The adjustment counts children the parent has an actual legal duty to support, not stepchildren and not children the parent voluntarily helps.

Medical support and dental support are ordered separately

Base child support does not include the child’s health coverage. Texas requires a separate medical support order and, since 2018, a separate dental support order.

If the obligor provides the coverage, the premium comes off net resources before the percentage is applied, which lowers base support. If the other parent provides it, the obligor is usually ordered to reimburse that cost on top of base support.

There is a ceiling. Under Section 154.181(e), health coverage is only reasonable in cost if it does not exceed nine percent of the obligor’s annual resources. Section 154.1815 sets the dental ceiling at 1.5 percent. Note that both are measured against annual resources under Section 154.062(b), which is the gross figure, not net resources.

Does 50/50 custody change child support in Texas?

Not by formula. Texas has no shared-parenting offset the way many states do. Even in a true week-on, week-off arrangement, one parent is designated the obligor and guideline support is calculated on that parent’s net resources alone.

What equal possession does is give you an argument. Section 154.123 lets a court order an amount other than the guideline when the guideline would be unjust or inappropriate, and the amount of time each parent has the child is one of the listed factors. Parents with similar incomes and equal time often negotiate a reduced or offset amount. That is a negotiated or litigated outcome, not something the statute hands you.

Two related questions come up constantly in equal-time cases: how to maximize parenting time in a joint custody agreement, and who claims the child on taxes with 50/50 custody in Texas.

When a court orders something other than the guideline amount

Guideline support is presumed to be in the child’s best interest. To rebut that presumption, a court weighs the seventeen factors in Section 154.123, including:

• The age and needs of the child
• The ability of the parents to contribute to support
• Child care expenses either parent needs in order to work
• The amount of time of possession and access
• Travel costs for exercising possession
• Extraordinary educational, health care, or other expenses
• Whether either parent has managing conservatorship of other children
• Provision for health care insurance and uninsured medical expenses
• Benefits a parent receives from an employer, such as a car or housing
• Debts assumed by either parent

When a court varies from the guideline, Section 154.130 requires written findings stating the net resources, the guideline amount, and the specific reasons for the variance.

How to change an existing child support order

A Texas order can be modified when circumstances have materially and substantially changed, or when it has been at least three years since the order was rendered or last modified and the guideline amount now differs from the current order by either 20 percent or $100. Job loss, a raise, a change in the number of children being supported, and a change in the child’s medical needs are all common grounds. We walk through the process in modifying child support orders in Texas, and our post-decree modifications practice handles the filing.

The 2025 cap increase from $9,200 to $11,700 is not by itself a change in circumstances, but for an above-cap earner whose order was set at the old maximum, it is worth a look alongside the three-year rule.

Falling behind is a separate problem with separate consequences. Before you stop paying or accept a handshake reduction, read what happens if you stop paying child support in Texas. If you are on the receiving end and the money is not going where it should, we cover your legal options when child support payments are being misused.

How this calculator differs from the Attorney General’s calculator

The Attorney General’s monthly child support calculator gives you a number, and it states plainly that it estimates support from a single source of income. This one gives you the number plus the arithmetic that produced it: gross resources, each statutory deduction, monthly net resources, whether the cap applied, which percentage schedule was used, and the citation for each step. It also handles the situations the OAG tool does not, including combined W-2 and self-employment income, the multiple household table, the low-income schedule, and parents exempt from Social Security.

It is still an estimate. A calculator takes the income you type in. A court decides what the income actually is, and in a contested case that is usually the whole fight. When you are ready to talk about your own numbers, request a consultation or call 512-375-4520.