How Colorado calculates child support
Colorado uses the income shares model, set out in C.R.S. 14-10-115. The law was rewritten by House Bill 25-1159, and the new schedule, the parenting time table and the low-income rules apply to calculations made from March 1, 2026. The guideline amount is a rebuttable presumption: a court can depart from it when applying it would be unjust or inappropriate, and must explain why.
Adjusted gross income of each parent
The starting point is each parent's monthly gross income from almost any source: wages, tips, commissions, bonuses, self-employment profit, pensions, Social Security, unemployment and disability benefits, rents, interest and dividends (14-10-115(5)). Means-tested public assistance and child support received do not count. A parent who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed can be assigned potential income.
Gross income becomes adjusted gross income after subtracting court-ordered support actually paid for other children and maintenance paid, and adding maintenance received. Maintenance that is not tax-deductible is multiplied by 1.25 when the parents' combined income is $10,000 a month or less, and by 1.33 above that (14-10-115(3)(a)). There is also an adjustment for other children who live in a parent's home.
The basic obligation from the schedule
The parents' adjusted gross incomes are added, and the schedule in 14-10-115(7)(b) gives the basic obligation for that total and the number of children, in $50 steps from $50 to $40,000 a month. Between rows, the statute says the amount must be interpolated; the calculator draws a straight line between the two neighboring rows. At $40,000 the schedule shows $3,398 for one child and $4,992 for two. Above that, the judge decides, but the basic obligation cannot be lower than the top row. Each parent's share of the basic obligation is proportional to his or her share of combined income.
Parenting time
The old rule gave a shared-care adjustment only above 92 overnights a year. Since the 2026 change, "shared physical care" means at least one overnight a year with each parent, and the adjustment uses a parenting time table in 14-10-115(8)(h). Each parent's number of overnights gives a credit percentage, and that percentage of the total basic obligation is subtracted from the parent's share.
| Overnights a year | Credit |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0.00% |
| 52 | 5.27% |
| 73 | 8.87% |
| 92 | 13.19% |
| 110 | 18.41% |
| 146 | 32.32% |
| 182 | 49.75% |
| 182.5 | 50.00% |
The parents' overnights must add up to 365. When the children have different schedules, the overnights for each child are added and divided by the number of children; the same averaging applies when each parent has the majority of time with a different child. The table lists whole overnights plus a row for 182.5, exactly half the year. For an average with no row of its own, such as 100.4 or 182.4, the law does not say which row to use: the calculator uses the nearest row, counting the 182.5 row, and shows the result with the other row on either side too. A parent with shared time may never owe more than he or she would with no overnights.
Because the two parents' credits always add up to 100% of the basic obligation, one parent's credit is always larger than that parent's share. The calculator counts that parent's figure as zero, so that parent owes no basic support, and the other parent pays his or her share minus his or her own credit. The statute and the worksheet do not say this in so many words, and no official worked example settles it; subtracting the negative figure instead would double the basic support. Results with overnights on both sides carry this warning.
Low-income protections
These rules look at the adjusted gross income of the parent who pays (14-10-115(7)(a)):
- $650 a month or less: a minimum order of $10 a month, whatever the number of children. If shared parenting time brings the amount under $10, the lower amount applies.
- Above $650 and up to the self-support reserve: the basic obligation is reduced to $50, $70, $90, $110, $130, $150 a month for one to six or more children, and the total with expenses is capped at 10% of income.
- Above the self-support reserve: the reserve is subtracted from the paying parent's income and a percentage of what is left is taken: 80%, 85%, 89%, 92%, 94%, 95% for one to six or more children (14-10-115(7)(a)(V)(A)). That figure is then compared with two others. If it is less than the reduced amount above, the basic obligation is the reduced amount. If it is between the reduced amount and the schedule amount, the basic obligation is that figure. If it is equal to or more than the schedule amount, the schedule amount applies (14-10-115(7)(a)(V)(B) to (D)). So the percentage can lower the schedule amount but never takes the basic obligation under the reduced amount on its own. Up to 40 hours a week at the minimum wage ($2,627.73 a month in 2026), the total with expenses is capped at 20% of income (14-10-115(7)(a)(IV)).
Shared parenting time changes these rules in two ways. First, the reduced amount does not apply if shared parenting time already brings the paying parent's obligation below it; the lower guideline figure stands (14-10-115(7)(a)(III)(B)). Second, a parent with shared parenting time may never owe more than he or she would owe with no overnights (14-10-115(7)(a)(III)(B) and (C), and (7)(a)(IV)). The statute states the first rule for incomes up to the reserve; the calculator applies it the same way when the reduced amount comes in through the comparison above the reserve.
When the paying parent has overnights, the law does not say clearly whether the reduced amount and the reserve figure are compared with that parent's share before or after the parenting time credit, or with the total including expenses. The calculator compares them with the obligation after the credit and before expenses, and flags the result.
The self-support reserve is the state hourly minimum wage times 29 hours a week, times 50 weeks, divided by 12 (14-10-115(3)(g.5)). With the 2026 Colorado minimum wage of $15.16, that is $1,831.83 a month, and it changes whenever the minimum wage does.
Child care, insurance and extraordinary expenses
Work-related and education-related child care, net of the federal child care tax credit (14-10-115(9)), the part of the health insurance premium that covers the children (14-10-115(10)), ongoing extraordinary medical expenses and agreed or ordered extraordinary expenses such as private school or travel between homes (14-10-115(11)) are added up and divided by income shares. The parent who pays more than his or her share gets a credit. Uninsured extraordinary medical costs that are not part of the monthly amount are shared in proportion to income, with a deadline: the parent asking for reimbursement must give the other parent proof of the expense within a reasonable time, and unless there are extraordinary circumstances the claim is waived if the proof is not given by July 1 of the year after the year of the expense (14-10-115(10)(h)(II)). If the other parent neither pays nor agrees a payment arrangement within 49 days after receiving the reimbursement request, the parent owed can ask the court for a judgment; the motion states the amount of the expense, the amount sought and when and how reimbursement was requested.
When support ends
Child support usually ends when the youngest child turns 19, with exceptions for a child still in high school, a child with a disability, or a written agreement between the parents, for example to pay for college (14-10-115(13)).