New York Child Support Law (2026): How the Child Support Standards Act Sets the Number

New York child support is not left to a judge’s gut. It is set by a formula called the Child Support Standards Act, and for 2026 that formula applies fixed percentages to combined parental income up to $193,000. One child is 17 percent of combined parental income, two children is 25 percent, three is 29 percent, four is 31 percent, and five or more is no less than 35 percent.

Here is the part that catches people off guard. The percentage is applied to the parents’ combined income, then divided between them in proportion to what each earns, and the parent who does not have the children most of the time pays his or her share to the other. A parent who assumes child support is a small flat figure, or a number the other side gets to pick, is usually wrong on both counts.

This page covers how the basic child support obligation is calculated, what the 2026 income cap means, what counts as income, the add-on expenses that sit on top of the base number, and how long the obligation lasts in New York. The numbers here changed on March 1, 2026, so an older article you may have read is probably out of date.

How Does New York’s Child Support Standards Act Calculate the Basic Child Support Obligation in 2026?

It runs a set percentage against the parents’ combined income. The Family Court Act, § 413(1)(b)(3), sets the percentages:

(3) The following percentages: (i) seventeen percent of the combined parental income for one child; (ii) twenty-five percent of the combined parental income for two children; (iii) twenty-nine percent of the combined parental income for three children; (iv) thirty-one percent of the combined parental income for four children; and (v) no less than thirty-five percent of the combined parental income for five or more children.

The math runs in steps. First, each parent’s income is calculated and the two are added together to get combined parental income. Second, that combined figure is multiplied by the percentage for the number of children. Third, the result is split between the parents in proportion to their share of the combined income. The non-custodial parent, the one the children do not primarily live with, pays his or her share to the custodial parent. So if the father earns 60 percent of the combined income and the mother 40 percent, the father is responsible for 60 percent of the basic obligation.

What Is the Combined Parental Income Cap for New York Child Support in 2026?

It is $193,000 as of March 1, 2026. The statutory percentages apply automatically to combined parental income up to that cap. The cap is adjusted every two years to track inflation, which is why the figure you find in an older post may read $163,000 or $183,000. For 2026 it is $193,000.

Income above the cap is not ignored. For the portion of combined income over $193,000, the court has a choice. It can apply the same percentages to the income above the cap, it can decline to and instead weigh the statutory factors, or it can do a combination of the two. Our attorneys build the record on that excess income deliberately, because in a higher-earning family the dollars over the cap are often where the real dispute lives.

What Counts as Income When New York Calculates Child Support Under the CSSA?

More than just a paycheck. Income under the CSSA starts with gross income as it should have been reported on the most recent federal tax return, then adds categories a salary figure leaves out. It reaches wages, salary, and self-employment income, including money a self-employed parent runs through a business. It reaches investment and rental income, such as dividends, interest, and net income from property the parent owns. It reaches benefits and perks that reduce personal living expenses, including workers’ compensation, disability, unemployment, pensions and retirement income, and fringe benefits like a company car or housing. And it reaches money a parent intentionally leaves on the table, because a court can attribute income to a parent who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed or who is paid off the books.

A handful of deductions come back out, including FICA actually paid, New York City or Yonkers income tax, and spousal maintenance paid to the other parent under the order. Because a self-employed parent’s real income is rarely captured by a tax return alone, our attorneys often bring in the outside professionals we retain to trace business cash flow, and the statement of net worth each parent files under oath becomes the starting document for that work.

What Are the Child Support Add-On Expenses for Child Care, Health Insurance, and Education in New York?

They are costs the court splits on top of the basic obligation, in proportion to income. The basic child support number is not the whole picture. The CSSA treats several categories as add-ons, divided between the parents by the same income percentages used for the base figure. The add-ons that come up in almost every case are these:

• Child care: reasonable child care costs that let the custodial parent work or attend training toward employment.
• Health insurance and unreimbursed medical: the cost of covering the children and the out-of-pocket medical costs insurance does not pay.
• Educational expenses: the court may direct payment toward private school, special needs schooling, or college, depending on the family’s circumstances and history.

A parent who looks only at the base percentage and forgets the add-ons can underestimate the full obligation by a wide margin, especially where day care or private school is involved.

Until What Age Does a Parent Pay Child Support in New York?

Until the child turns 21. New York is one of the states where the obligation runs to 21, not 18, and parents who moved here from elsewhere are often surprised by it. A child can be emancipated earlier, which ends support before 21, through events such as the child becoming self-supporting, marrying, or entering full-time military service. Support can also be extended in narrow situations, and college costs can be litigated as an add-on. The default, though, is clear. In New York a parent supports a child until 21.

How a New York Child Support Order Gets Built From the Statement of Net Worth

The number is only as honest as the financial record behind it. Every contested support case in the matrimonial part or the Family Court runs through the statement of net worth, the sworn financial disclosure each parent files listing income, expenses, assets, and debts. From there the case moves through document demands for tax returns, pay records, and bank statements, and where a parent is self-employed or paid in cash, through deeper discovery and, where appropriate, the outside professionals we retain to reconstruct true income.

Our attorneys build that record from the first conference forward, because a support number set on incomplete or shaded financials follows a family for years. We prepare each file as if a judge will set the number after reading every page, and we push for a figure that reflects what the other parent actually earns.

Talk to Cedeño Law Group About Your New York Child Support Case

Child support in New York is a formula, but the inputs are a fight. Cedeño Law Group prepares every child support case as if a judge will read the whole file. Call our NYC child support lawyers to talk through your number before the other side sets it.

Updated 2026. This page reflects New York’s Child Support Standards Act, Domestic Relations Law § 240(1-b) and Family Court Act § 413, with the combined parental income cap of $193,000 in effect as of March 1, 2026. It is general information, not legal advice.

For more laws, visit our New York Divorce and Family Laws page.