Disclaimer

A short version of this disclaimer appears under every calculator on this site. This page spells out what each line means, because these points decide how you should use the numbers.

Estimates only. The court or state agency calculation controls.

Every result on this site is an estimate produced from published state rules. It is a starting point for understanding, not a final number. The calculation performed by a judge, a court clerk, or your state child support agency is the one with legal effect, and it can differ from ours: courts consider facts a calculator cannot know, and judges may deviate from guideline amounts when the guideline result would be unjust or inappropriate in a case.

Not legal advice

Nothing on this site is legal advice. We publish numbers, formulas, and citations to the official sources they come from. We never tell you what you should file, when you should act, or how a court will rule, because we cannot know your case. For advice about your situation, talk to a family law attorney licensed in your state, a legal aid office, or your state child support agency.

No attorney-client relationship

Using this site, running a calculator, printing a result, or emailing us does not make us your lawyer and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Nothing you send us is protected by attorney-client privilege, which is one reason we ask you not to send case details.

Not a lawyer referral service

SupportDecode is not a lawyer referral service and does not endorse or recommend any attorney. If the site ever carries clearly labeled advertising from attorneys in the future, an ad is an ad, not a recommendation.

Self-help notice

This site is a self-help resource. Representing yourself is allowed in family court in most places, but some states limit what self-help services may do, and some situations, like contested custody or interstate cases, are hard to handle without counsel. Using self-help tools is your choice and your responsibility.

California note: not certified for court use

California Rules of Court, rule 5.275 says that only child support software certified by the Judicial Council may be used in California courtrooms. This site's California calculator is not certified under that rule, and every California page says so. Our California pages also explain the current status of the state's own calculator, with sources.

We always link the official resource

Every state page on this site links to that state's official resources: the statute or court rule the formula comes from, the official guideline document, and the state's own calculator or worksheet where one exists. If our number and the official source ever disagree, trust the official source, and please tell us so we can fix it. The master list of everything we cite is on the sources page.

No government affiliation

SupportDecode is an independent publisher. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by any state or federal government agency, and nothing in its design or naming is meant to suggest otherwise.