for the share of that amount that matches their share of the combined income.
For example, if the parents’ combined income produces a basic support figure of $1,500 for two children, and one parent earns 60 percent of the combined income, that parent’s share is roughly $900 before any parenting-time adjustment. (NOTE this doesn’t that’s what you pay..just the PICS percentage!)
A complete Minnesota child support order has three parts that are added together:
– Basic support: the core amount for housing, food, clothing, transportation, and everyday needs
These two are base don the PICS percentage:
– Medical support: health and dental insurance premiums, plus a share of unreimbursed medical costs.
– Child care support: work-related or education-related child care, such as daycare or before- and after-school care.
Gross income includes income from nearly any source: wages, salary, self-employment, bonuses, commissions, Social Security or veterans benefits, pensions, and certain other payments. The court can also assign “potential income” to a parent who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed to dodge support.
For business owners and farmers it can be a little different, as they aren’t a W-2 Wage earner, the law does address and the income will be Gross income – Necessary Business Expensees=income for child support purposes. THis is not the same as what may be shown on a business owners tax records
If a parent is incarcerated and has no resources, the guideline generally does not impute income to them.
The court must consider several specific items when it runs the numbers, including:
– Each parent’s gross monthly income, and potential income where a parent is shown to be avoiding work.
– The number of joint children, and any special or extraordinary needs a child has.
– Existing court-ordered child support or spousal maintenance the parent already pays for other children or a former spouse.
– Government benefits paid to or for the child, including Social Security and certain veterans benefits paid because of a parent’s disability or retirement.
– The monthly cost of the child’s medical and dental coverage.
– Work-related or education-related child care costs.
– Parenting time, usually measured by the number of overnights each parent has across the year.
Parenting time changes the math. Minnesota Statutes section 518A.36 adjusts support based on how much time the child spends with each parent, measured in overnights and averaged over two years. Since a 2018 change in the law, the adjustment rises gradually with each additional overnight instead of jumping at fixed thresholds. In practice, the more overnights the paying parent has, the lower the basic support tends to be, though it rarely disappears unless both incomes and parenting time are close to equal.
The guideline amount is a rebuttable presumption, which means the court starts there but can order a different amount for a good reason. Under Minnesota Statutes section 518A.43, a judge may deviate when strict application of the formula would be unfair, for example when there is a large income gap between the parents, when a low-income parent needs enough left over to live on (a self-support reserve), or when a child has extraordinary needs. Parents can also agree to a different amount, but the court still has to approve it and will not approve a below-guideline figure without a sound reason.
For higher earners, the guideline table caps the combined income it uses at $20,000 per month. Above that level the presumed basic support stays the same as it is at $20,000 per month, although a court can order more if a child has a demonstrated need.
You can estimate a basic support amount with the state’s official tool, the Minnesota Child Support Guidelines Calculator. Treat the result as an estimate only, since the court applies the full law to your specific facts.
Basic support is meant for the essentials: shelter, food, clothing, and transportation, along with routine education and health needs. If a child has unusual or expensive needs, the amount can be adjusted to account for them.
Depending on the family’s circumstances and the children’s life before the separation, parents often negotiate support that also accounts for extras, such as:
– Travel to spend time with a parent who lives far away
– Summer camp and child care during school breaks
– Private school tuition
– Organized sports, music, and other activities
Spelling these items out in the order helps head off disputes later. A family law attorney can help you negotiate terms that fit your child’s actual needs.
In Minnesota, child support usually continues until the child turns 18, or until the child graduates from high school, whichever happens later. If your child turns 18 in the spring but is still in high school, support ordinarily continues through graduation. Support does not run past age 20 for a child who is still in secondary school.
There are important exceptions. Support can continue into adulthood when a child cannot support themselves because of a physical or mental condition. Parents can also agree to extend support, for example to help with college, even though a court generally cannot order college support on its own. Certain events end support early, including a child’s marriage or active-duty military enlistment.
