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Updated for 2026 guidelines

The Maryland Child Support Cap: $30,000 a Month

Maryland’s schedule tops out at $30,000 a month in combined adjusted income. Past that line, the statute does not extrapolate, does not floor, and does not guess. It leaves the number to the judge.

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Maryland cap facts

Guideline model
Income shares on combined adjusted actual incomesource
Statute
Md. Code, Fam. Law Sec. 12-204source
Schedule ceiling
$30,000 a month, for cases filed on or after July 1, 2022source
Above the ceiling
No formula and no floor; left entirely to the court (Sec. 12-204(d))source
Prior ceiling
$15,000 a month, in effect from 2010 until the 2022 schedulesource
Full state calculator
Maryland child support calculatorsource

Why Maryland’s cap is a hard stop, not an estimate

Maryland uses an income shares model: the Fam. Law Sec. 12-204(e) schedule turns combined monthly adjusted actual income into a basic support obligation, and each parent pays their share based on their share of that income.

The schedule was extended from $15,000 to $30,000 a month combined by 2020 legislation, but a delay bill pushed the new table to cases filed on or after July 1, 2022. That $30,000 figure is the literal top row of the printed schedule.

What happens above $30,000 is where Maryland stands apart from every other state on this page. Sec. 12-204(d) says the amount above the schedule is up to the court, and the statute gives no formula, no percentage add-on, and no instruction to use the top-row number as a floor. Other states that cap their schedules still tell a court what to do next; Maryland’s statute simply stops.

That is also why this page’s above-cap worked example has no dollar figure. Building a calculator that invents a number Maryland law does not produce would be worse than useless, so this tool, and the real engine behind it, refuses instead of guessing.

At the ceiling: combined income of $30,000, 2 children

  1. Say each parent has $15,000 a month in adjusted actual income, for combined income of exactly $30,000, with 2 children, on the primary custody worksheet.
  2. At the $30,000 top row, the Sec. 12-204(e) schedule sets the basic obligation for 2 children at $4,596.
  3. Each parent earns half the combined income here, so the paying parent’s income share of the $4,596 basic obligation is 50 percent, or $2,298.00 a month.
  4. That is the last number the printed schedule produces. One more dollar of combined income and the schedule has nothing left to say.

The steps above follow the calculation method described on our methodology page.

Above the ceiling: combined income of $35,000, same 2 children

  1. Now say the paying parent’s income rises to $20,000 a month and the other parent still earns $15,000, for combined income of $35,000, past the $30,000 top row, still 2 children.
  2. This is where Maryland’s mechanic differs from every other state in this cluster. There is no schedule row to extrapolate to, no percentage of the excess to add, and no instruction in Sec. 12-204(d) to use the $30,000 row as a floor.
  3. The real Maryland engine behind this site’s calculator refuses to output a number for this scenario, and it says why: "Above that ceiling Sec. 12-204(d) leaves child support to the discretion of the court, with no statutory formula or floor."
  4. In practice, a Maryland court sets the number above $30,000 case by case, weighing the child’s needs and both parents’ resources with no schedule to anchor the figure. Anyone in this situation needs the actual worksheet and a lawyer or the court’s own guidance, not a formula, because the law does not provide one.

The steps above follow the calculation method described on our methodology page.

Maryland cap history

  1. Schedule updated to a $15,000 a month combined income ceiling.source
  2. 2020 legislation extending the schedule to $30,000 a month took effect for cases filed on or after this date, after a 2021 delay bill pushed back the original 2021-10-01 start.source

Maryland cap FAQs

What is the Maryland child support schedule ceiling in 2026?

The Fam. Law Sec. 12-204(e) schedule runs up to $30,000 a month in combined adjusted actual income. That figure applies to cases filed on or after July 1, 2022, after a legislative delay pushed back the schedule’s original October 2021 start date.

What happens to Maryland child support above $30,000 combined income?

There is no statutory formula. Sec. 12-204(d) leaves the amount entirely to the court’s discretion, with no percentage add-on and no instruction to use the top-row amount as a minimum. This is different from states like Colorado or Washington, which at least set a floor above their schedules.

Why won’t this calculator give me a number above $30,000 combined income?

Because Maryland law does not provide one. The schedule stops at $30,000, and the statute gives courts open discretion above that line with no formula to reproduce. A calculator that invented a figure would be guessing, not estimating, so this tool explains the mechanic instead of faking a result.

Is there any guidance for what a Maryland court considers above the cap?

The statute itself does not list above-cap factors the way it lists deviation factors for other decisions. In practice, courts look to the same general considerations that inform any deviation, the child’s actual needs and both parents’ resources, but there is no published formula or table to check the result against.

How much did the 2022 schedule change raise the Maryland cap?

The prior schedule, in effect since 2010, topped out at $15,000 a month combined income. The current schedule doubled that ceiling to $30,000, along with adding a higher self-support reserve and a 75 percent multifamily allowance for parents supporting other children.

Does the 92-overnight shared custody rule still apply above $30,000 combined income?

The shared physical custody threshold and its 1.5 multiplier are part of the same statute that stops at $30,000. Above that ceiling, the whole schedule-based worksheet, including the shared custody math, has nothing to compute from, since there is no schedule row to start from.

How to use the Maryland cap number

This page explains one mechanic: exactly where the Sec. 12-204(e) schedule stops, and why nothing replaces it above $30,000 combined income. For a full estimate under the schedule, including the shared custody worksheet, use the Maryland child support calculator linked below.

This tool computes a guideline number only up to $30,000 combined adjusted actual income. Above that line it does not estimate, since Maryland law gives no formula to estimate from; it explains the discretion a court exercises instead.

The self-support reserve baked into the low end of the schedule, and the shared custody rules for parents with at least 92 overnights a year, both stop applying the same way once combined income passes $30,000, because the schedule itself stops.

What this estimate includes

  • The exact statutory mechanic: no formula and no floor above $30,000 combined income
  • A worked example at the ceiling and an honest explanation of why there is no worked example above it
  • The 2020 schedule extension and its 2022 delayed effective date

What it leaves out

  • The shared physical custody worksheet and its 92-overnight threshold (use the Maryland calculator)
  • The self-support reserve baked into the low end of the schedule
  • Any invented number above $30,000 combined income; the statute provides none, and this tool will not guess one

Official sources

Official sources last verified: .

Reviewed by SupportDecode Editorial Team Page content reviewed Sources Methodology Update log

Changelog: page first published with the $30,000 a month in combined adjusted actual income cap. Material changes are dated in the update log.