Child Support Lawyer NYC: Representing Parents in Family Court and Supreme Court

A child support lawyer in NYC works from a statutory formula. The Child Support Standards Act sets support at a fixed percentage of combined parental income, 17 percent for one child rising to 35 percent for five or more, applied up to a 2026 income cap of $193,000 and prorated between the parents.

The formula makes child support look mechanical, and for a salaried parent with a simple case it nearly is. The disputes arise everywhere the formula meets a real financial life: a parent paid in bonuses or distributions, a business owner whose reported income bears no relation to how they live, a shared parenting schedule that makes it unclear who is even the paying parent, and combined income above the cap where the court’s discretion takes over.

Cedeño Law Group, PLLC represents both paying and receiving parents in support matters in the Family Courts and Supreme Court matrimonial parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Founding partner Peter L. Cedeño has centered his practice on New York matrimonial and family law since 1994. This page is part of our NYC family law practice.

How Is Child Support Calculated in New York?

In three steps under FCA § 413 and DRL § 240(1-b). The court adds both parents’ incomes, multiplies the combined figure up to the statutory cap by the percentage for the number of children, and then prorates that basic obligation between the parents in proportion to their share of the combined income.

The statutory percentages are:

• One child: 17 percent of combined parental income.
• Two children: 25 percent.
• Three children: 29 percent.
• Four children: 31 percent.
• Five or more children: no less than 35 percent.

A worked example makes the proration clear. Two parents with a combined income of $150,000 and two children produce a basic obligation of $37,500, which is 25 percent. If the non-custodial parent earns $90,000 of that combined income, they are responsible for 60 percent of the obligation, or $22,500 a year. The full statutory framework is set out on our page covering New York child support law and the CSSA.

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

$193,000, effective March 1, 2026, statewide and in all five boroughs. The percentages apply automatically to combined parental income up to that figure. The cap rose from $183,000 and adjusts every two years, so any calculator or article showing the older number produces the wrong result.

Income above the cap is where the litigation happens. The court has discretion to apply the same percentage to the excess, to award an additional amount based on the statutory factors, or to do both. Nothing requires a judge to extend the percentage upward, and nothing prevents it either.

In a New York City case with a high earning parent, the above-cap decision is frequently worth more than everything below the cap combined. It is decided on the children’s actual standard of living, the disparity between the households, the children’s particular needs, and the non-monetary contributions each parent makes. Our NYC child support lawyers build that factor record deliberately, because a court asked to go above the cap needs evidence rather than a request.

Until What Age Does Child Support Run in New York?

Until the child turns 21. New York is among the states with the longest support obligation, and FCA § 413 sets the age at twenty-one rather than eighteen. Support does not end when a child graduates high school or enrolls in college.

The obligation can end sooner if a child is emancipated. Marriage, full-time military service, and economic independence through full-time employment while living away from both parents can all constitute emancipation, as can a child of employable age abandoning the custodial home and refusing parental authority. Emancipation is fact-specific and has to be established, not assumed.

Parents can also agree to extend support past 21, and many New York settlement agreements do exactly that to cover college years. An obligation that would otherwise expire at 21 becomes enforceable as a contract term. Our page on when child support ends in New York covers the age rule in detail.

What Add-On Expenses Are Ordered on Top of Basic Child Support?

Three main categories, prorated by income share. Beyond the basic obligation, FCA § 413(1)(c) directs the court to order contribution toward child care, health insurance and unreimbursed medical expenses, and in the court’s discretion, educational expenses.

The add-ons commonly ordered are:

• Child care: where the custodial parent works or attends school or training leading to employment. In New York City this is often the single largest add-on.
• Health insurance and cash medical support: the cost of covering the children, allocated between the parents.
• Unreimbursed medical expenses: co-pays, orthodontia, therapy, and anything insurance does not cover.
• Educational expenses: post-secondary, private, special, or enriched education, where the court finds it appropriate given the parents’ circumstances and the child’s needs.

Educational add-ons are discretionary rather than automatic, and private school tuition in New York City is contested more often than any other add-on. A history of private school enrollment during the marriage weighs heavily in favor of continuing it. Our page on New York child support add-on expenses addresses each category.

What If a Parent Cannot Afford the Guideline Amount?

The statute has a floor. Where the basic obligation would reduce the paying parent below the federal poverty guideline for a single person, support is set at $25 per month. Where it would reduce them below the self-support reserve, which is 135 percent of the poverty guideline and $21,546 for 2026, the order is $50 per month or the difference, whichever is greater.

These provisions protect subsistence, not lifestyle. A parent earning a modest but real income does not reach them, and arguing inability to pay from an income well above the reserve rarely succeeds.

Separately, a court may find the guideline amount unjust or inappropriate after weighing the statutory factors, including the financial resources of each parent and child, the physical and emotional health of the child, the standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the household remained intact, and the non-monetary contributions each parent makes. A deviation must be explained on the record, which makes it an evidentiary argument rather than a plea.

What Happens If a Parent Is Unemployed or Hiding Income?

The court can impute income. A New York court is not limited to what a parent reports. Where income is understated, unreported, or voluntarily reduced, the court may impute income based on earning capacity, prior employment, lifestyle, and money received from relatives or an employer.

Imputation is the answer to the self-employed parent whose tax return shows a fraction of what the family actually spent. Perquisites paid through a business, personal expenses run as business deductions, and cash income all get examined, and a lifestyle that plainly exceeds reported income is itself evidence.

