Child support is the provision of a Utah divorce decree that parents argue about most and understand least. Payors are convinced the number is arbitrary and too high. Recipients are convinced it does not come close to what a child actually costs. Both are usually surprised to learn that Utah judges have very little discretion over the base figure. The amount comes from a statutory formula, and once the inputs are set, the output is largely mechanical.
Understanding that formula matters whether you are negotiating an uncontested divorce, deciding whether to seek a modification, or trying to figure out whether the number in your existing decree was ever right. This guide walks through the Utah child support guidelines in Title 81, Chapter 6 of the Utah Code, step by step.
The Big Picture: Utah Uses an “Income Shares” Model
Utah, like most states, calculates child support on the theory that a child should receive the same share of parental income after divorce that the child would have received if the parents had stayed together. The formula combines both parents’ incomes, looks up what an intact household at that combined income would spend on that number of children, and then divides that figure between the parents in proportion to their incomes. The parent with less parenting time typically pays their share to the other parent.
Under Utah Code § 81-6-202(2), the guidelines are a rebuttable presumption. The court must apply them unless it makes a written finding that the guideline amount would be “unjust, inappropriate, or not in the best interest of a child.” Orders that depart from the formula are called deviated orders, and they are the exception. Even parents who agree on a different number need to understand the guideline figure, because under § 81-6-202(9) a stipulated amount is only adequate if it equals or exceeds the guideline award.
Step One: Determine Each Parent’s Gross Monthly Income
Everything starts with income, and Utah defines it broadly. Under § 81-6-203(2), gross income includes prospective income from earned and unearned sources: salaries, wages, commissions, royalties, bonuses, rents, gifts from anyone, prizes, dividends, severance pay, pensions, interest, trust income, alimony from a previous marriage, annuities, capital gains, Social Security benefits, workers’ compensation, unemployment compensation, disability insurance benefits, Social Security Disability Insurance, and payments from non-means-tested government programs.
Several rules refine that list.
Earned income is capped at one full-time job. Under § 81-6-203(2)(b), income from earned sources is limited to the equivalent of a single 40-hour-per-week job. Overtime and second jobs generally do not count, with one exception: if a parent “normally and consistently” worked more than 40 hours before the original support order, the court may treat that as a pattern.
Self-employment income is gross receipts minus necessary business expenses. Under § 81-6-203(4), the court may deduct only expenses “necessary to allow the business to operate at a reasonable level.” That figure can, and often does, differ from taxable business income. Depreciation, vehicle write-offs, and home office deductions that are perfectly legitimate on a tax return are frequently added back for child support purposes.
Means-tested benefits are excluded. Under § 81-6-203(7), cash assistance under the Family Employment Program, housing subsidies, Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid, SNAP, General Assistance, and similar benefits are not income. Neither is the child’s own earned income.
Income is averaged. Under § 81-6-203(5), the court calculates each parent’s annual gross income and divides by twelve. Seasonal workers and commissioned salespeople are not measured by their best or worst month.
Each parent must verify income under § 81-6-203(1) with year-to-date pay stubs or employer statements and complete tax returns for at least the most recent year. Department of Workforce Services records can substitute.
Imputed Income: When the Court Assigns Income a Parent Is Not Earning
A parent cannot avoid child support by quitting a job or staying underemployed. Under § 81-6-203(6), the court may impute income, meaning it treats the parent as earning what they reasonably could earn. Imputation requires either the parent’s stipulation, a default, or a hearing with findings. The court bases the imputed figure on employment potential and probable earnings, considering employment opportunities, work history, occupational qualifications, education, literacy, age, health, criminal record, other employment barriers, and prevailing earnings for similar people in the community. If a parent has no recent work history or an unknown occupation, the default is the federal minimum wage for a 40-hour week. Anything higher or lower requires specific findings.
The statute also protects parents in certain situations. Under § 81-6-203(6)(e), the court may not impute income where child care costs for the parties’ child would approach or equal what the custodial parent could earn, where a parent is physically or mentally unable to earn minimum wage, where a parent is in occupational training to establish basic job skills, or where a child’s unusual needs require the custodial parent at home, so long as the condition is not temporary.
