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Indiana child support: a weekly schedule and a credit for every overnight

Indiana thinks about child support by the week, not the month. Both parents' weekly incomes go into a schedule that the Indiana Supreme Court rebuilt for January 1, 2024, and the parent who pays gets a parenting time credit that starts at just 52 overnights a year.

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At a glance

ModelIncome shares on combined weekly adjusted income (Indiana Child Support Guidelines 1 and 3)
ScheduleWeekly Guideline Schedules, new amounts at every income level from January 1, 2024; rows in $10 steps from $100 to $9,200 combined a week
Parenting time creditTable PT, starting at 52 overnights a year and growing to equal time (181 to 183 overnights)
Health insurancePresumed available at reasonable cost; rebutted if the cheapest coverage costs more than 5% of combined gross income
Support endsAge 19, with exceptions for incapacity and for a child still in high school
ModificationSubstantial and continuing change, or an order at least 12 months old that is off the guideline amount by more than 20%
AgencyIndiana Department of Child Services, Child Support Bureau, working with county prosecutors' Title IV-D offices

How Indiana calculates child support

Each parent starts with weekly gross income, a broad figure that takes in wages, overtime, bonuses, commissions, self-employment profit, Social Security, unemployment and disability benefits, alimony received and more. Means-tested benefits such as TANF, SSI and SNAP are left out. A parent who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed without just cause can be assigned potential income based on work history, education, health and local jobs.

Four reductions turn gross income into weekly adjusted income: a multiplier credit for children born or adopted later (6.5% of gross income for one later child, 9.7% for two), court-ordered support for older children, support actually paid for older children with no order, and court-ordered maintenance. The two adjusted incomes are added and taken to the weekly schedule, rounding to the nearest row.

Work-related child care and the children's share of the health insurance premium are added to the schedule amount, and the total is split by each parent's percentage of combined income on the Child Support Obligation Worksheet. The parent who pays a child care bill or a premium gets credit for it on line 7, along with the parenting time credit. The 2024 schedule was rebuilt from newer data on what intact families spend on children, which raised amounts at every income level.

Worked example: Indiana

  1. Parent A has $1,300 a week in weekly adjusted income and Parent B has $700, for $2,000 combined.
  2. In the weekly Guideline Schedules, the $2,000 row lists $411 a week for two children. That is the basic child support obligation on line 4 of the worksheet.
  3. Parent A earns 65% of the combined income and Parent B 35%, so on line 6 Parent A's share of the obligation is $267 and Parent B's is $144.
  4. If Parent A had fewer than 52 overnights a year, no parenting time credit would apply and Parent A would pay $267 a week, before any child care or insurance adjustments.

This is an estimate, not legal advice. Figures are rounded to the dollar and leave out the insurance, childcare, and other adjustments your case may have. Try your own numbers in CoreParent's calculator, then confirm with the state's official calculator.

The parenting time credit: Table PT and equal time

Indiana gives the paying parent a credit for the costs that follow the children into that parent's home (food, most transportation) and for the household costs both homes duplicate (housing). Table PT sets both as fractions of the basic obligation, by overnights, from 52 a year up to 181 to 183. On the Parenting Time Credit Worksheet the credit is the basic obligation times the TOTAL fraction, minus the paying parent's income share of the basic obligation times the DUPLICATED fraction.

A parent following the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines without weeknight overnights has roughly 96 to 100 overnights. In the example, Parent A with 98 overnights (Parent B has 267) gets a credit of about $62, so the order drops to about $205 a week. At equal time the court decides which parent keeps the controlled expenses (clothing, school costs, personal care); the other parent takes the credit. With Parent B keeping those costs, Parent A pays about $122 a week.

The credit is not automatic. It is an advance credit for parenting time actually exercised: a court can reduce it when a parent skips scheduled time, and should not grant it where it would leave a parent unable to support the children.

Health insurance, uninsured care and child care

The court must order one or both parents to cover the children when insurance is accessible at reasonable cost, and coverage can be public (Medicaid, CHIP, Hoosier Healthwise) or private. Reasonable cost is presumed; a parent can rebut it by showing the cheapest option costs more than 5% of the parents' combined gross income. If coverage is not available at reasonable cost, the court orders cash medical support.

Since 2024 the old 6% rule is gone: the schedule no longer includes ordinary health costs, and parents share every uninsured expense by income from the first dollar. Documentation must reach the other parent within 30 days or the expense may not qualify. Reasonable child care needed for work or a job search is added on line 4A, figured as the annual cost divided by 52.

Low income: no minimum order

Indiana sets no minimum support amount. The schedule starts at $100 of combined weekly income, and below that support is decided case by case. For a parent with very low income, the court weighs income and living expenses so the order does not deny the parent self-support at a subsistence level. A numeric amount must be ordered, but a $0 order can be appropriate, and courts should not automatically assume minimum wage for a parent who cannot earn it.

Children from other relationships

Court-ordered support for children born earlier comes off weekly gross income, as does support actually paid for earlier-born children when no order exists (not for stepchildren). Later-born or adopted children are handled with a multiplier, from 6.5% of weekly gross income for one child up to 17.3% for eight, as long as the parent is actually supporting them.

Age 19 and changing an order

The duty to pay current support ends at 19. It can continue for an incapacitated child, or until graduation for a child still enrolled full time in high school if a parent files notice with the court between the child's 17th and 19th birthdays. A court can end support earlier for a child who marries, enters active military duty, or, at 18 or older, has been out of school for four months and is able to self-support. A petition for college expenses must be filed before the child turns 19.

Orders for two or more children are set as one total, so the amount does not drop on its own when the oldest turns 19; a parent has to ask for a modification. Modification requires a substantial and continuing change, or an order at least 12 months old that differs from the current guideline amount by more than 20%, and it reaches back only to the date the petition was filed.

Collection and enforcement

The Child Support Bureau of the Indiana Department of Child Services runs the state program with county prosecutors' Title IV-D offices, which establish and enforce orders and must review orders for families receiving TANF every three years. Payments go through the county clerk or the Indiana State Central Collection Unit when the order says so. The Indiana Judicial Branch hosts an online calculator for estimating weekly support.

Documents you will need

Indiana child support FAQ

Why is Indiana child support figured by the week?

The guidelines are built on weekly income: weekly gross income, weekly adjusted income and a weekly schedule. Child care is converted with 52 weeks a year. If you are comparing with a monthly figure from another state, convert carefully.

How is child support calculated in Indiana?

Find each parent's weekly adjusted income, add them, read the basic obligation from the weekly schedule, add work-related child care and the children's insurance premium, split the total by income share, then subtract the payer's credits, including the parenting time credit from Table PT.

How much is child support for 2 kids in Indiana?

At $2,000 of combined weekly adjusted income the schedule lists $411 a week for two children. A parent with 65% of the income would owe $267 a week before credits, or about $205 with 98 overnights a year.

Does 50/50 custody mean no child support in Indiana?

Not necessarily. Equal time is 181 to 183 overnights. The court assigns the controlled expenses to one parent and gives the other the parenting time credit, so the higher earner usually still pays something: about $122 a week in our example.

When does child support end in Indiana?

At 19, unless the child is incapacitated or is still a full-time high school student and a parent has filed the required notice, in which case support can run to graduation. Unpaid arrears stay owed after support ends.

Next steps

Sources

Verified against these official sources in October 2026:

Child support in every other state

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This is general educational information, not legal advice, and official figures change. Last verified: October 2026. Consult a licensed family-law attorney in Indiana.