Voluntary underemployment is treated the same way. A parent who leaves a well paid position for a lower paying one is generally held to their prior earning capacity unless the change was involuntary and they made diligent efforts to find comparable work. Where the numbers warrant it, our NYC child support attorneys retain forensic accountants to trace income and reconstruct actual earnings.

Does Child Support Change With 50/50 Custody in New York?

It does not eliminate support. In a shared arrangement, New York treats the parent with the higher income as the non-custodial parent for support purposes, so the higher earner generally pays even where the time is split evenly.

That surprises many parents who assume equal time means no support. The reasoning is that the children should not experience materially different standards of living between two homes, and the formula is the mechanism for narrowing that gap.

The parenting schedule and the support number are therefore connected, and neither should be negotiated in isolation. Our NYC child custody attorneys handle both together, because a schedule agreed without regard to its support consequences frequently produces a result one parent never anticipated.

Do Unmarried Parents Pay Child Support in New York?

Yes, once paternity is established. Support obligations do not depend on marriage. For an unmarried father, the threshold question is legal paternity, established by an acknowledgment of paternity or by an order of filiation after a Family Court proceeding.

Paternity works in both directions. It is what allows a mother to obtain a support order, and it is what allows a father to petition for custody and parenting time. A father who wants a relationship with his child needs the legal status regardless of what he is paying informally.

Our NYC paternity attorneys handle establishment and challenges to paternity, including cases where genetic testing is sought and cases where a man has been supporting a child he later learns is not biologically his.

How Do You Modify a New York Child Support Order?

On any of three grounds under FCA § 451. A New York court may modify support on a substantial change in circumstances, on the passage of three years since the order was entered or last adjusted, or on a change of fifteen percent or more in either party’s gross income.

The three-year and fifteen percent grounds are the practical workhorses, because neither requires proving a substantial change. Parents can opt out of both in a validly executed agreement, so what a settlement says about future modification matters as much as what it says about the current number.

A downward modification based on reduced income carries a condition. The statute permits it only where the reduction was involuntary and the parent made diligent attempts to secure employment commensurate with their education, ability, and experience. A parent who quit, or who has not looked seriously for work, does not meet it. Our page on modifying child support in New York covers all three grounds.

What Happens If a Parent Stops Paying Child Support in New York?

Non-payment is presumed willful. Under FCA § 454, failure to pay support as ordered constitutes prima facie evidence of a willful violation, which shifts the burden to the non-paying parent to explain the failure with credible evidence of inability to pay.

The court’s remedies include:

• A money judgment for the full amount of arrears, entered as of right.
• Income deduction taken directly from wages.
• Suspension of licenses, including driving, professional, and recreational licenses.
• Sequestration of assets and a required undertaking to secure future payments.
• Counsel fees, which the court must order on a finding of willfulness.
• Commitment to jail for up to six months where the violation is willful.

A parent facing a violation petition should not treat the presumption as unbeatable. Genuine job loss, disability, and incarceration are defenses when documented properly, and the difference between a defended and an undefended violation hearing is frequently the difference between a payment plan and a jail commitment. Our page on enforcing child support in New York covers the process from both sides.

How Do Our NYC Child Support Lawyers Handle These Cases?

By getting the income right first. Our NYC child support lawyers treat the income determination as the case, because every number downstream, the basic obligation, the add-ons, and the above-cap award, is calculated from a figure that the other side has every incentive to understate.

The work starts with the statement of net worth and the supporting documentation, tested against tax returns, bank and brokerage statements, business records, and the family’s actual spending. Where a business or professional practice is involved, a forensic accountant is engaged to identify perquisites and unreported income rather than accepting a Schedule C at face value.

From there the case is built for the specific relief in dispute: the above-cap argument, the add-on allocation, the imputation application, or the defense against one. Support is negotiated alongside the parenting schedule and the property division rather than separately, since each drives the others. Where the other side will not agree to a number the record supports, the case is tried on that record.

Why Choose Peter L. Cedeño as Your NYC Child Support Lawyer?

Three decades in New York matrimonial and family courts. Peter L. Cedeño was admitted in New York in 1994 and has centered his private practice on matrimonial and family law matters for more than 25 years.

Mr. Cedeño is a graduate of Pace University School of Law and is admitted in New York and in the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the New York State Bar Association, is an alumnus of the New York City Bar Matrimonial Law Committee, participates in the Matrimonial Forensic Inter-Disciplinary Forum, and lectures on divorce and family law issues for the New York State Bar Association. He began his career as an Assistant District Attorney in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office.

Contact a NYC Child Support Lawyer

A support order entered on the wrong income figure runs for years before anyone corrects it, and the three-year and fifteen percent modification grounds are cold comfort to a parent who agreed to a number they never should have.

Cedeño Law Group, PLLC is located at 111 Broadway, Suite 811, New York, NY 10006, and represents parents in support matters throughout New York City and the surrounding counties. Contact our NYC child support lawyers before you agree to a figure the other side proposes.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Updated 2026. This page reflects the New York Child Support Standards Act at Family Court Act § 413 and Domestic Relations Law § 240(1-b), with the combined parental income cap of $193,000 effective March 1, 2026, together with FCA § 451 and § 454. It is general information, not legal advice for any individual case or situation.