Child Support Calculation Worksheet

PREPARATION GUIDE — NOT THE OFFICIAL WORKSHEET

RSA 458-C:3-a requires a completed Child Support Guidelines Worksheet published by
the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. Use the current-year
BCSS Child Support Guidelines, including Form DCSS s650 and the matching Guideline
Calculation Table, or the current court-approved equivalent. Transfer the reviewed
information below to that official form. Do not file this guide in its place.

New Hampshire Child Support Guidelines Preparation Guide

1. Current-source check

Calendar year of calculation: [________]

Current BCSS Guidelines booklet/table obtained: ☐ Yes ☐ No

Current official worksheet obtained: ☐ Yes ☐ No

For reference, the official booklet fetched for this verification is the 2026 Child
Support Guidelines. It contains Form DCSS s651 (2026 Guideline Calculation Table)
and Form DCSS s650 (Child Support Guidelines Worksheet). The 2026 table uses a
self-support reserve of $1,729 per month. Do not carry that annually adjusted figure
into another year without obtaining that year's official table.

2. Case and child information

Court: [________________________________]

Case name: [________________________________]

Case number: [________________________________]

Obligor: [________________________________]

Obligee: [________________________________]

Number of children used in the guideline table: [____]

3. Reasonable medical-support fields

RSA 458-C:3(V) creates a presumptive reasonable medical-support obligation of 4% of
each parent's gross income, unless the court makes the required finding that another
amount is just and appropriate under RSA 458-C:5.

Obligor monthly gross income × 4%: $[________________]

Obligee monthly gross income × 4%: $[________________]

Different amount requested, with supporting facts:

[____________________________________________________________]

4. Monthly gross income — RSA 458-C:2(IV)

Convert each included amount to a monthly figure using the current official worksheet's
conversion instructions.

Income items requiring a specific decision

☐ Public-assistance amounts excluded under RSA 458-C:2(IV) have not been included.

☐ Occasional or seasonal hourly wages for hours over 40 were reviewed under the
statute's overtime exclusion and were not automatically excluded.

☐ Voluntary unemployment or underemployment is alleged; state the earning-history and
capacity facts for the court's discretionary determination:

[____________________________________________________________]

☐ One-time or irregular income is identified for possible payment when received rather
than inclusion in the recurring calculation:

[____________________________________________________________]

5. Adjusted-gross-income deductions — RSA 458-C:2(I)

Do not enter actual federal income tax, FICA, or Medicare as party-specific deductions.
BCSS builds standardized federal and payroll-tax amounts into the current Guideline
Calculation Table.

Adjusted monthly gross income — Line 4 minus Line 5:

6. Current-table lookup and proportional allocation

Use the combined adjusted monthly gross income on Line 6 to select the exact row in the
current-year Guideline Calculation Table. Do not estimate a percentage from an older
table.

Guideline amount from current table — Line 7A: $[________________]

Guideline percentage from current table — Line 7B: [________]%

If the obligee incurs allowable child-care expenses or actually pays the medical-support
obligation for these children, enter those amounts in the designated obligee-expense
lines of the official worksheet. Do not simply add all child-care, insurance, or
uninsured-medical expenses pro rata outside the official formula.

Obligee allowable child-care expense: $[________________]

Obligee medical-support expense: $[________________]

Adjusted amounts and proportional shares from the official worksheet:

7. Ability-to-pay calculation

Use the current table's self-support reserve in the official worksheet. RSA 458-C:2(V)
sets the ordinary minimum support order at $50 per month, unless the court determines
that a lesser amount is appropriate in the particular circumstances.

Current-year self-support reserve: $[________________]

Obligor income available for support under official worksheet: $[________________]

Monthly support payable before frequency conversion: $[________________]

Presumptive support obligation, rounded to nearest whole dollar: $[________________]

Frequency: ☐ Weekly ☐ Bi-weekly ☐ Monthly

8. Presumption and requested adjustment

RSA 458-C:4 makes the guideline amount presumptively correct. A different amount
requires the court's written finding or specific on-record finding that applying the
guidelines would be unjust or inappropriate under RSA 458-C:5.

☐ No adjustment requested.

