Setting Child Support Amounts The Child Support Standard provides guidelines to Wisconsin courts for setting amounts for child support and medical support. The Standard offers instructions for establishing equitable child support amounts. The Standard is based on the principle that whenever possible, both parents are responsible to support their children, whether they live together or not. The Child Support Standard considers: the time a child spends with each parent the parent's income or ability to earn an income whether a parent is supporting other children The shared placement calculation is the primary method for calculating a child support amount rather than a special circumstance. Learn more about estimating child support amounts The application of any combination of special circumstance to determine a child support amount if the criteria apply and the combination of provisions is not specifically prohibited. Special circumstance provisions are serial family, shared placement, split placement, low income, and high income. Income Used to Set Child Support Orders Below are some of the factors a court considers to determine how much income a payer has to pay support with: Gross Income Gross income is defined as all income and earnings from all sources. The income may or may not be taxable. Income can be in the form of money, property, or services. Gross income includes: wages, salaries, earnings, tips, interest, capital gains, commissions, and bonuses worker's compensation or other personal injury awards intended to replace income unemployment insurance income continuation benefits and Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) payments contributions to retirement and cafeteria plans and undistributed income of a corporation military allowances and veteran's disability benefits (gross income includes veteran’s disability compensation benefits and military allowances, including basic allowances for subsistence and housing, but does not include variable housing market costs for service member’s duty location.) Gross income does not include: child support public assistance payments, such as W-2 cash payments or FoodShare payments Supplemental Security Income Ability to Earn The court can consider evidence of a parent's ability to earn based on: past earnings current physical and mental health history of child care responsibilities and periods of physical placement education and training local job market Income from Assets Income may be based on assets, such as: Life insurance Cash and deposit accounts Stocks and Bonds Business interests For more information, please see Administrative Rule DCF 150, Appendix B Questions Parents ask about Setting Child Support Why are the guidelines based on gross income and not net income? Gross income is a more accurate reflection of income. Net income may be manipulated through the use of exemptions and deductions. What is the Child Support Standard? The Child Support Standard provides guidelines to Wisconsin courts for setting child support and medical support. The guidelines are based on the parent's income, the time a child spends with each parent, and whether a parent is supporting other children. How were the guidelines in the Child Support Standard chosen? Wisconsin's guidelines are based on a study that shows the amount of income parents use to raise their children. The guidelines assume that when parents are living apart, both parents will continue to spend part of their income on their children. The guidelines are based on the principle that a child's standard of living should not be negatively affected because his or her parents are not living together. Do courts use the Child Support Standard when setting family support orders? Family support orders combine child support and spousal maintenance. The family support amount determined under the Child Support Standard should be increased by the amount necessary to provide a net family support payment, after taxes are paid, of at least the amount of the child support set by the guidelines. As of May 23, 2021, no new court orders for family support can be ordered by a court and parties cannot stipulate to a family support obligation, per 2021 Wisconsin Act 35. Family support orders made prior to May 23, 2021, are still modifiable under Wis. Stat. § 767.59, which now states, “family support payments under s. 767.531, 2019 stats." Family support orders made prior to May 23, 2021, are still modifiable under Wis. Stat. § 767.59, which now states, “family support payments under s. 767.531, 2019 stats.” Do courts have to use the guidelines in the Child Support Standard? A court may order a parent to pay more or less than the amounts set by the Child Support Standard if the court decides that the Child Support Standard would be unfair to the child or one of the parents. The court must note the reason for not using the guidelines.
