South Carolina Child Support Calculator
This calculator runs the same worksheet a South Carolina family court uses to set guideline child support. Enter what you know, leave what you do not know at zero, and change one number at a time to see which line your case actually turns on. When you are done, print the worksheet and bring it with you.
Before you start
- Use gross monthly income, before taxes, for each parent. The most accurate source is the year-to-date gross on the last paystub of the year, divided by twelve. A W-2 understates it.
- Use the children’s share of the health premium only, not the whole family premium.
- Count every court-ordered overnight over a full year, including holidays, school breaks and summer, not just the regular weekly schedule. Holiday and vacation time can push the total past 110, and that changes the calculation.
- Nothing you type leaves your browser. No one at this firm sees what you enter.
South Carolina Child Support Worksheet Estimate
Prepared with the Sarji Law Firm calculator, sarjilawfirm.com, on . Built on the South Carolina Child Support Guidelines, 2024 Edition.
What was entered
Guideline child support estimate
$0 /month
Worksheet A
The worksheet
| Line | Father | Mother | Combined |
|---|
An estimate, not an order. Built on the Schedule of Basic Child Support Obligations in the South Carolina Child Support Guidelines, 2024 Edition, and the worksheets in S.C. Code Ann. Regs. 114-4710 through 114-4750. The schedule is read at the nearest $50 row. Under S.C. Code Ann. § 63-17-470 the guideline figure is a rebuttable presumption, and a family court judge may order a different amount on written findings. This calculator does not run Worksheet B, split custody, where each parent has primary custody of at least one child.
Nothing entered here is sent or stored. Using this calculator does not create an attorney-client relationship.
General information about South Carolina law, not legal advice. Sarji Law Firm, LLC, 174 East Bay Street, Suite 300A, Charleston, South Carolina. sarjilawfirm.com/contact
What this number can and cannot tell you
- It is the starting point. The guideline figure is what a judge begins from. It can be changed, but only on written findings explaining why.
- It is only as good as the income figures. Most disagreements about support are really disagreements about what someone earns. Bring paystubs and tax returns for both parents if you can.
- The overnight count matters more than people expect. From 110 overnights a year the shared custody calculation starts to phase in, and it applies in full at 128. Choose Shared and try 110, 120 and 128 to see how the number moves.
- It does not change an existing order by itself. Getting a different number today is not, on its own, a reason a court will modify a current order. A modification needs a substantial change in circumstances first.
The South Carolina Department of Social Services publishes its own calculator, and running your numbers there too is a good check. If the two disagree, one of your inputs is being read differently, and that is worth finding.
Turn the estimate into a number you can stand on.
A calculator does the arithmetic. It cannot tell you whether the income figures would hold up against the documents, or whether the schedule you are negotiating is quietly setting the support amount. An hour with an attorney can.
Contact Leslie’s office →Bring your printed worksheet. Confidential. Conflicts checked at no charge. Serving Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester counties.