2026 judicial rate: 7.50 percent
Louisiana Child Support Arrears Calculator 2026
Louisiana does not carve its interest rate into statute. The commissioner of financial institutions resets judicial interest every year, and for 2026 it is 7.50 percent. This page runs that rate on a past-due balance and explains exactly when it applies.
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Estimate a Louisiana arrears balance with interest
Estimated arrears with interest: $5,375.00
Interest of $375.00 at 7.5% simple per year (La. R.S. 13:4202; La. C.C.P. art. 3946).
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Arrears principalLa. R.S. 13:4202 (judicial interest: annual rate set by the commissioner of financial institutions) (Louisiana Legislature) | $5,000.00 |
| Simple interest at 7.5% per year for 12 month(s) (La. R.S. 13:4202; La. C.C.P. art. 3946)Louisiana judicial interest is reset every year by the commissioner of financial institutions (R.S. 13:4202(B)); 7.50% is the 2026 rate (2025: 8.25%, 2024: 8.75%), so a multi-year balance accrues at a different rate each year. The rate applies once past-due support is made executory by judgment (C.C.P. art. 3946); whether interest auto-accrues on each installment before a judgment is case-law dependent (official-confirmation-required), and DCFS does not charge interest administratively.La. R.S. 13:4202 (judicial interest: annual rate set by the commissioner of financial institutions) (Louisiana Legislature) | $375.00 |
| Arrears principal plus interestLa. R.S. 13:4202 (judicial interest: annual rate set by the commissioner of financial institutions) (Louisiana Legislature) | $5,375.00 |
Assumptions
- Accrual period expressed as 12 month(s); partial months prorate.
Estimate only. The court or state agency calculation controls.
Louisiana arrears interest under La. R.S. 13:4202; La. C.C.P. art. 3946; rules last reviewed 2026-08-07.
How arrears and interest work in Louisiana
When a Louisiana support order goes unpaid, each missed installment becomes past due on its date. The pile of unpaid installments is the arrearage, and the paid-up parent can ask the court to make it executory, a civil-law step under Code of Civil Procedure article 3946 that turns the past-due total into an enforceable money judgment.
Money judgments in Louisiana earn judicial interest, and the rate is unusual: instead of a number frozen in statute, R.S. 13:4202(B) tells the commissioner of financial institutions to set it each year from the Federal Reserve discount rate on the first business day of October, plus 3.25 points. The Office of Financial Institutions publishes the result annually.
For 2026 the published rate is 7.50 percent per year. It was 8.25 percent in 2025 and 8.75 percent in 2024, so a balance that has been sitting for several years accrued at a different rate in each of them, which is a real difference from fixed-rate states.
Two honest caveats. First, DCFS does not add interest to arrears administratively, so a state-enforced ledger will not show interest unless a court judgment carries it. Second, whether judicial interest runs automatically on each installment from its due date, before anything is made executory, depends on case law rather than a clean statutory answer, so this tool computes the judgment scenario and labels the other one unresolved.
- Interest rate
- 7.50% per year for 2026, reset annually by the commissionersource
- Rate mechanism
- Federal Reserve discount rate each October plus 3.25 points (R.S. 13:4202(B))source
- Recent rates
- 2024: 8.75%; 2025: 8.25%; 2026: 7.50%source
- What the rate attaches to
- Past-due support made executory by judgment; automatic pre-judgment accrual is case-law dependentsource
How to use this estimate
Enter the unpaid principal and the period it has gone unpaid. The tool applies 7.50 percent simple interest per year, the 2026 judicial rate, across that period.
Remember the rate resets every January. A balance carried across several years really accrued at each year’s published rate, so for a long span this single-rate figure drifts from the year-by-year truth. The OFI rate table linked in the sources lists every year if you need the exact history.
Treat the output as the judgment scenario: what the balance looks like after a court has made the past-due support executory and judicial interest has run for the period you entered. If no judgment exists, the interest column is a what-if, not a ledger entry, and a DCFS statement of account will not show it.
Partial payments, seizure credits, and the exact judgment date all change a real balance, and none of them live inside this simple model. The court record and the DCFS ledger control.
What this estimate includes
- The principal you enter, over one accrual period
- Simple interest at the 2026 judicial rate of 7.50 percent per year
- The made-executory framing that gives the rate a solid legal footing
What it leaves out
- Year-by-year rate changes across a multi-year balance
- Interest on installments never made executory, which case law leaves open
- Partial payments, credits, and payment-by-payment accrual
- Enforcement tools like license suspension, tax offset, or contempt
Louisiana arrears FAQs
What interest rate applies to Louisiana child support arrears?
Judicial interest, which for 2026 is 7.50 percent per year. Louisiana resets the rate annually under R.S. 13:4202(B): the commissioner of financial institutions takes the Federal Reserve discount rate from the first business day of October and adds 3.25 points. The rate attaches to past-due support that a court has made executory as a money judgment.
Why does the Louisiana rate change every year?
Because the legislature tied it to a market benchmark instead of writing a number into the statute. That is why the rate slid from 8.75 percent in 2024 to 8.25 percent in 2025 and 7.50 percent in 2026. Each year of a long-unpaid balance accrues at the rate published for that year.
Does Louisiana add interest to arrears automatically?
The state agency does not. DCFS enforces the unpaid support itself but does not tack interest onto its ledgers. Judicial interest becomes concrete when a court makes the past-due support executory under Code of Civil Procedure article 3946; whether it silently accrued on each installment before that point is a question Louisiana case law answers unevenly, so confirm with counsel before counting on it.
What does "making arrears executory" mean?
It is Louisiana civil-law language for converting missed support payments into an enforceable money judgment. The owed parent files a rule, the court verifies what is unpaid, and the resulting judgment can be collected like any other and carries judicial interest.
Can old missed payments be forgiven?
Not retroactively. A Louisiana court can modify support going forward from the filing of a rule to modify, but installments that already came due are owed. The practical fight is usually about proving the payment history, which is why the DCFS record or a payment ledger matters more than any calculator.
Is the interest simple or compounded?
Simple. Louisiana judicial interest is stated as an annual rate on the judgment amount, with no compounding rule. A $10,000 judgment at the 2026 rate earns $750 in a year; it does not earn interest on prior interest.
Official sources
Official sources last verified: .
- La. R.S. 13:4202 (judicial interest: annual rate set by the commissioner of financial institutions)
Louisiana Legislature Last checked
- OFI, Judicial Interest Rates (2026: 7.50%; 2025: 8.25%; 2024: 8.75%)
Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions Last checked
Reviewed by SupportDecode Editorial Team Page content reviewed Sources Methodology Update log
Changelog: page first published with the 2026 judicial rate of 7.50 percent and the made-executory accrual caveat. Material changes are dated in the update log.