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New Jersey child support: the weekly schedule, shared parenting, and a worked example

New Jersey thinks in weeks. Its guidelines, set out as appendices to the Rules of Court, put every figure on a weekly basis, and a new Schedule of Child Support Awards took effect September 1, 2025. Shared-parenting credits are available, but unlike many states they are never presumptive.

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At a glance

ModelIncome shares on combined net weekly income (Rules of Court, Appendix IX-A to IX-F)
ScheduleAppendix IX-F, effective September 1, 2025; $180 to $3,600 of combined net income a week
Weekly to monthlyMonthly amounts are divided by 4.3 to get weekly figures (Appendix IX-B)
Shared parentingPossible when the other parent has about two overnights a week (28%+); never presumptive
Self-support reserve150% of the poverty guideline for one person: $460 a week as of January 1, 2026
Support endsAutomatically at 19 unless continued (school, college, disability); never past 23
ModificationChanged circumstances (Lepis v. Lepis); new guidelines alone are not enough

Net weekly income and the IX-F schedule

Each parent's gross income from all sources, including taxable alimony received, is reduced by federal, state and local income taxes and Social Security and Medicare withholding, plus items such as mandatory union dues and mandatory retirement contributions. Support already paid under other orders and a credit for other dependents also come off. If a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, the court can impute income.

The two weekly net incomes are added and read on Appendix IX-F, whose awards are built from consumer expenditure data and adjusted for New Jersey's higher cost of living. The schedule figure is shared by income, then work-related child care, the child's health insurance cost and predictable unreimbursed health costs above $250 per child per year are added. The first $250 a year of a child's health costs is already built into the schedule.

The schedule averages costs over ages 0 to 17. If the first order is entered when a child is 12 or older, that order and every later order are raised by 14.6% to reflect teenagers' higher costs.

Worked example: New Jersey

  1. Parent A nets $1,380 a week and Parent B $920, so combined net income is $2,300 a week. New Jersey works in weekly amounts; a monthly figure is divided by 4.3 to get the weekly one.
  2. The September 2025 schedule lists $515 a week for two children at $2,300 combined ($457 for one child). Times 4.3, that is about $2,215 a month.
  3. Parent A's share of net income is 60%. If the children live with Parent B and Parent A has no regular overnights, Parent A pays about $309 a week, near $16,068 a year, before child care and insurance.
  4. If the order is first entered when a child is 12 or older, add 14.6%. CoreParent's calculator reads the official weekly schedule and self-support reserve but does not apply that age adjustment, and it estimates net income from gross pay, so confirm its New Jersey figure on the state's guideline worksheet.

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.

PAR Time and shared parenting

New Jersey calls the parent with most overnights the Parent of Primary Residence (PPR) and the other the Parent of Alternate Residence (PAR). The guidelines split child-rearing spending into 38% fixed costs like housing, 37% variable costs like food and transportation that follow the child, and 25% controlled costs like clothing that stay with the PPR. With ordinary PAR Time, the court may credit the PAR's share of variable costs for their overnights.

When the PAR has the substantial equivalent of two or more overnights a week (28% of the year), has separate accommodations for the child, and a parenting plan is filed, the shared-parenting worksheet can also credit fixed costs. With 120 overnights, Parent A's figure falls to about $195 a week; at an even split, about $135. The award is still discretionary, and it cannot be used if it would leave the primary household below twice the poverty guideline or unable to maintain the child.

The self-support reserve

After support is figured, the paying parent's net income minus the award is tested against 150% of the poverty guideline for one person, $460 a week as of January 1, 2026. If it falls below and the receiving parent is above that line, the order is reduced to the paying parent's net income minus $460. If both parents are below it, no reserve adjustment is made. For combined incomes under $180 a week, the court sets an award between $5 a week and the $180 row based on the obligor's income and the child's needs.

High incomes

The schedule stops at $3,600 of combined net income a week, $187,200 a year, and the guidelines warn not to extrapolate it. Above that, the $3,600 award is the minimum, and the court adds a discretionary amount based on the statutory factors in N.J.S.A. 2A:34-23.

College and support after 18

The schedule applies to children under 18 or still in high school. It is not used to set contributions to college costs or support for a student living away at college, because room, board and transportation are already inside the schedule amounts; a court may apply it to a student who commutes.

When support ends

Support ends by operation of law when a child marries, dies or enters military service, and at 19 unless an order sets a later date (never beyond 23) or the custodial parent asks in time to continue it because the child is still in high school, a full-time college student, or has a disability that began before 19. Probation sends notices before the termination date. When one of several children is emancipated, the order is recalculated, not cut proportionally.

Modifying an order

A court must first find that circumstances have changed since the order was entered, under Lepis v. Lepis. The adoption of revised guidelines, including the September 2025 schedule, is not by itself a basis for modification; a parent has to file a motion and show some other change.

Payments and enforcement

Orders are administered through the Probation Division of the Superior Court together with the state IV-D program, which runs the NJ Child Support website and an online QuickCalc estimator built on the court guidelines.

Documents you will need

New Jersey child support FAQ

How is child support calculated in New Jersey?

Convert both parents' net incomes to weekly amounts, add them, read the award in the Appendix IX-F schedule, add child care and health costs, and split the total by each parent's share of income. Shared-parenting and self-support adjustments come last.

Did New Jersey child support change in 2025?

Yes. A revised Schedule of Child Support Awards took effect September 1, 2025. The new schedule alone does not justify modifying an existing order; a separate change in circumstances is required.

How much is child support for 2 kids in New Jersey?

At $2,300 of combined net income a week, the schedule lists $515 a week for two children. A parent with 60% of that income owes about $309 a week before add-ons.

Does 50/50 custody end child support in New Jersey?

No. A shared-parenting award can still leave the higher earner paying; in our example an even split leaves about $135 a week, and the court decides whether a shared award is appropriate at all.

At what age does child support end in New Jersey?

19 by operation of law, unless continued for high school, full-time college or a disability, and never past 23.

Next steps

Sources

Verified against these official sources in October 2026:

Child support in every other state

All states

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