By Child-Support.com Staff – Last updated
The Colorado Child Support Calculator provides a way for you to estimate the amount of child support you may be entitled to or obligated to pay. The worksheet takes into account the parents’ incomes, child care payments, education payments and health insurance premium payments as well as other factors. This is just an estimate. An actual court order may have a different amount depending on the unique circumstances of the couple involved.
How to Calculate
Step 1: Visit the ‘Calculating Payments’ page of the Colorado Office of Economic Security.
Step 2: Fill out the form as follows:
- If you are involved in a court action, enter the court information in the top two boxes.
- Enter the names and dates of birth of the children involved.
- Check the box indicating which parent has 273 or more overnights per year with the children
- Enter monthly gross income of the mother and father and add them together to get the combined gross income
- Enter the amount of spousal maintenance received and/or amount of maintenance paid, if any
- Enter child support ordered for other children
- Enter legal responsibility for children not of this relationship
- Enter amount of ordered education payments
Step 3: Calculate Monthly gross income for each parent and combined
Step 4: Enter percentage share of income (Each parent’s income divided by combined Income
Step 5: Enter the following:
- Basic combined obligation (Apply line 2 combined column to Child Support Schedule)
- Each parent’s share of basic support obligation (Each parent’s percentage from line 3 times combined obligation in 4)
Step 6: Enter Low-Income Adjustment (If paying parent’s income in line 2 is less than $1,900.00, see Low-income Worksheet)
Step 7: Make the following adjustments:
- Work-related Child Care Costs – Actual costs minus Federal Tax Credit
- Education-related Child Care Costs
- Health Insurance premium costs – Children’s portion only
(See page 2 for calculation worksheet) - Extraordinary Medical Expenses – Uninsured only
- Extraordinary Expenses – Agreed to by parents or by order of the Court
- Minus Extraordinary Adjustments
Step 8: Enter total adjustments
Step 9: Enter each parent’s fair share of adjustments (The total combinded adjustments times the percentage share of income for each parent.)
Step 10: Enter each parent’s share of total child support obligation (Add basic support obligation plus fair share adjustment)
Step 11: Enter paying parent’s adjustment
Step 12: Calculate recommended child support order by subtracting the paying parent’s adjustment from the paying parent’s share of total child support obligation.