☐ Adjustment requested based on:

☐ Ongoing extraordinary medical, dental, or educational expenses, including a child's
special needs

☐ Significantly high or low income

☐ Economic consequences of stepparents, stepchildren, or other natural or adopted
children

☐ Reasonable expenses of the obligor's exercise of parenting responsibilities

☐ Disposition of the marital home for the child's benefit

☐ Federal tax consequences or allocation of child-related tax benefits

☐ State tax obligations

☐ Parenting schedule

☐ Voluntary or court-ordered postsecondary educational expenses for another natural or
adopted child

☐ Other special circumstances necessary to avoid an unreasonably low or confiscatory
order

Facts and evidence supporting the requested adjustment:

[____________________________________________________________]

The party relying on RSA 458-C:5 must demonstrate the special circumstances by a
preponderance of the evidence.

9. Shared or approximately equal parenting schedule

Under RSA 458-C:2:

• An approximately equal parenting schedule gives each parent more than 40% of the
  annual parenting schedule.

• A substantially shared parenting schedule gives each parent more than 35%.

• Incomes are substantially similar when the difference between the parents' gross
  monthly incomes is no greater than 10%.

Parent 1 annual parenting percentage: [________]%

Parent 2 annual parenting percentage: [________]%

Gross-monthly-income difference: [________]%

The specific parenting-schedule presumptions in RSA 458-C:5(I)(h) apply only after
checking the statute's expense-sharing premise, including each parent's 50% responsibility
for eligible child-care costs, uninsured medical expenses, and agreed extracurricular
activities.

☐ Substantially similar incomes + approximately equal schedule: evaluate the rebuttable
presumption that a $0 obligation is appropriate.

☐ Substantially similar incomes + substantially shared schedule: evaluate the rebuttable
presumption that a guideline deviation is appropriate.

☐ Incomes are not substantially similar and the schedule is neither approximately equal
nor substantially shared: the guideline calculation is presumptively appropriate.

☐ Incomes are not substantially similar but the schedule is approximately equal or
substantially shared: the guideline calculation may or may not be appropriate; address
the lower-earning parent's ability to meet child-rearing costs in a similar style.

☐ Extraordinary circumstances or evidence of abuse may make the parenting-schedule
presumption inapplicable; obtain case-specific review.

10. Duration and termination — RSA 461-A:14(IV)

Check the facts; the order remains controlling until a statutory termination event or a
new order applies.

☐ Child marries.

☐ Child becomes a member of the armed services.

☐ Child is emancipated by court order under RSA 461-B.

☐ Child reaches age 18 and is not a full-time student in a covered elementary,
secondary, charter-school, or qualifying home-education program.

☐ Child is still a covered full-time student at age 18; support continues until the
earlier of graduation or two months after the child reaches age 19.

☐ A child with disabilities may qualify for continued support, subject to the statutory
conditions and the age-21 limit in RSA 461-A:14(IV).

11. Modification screening — RSA 458-C:7

☐ Three years have passed since the last support order; either party may apply without
showing a substantial change of circumstances.

☐ A substantial change of circumstances supports an application at another time.

☐ The requested effective date is not earlier than the date statutory notice of the
modification petition was given to the respondent.

Last support-order date: [__/__/____]

Notice date for proposed modification: [__/__/____]

12. Transfer checklist

☐ Used the current-year BCSS table and official worksheet

☐ Converted all income and expenses to monthly amounts as the official instructions
direct

☐ Did not subtract actual federal tax, FICA, or Medicare outside the official table

☐ Entered child-care and medical-support expenses in the designated worksheet lines

☐ Applied the current self-support reserve and minimum-order rules

☐ Evaluated RSA 458-C:5 adjustment factors and shared-parenting presumptions

☐ Rounded the resulting support obligation to the nearest whole dollar

☐ Filed the required official worksheet for the hearing under RSA 458-C:3-a

Sources and References

• RSA chapter 458-C — Child Support Guidelines
• RSA 461-A:14 — Support duration and related requirements
• 2026 New Hampshire Child Support Guidelines — BCSS
• New Hampshire Judicial Branch — Child Support Guidelines Worksheet