Step Two: Adjust Each Parent’s Income
Under § 81-6-204(1), before the incomes are combined, each parent’s gross monthly income is reduced by any alimony previously ordered and actually paid and by any child support previously ordered for other children. Under § 81-6-204(3), alimony being ordered in the current case is not subtracted. Under § 81-6-202(7), a parent who supports other children living in their home who are not children of this relationship may, at their option, have a separate worksheet prepared for those children and that amount subtracted from their income as well. The result is each parent’s adjusted gross income.
Step Three: Combine the Incomes and Find the Table Amount
The two adjusted incomes are added together, and the combined figure is located in the base combined child support obligation table along with the number of children the parents share. The table produces a single dollar figure: the total amount both parents together are expected to devote to the children each month. Under § 81-6-204(9), that figure is for all of the children combined, not per child, and under § 81-6-204(7) the table runs up to six children.
Two edge cases come up. If the combined income is below the lowest table entry, the base combined obligation is $0 under § 81-6-204(4), and a separate low income table takes over. If the combined income exceeds the top of the table, § 81-6-204(8) directs the court to set “an appropriate and just amount” case by case, but never less than the highest table amount for that number of children. There is no ceiling on child support in Utah.
Step Four: Divide the Obligation According to Custody
How the combined obligation is split depends on the physical custody arrangement, and this is where the number of overnights becomes critical.
Sole Physical Custody
Under § 81-6-205, each parent’s share is their percentage of the combined income multiplied by the table amount. The noncustodial parent pays their share to the custodial parent. The custodial parent’s share is presumed to be spent directly on the child. For illustration only, if Parent A earns $6,000 per month and Parent B earns $4,000, Parent A’s percentage is 60%. If the table amount for two children at $10,000 combined income were $1,500, Parent A as noncustodial parent would owe $900 per month. (The $1,500 figure is a placeholder to show the math, not a table value.) A sole custody award may never be less than $30 per month under § 81-6-205(5). Where a parent’s income falls within the low income table, the court uses the lesser of the standard calculation and the low income table amount.
Joint Physical Custody
Utah defines joint physical custody in § 81-9-101 as an arrangement in which the child stays overnight with each parent for more than 30% of the year, which works out to 111 or more overnights, and both parents contribute to the child’s expenses in addition to child support. When that threshold is met, § 81-6-206 applies a formula that reduces the paying parent’s obligation as their overnights increase. Each parent’s share of the combined obligation is calculated exactly as in a sole custody case. Then, for the parent with fewer overnights, the court subtracts a credit: the number of overnights between 111 and 130 is multiplied by 0.0027, the number of overnights above 130 is multiplied by 0.0084, and each product is multiplied by the combined obligation and subtracted from that parent’s share.
The practical effect is that the credit is small in the 111 to 130 overnight range and grows much faster above 130. That is why disputes over a handful of overnights per year are more consequential than they appear. Under § 81-6-206(6), if the credit is large enough to push the lower-overnight parent’s obligation below zero, the roles flip and the parent with more overnights becomes the payor. Under § 81-6-206(7), when parents follow the equal parent-time schedule in § 81-9-305, the lower-earning parent is treated as having 183 overnights regardless of how the calendar falls.
Split Physical Custody
When each parent has sole custody of at least one child, § 81-6-207 calculates each parent’s obligation for the children living with the other parent and offsets them, so that only the net difference changes hands.
Step Five: Add Medical, Child Care, and Other Required Provisions
The base award is only part of the support order. Under § 81-6-202(10), every Utah child support order must also address the following items, and a decree that omits them will be rejected.
Health insurance and medical expenses. Under § 81-6-208, the parents must provide health insurance for the child if it is available at a reasonable cost, must share equally the out-of-pocket cost of the child’s portion of the premium, and must share equally all reasonable and necessary uninsured medical and dental expenses, including co-pays, coinsurance, and deductibles. The order must designate which plan is primary if the child is covered by both. These are in addition to the base award, not part of it.