Support does not stop on its own just because a child reaches the age limit, and it does not stop because your circumstances changed. Until the obligation actually ends or a court changes it, you have to keep paying. Payments are usually withheld directly from the paying parent’s paycheck. If you cannot pay what was ordered, do not simply stop. Ask the court to change the order, which the next section explains.
There are many legends, misconceptions and just plain wrong information out there about how Minnesota child support works.
If both parents have equal parenting time then no one pay child support. This is incorrect, parenting time does have a major impact on how much child support a person pays, but 50-50 does not mean no child support.
If you don’t get to see your child you don’t have to pay child support. Again, wrong information, while parenting time does indeed impact child support, not seeeing you child does not mean you don’t have to pay.
If you pay child support, you can make your ex give you recepits for all the money. Partially correct. receipts are important for daycare and for unreimbursed medical costs, but for basic support you just pay to him or her and no receipts are given.
If a person who owes child support they can quit working and the amount owed goes away. No, that’s undermployment and the law will go that person fairly aggresively.
A child support order can be changed when circumstances change substantially. Under Minnesota Statutes section 518A.39, the law presumes a substantial change exists when a fresh calculation under the current guidelines comes out at least 20 percent and at least $75 per month higher or lower than the existing order. Common reasons people seek a modification include:
– A significant rise or drop in either parent’s income
– A job loss or change in employment
– A meaningful change in parenting time
– A serious change in a child’s medical or dental needs
– The birth of another child
Either parent can ask for a modification by filing a motion. The court looks at current facts and decides case by case, always with the child’s best interests in mind. Because a change in parenting time can move the numbers, support and timeare often revisited together. Many Minnesota orders also include a cost-of-living adjustment that can raise support periodically without a full hearing.
A modification generally takes effect based on when you file, not when your circumstances changed, so it pays to act promptly. Waiting to file usually means you stay on the hook for the older, higher amount in the meantime.
A child support order is a court order, and a parent who ignores it can face serious enforcement. If the other parent falls behind, you do not have to chase the money on your own. Minnesota’s county child support offices and the courts have strong tools to compel payment, including:
Past-due support, called arrears, generally cannot be wiped out in bankruptcy and can accrue interest until it is paid. In southern Minnesota, county agencies such as the Blue Earth County County child support divisions can help establish paternity, locate a parent, and collect what is owed. If you are the parent who owes support and your situation has changed, the answer is to seek a modification, not to stop paying, because enforcement continues until a court changes the order.
Child support follows the same Minnesota statutes everywhere in the state, but cases are filed and heard in the local district court. Kohlmeyer Hagen handles child support across southern Minnesota from two offices. Our Mankato office serves Blue Earth County and the surrounding Fifth Judicial District, and our Rochester office serves Olmsted County and the Third Judicial District. We appear before these courts and work with the county child support offices regularly, so we know how local judges and agencies actually handle these matters.
Usually not on its own. A Minnesota court generally cannot order a parent to pay for college, because support ordinarily ends at 18 or high school graduation. Parents can agree to share college costs, and that agreement can be written into their order.
Often yes. Even with equal parenting time, the parent who earns more typically pays some support, because Minnesota bases the calculation on both incomes, not just on overnights. The payment is usually smaller than in a primary-custody arrangement.
You can agree, but the court has to approve it, and a judge will not rubber-stamp a zero or below-guideline amount without a sound reason. Because support belongs to the child, parents cannot privately waive it in a way that binds the court.
File for a modification as soon as you can. Support does not adjust automatically, and the change generally applies from your filing date forward. Until the court acts, the existing order stands and arrears can build up.
Usually yes. Most Minnesota orders are paid through automatic income withholding, so payments come directly from the paying parent’s wages in somethign called Automatic Income Withholding.
You can ask the court or your county child support office to enforce the order. The available tools include wage withholding, tax refund interception, liens, license suspension, credit reporting, and contempt of court.