Work-related child care. Under § 81-6-209, the parents share equally the reasonable work-related child care expenses. For orders entered or modified on or after January 1, 2027, the statute will also require the obligor to pay a “minimal child care award” unless the obligor’s support is calculated using the low income table.
The tax exemption. Under § 81-6-210, the order must state which parent may claim the child for tax purposes and under what conditions.
Income withholding. The order must provide for income withholding under Title 26B, Chapter 9 of the Utah Code, which is how the Office of Recovery Services collects support directly from a payor’s wages.
The right to seek adjustment. The order must notify the parties of the modification and three-year review procedures in § 81-6-212.
Extended Parent-Time Reductions
In sole custody cases, § 81-6-211 reduces the per-child base award by 50% for any period in which the child is with the noncustodial parent for at least 25 of 30 consecutive days, and by 25% for at least 12 of 30 consecutive days, when that time is by court order or written agreement. Normal weekend and holiday parent-time does not count. This abatement does not apply to joint custody cases, where the overnight formula already accounts for the time. In cases handled by the Office of Recovery Services, the noncustodial parent must document the extended parent-time in writing to receive the credit.
When the Court Deviates From the Guidelines
Under § 81-6-202(3), the court can depart from the guideline figure only with written findings that applying them would be unjust, inappropriate, or not in the child’s best interest. If it deviates, § 81-6-202(6) requires it to consider the standard of living and situation of the parties, their relative wealth and income, each parent’s ability to earn, the needs of the child and both parents, the ages of the parties, and each parent’s responsibility to support others. Under § 81-6-202(5), if the amount in the order differs from the worksheet by $10 or more, the order is treated as deviated, which among other things disables the automatic step-down when a child emancipates. Deviated orders are also harder to modify later, because the court cannot simply rerun the worksheet.
Why the Worksheet in Your Decree Matters Years Later
A child support worksheet is not just a calculation. It is the record of the incomes and overnights the court relied on, and it drives what happens later. When a child emancipates, § 81-6-213 automatically adjusts the base award for the remaining children using the incomes on the worksheet, with no new court order needed, but only if those incomes were specified and the order was not deviated. When a parent seeks a modification, the 15% and 10% thresholds in § 81-6-212 are measured against the worksheet figure. And when a parent falls behind and the other parent needs to enforce the order, the worksheet establishes exactly what was owed each month.
Decree Help prepares Utah child support worksheets and support orders as part of every divorce and modification package we handle, and a licensed Utah attorney reviews every calculation before it is filed. If you suspect the number in your existing decree was calculated on the wrong income, the wrong custody arrangement, or the wrong number of overnights, a review is the first step toward fixing it.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is there an official Utah child support calculator?
Yes. The Utah Courts publish an online child support calculator that applies the current tables. It produces reliable results only if the income and overnight inputs are correct, which is where most disputes arise.
Does overtime count as income for Utah child support?
Generally not. Under § 81-6-203(2)(b), earned income is limited to the equivalent of one 40-hour-per-week job, unless the parent consistently worked more than 40 hours before the original order.
How many overnights do I need for joint custody child support in Utah?
Joint physical custody requires the child to stay overnight with each parent more than 30% of the year, which is 111 or more overnights. The overnight credit under § 81-6-206 begins at 111 and increases substantially above 130.
Can parents agree to no child support in Utah?
Not without court approval. A stipulated amount must equal or exceed the guideline figure under § 81-6-202(9), or the court must make written findings supporting a deviation. Child support is the child’s right, not the parents’.
Who pays for the child’s medical bills under a Utah support order?
Under § 81-6-208, the parents share equally the child’s portion of the insurance premium and all reasonable uninsured medical and dental expenses, in addition to the base child support award.
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The information in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every case is unique and results depend on specific facts and circumstances. No attorney-client relationship is created by reading this article. Decree Help is a DBA of Law Offices of S. Mark Barnes PLLC. Statutory citations are to the Utah Code as amended through the 2026 General Session. Dollar figures used to illustrate the formula are hypothetical and are not values from the Utah child support tables.