How is child support calculated in Indiana?

Indiana calculates child support using an Income Shares model under the Indiana Child Support Guidelines, adopted by the Indiana Supreme Court. This approach combines both parents’ incomes, determines each parent’s proportional share, and applies that share to a basic support obligation based largely on the parents’ combined income and the number of children, with adjustments for health-care costs, child-care expenses, and a credit reflecting the number of overnights each parent has with the child. The result is intended to approximate the share of income the child would have received had the family remained intact. Because the calculation depends on accurate income and parenting-time figures, getting those inputs right matters, and parents in mediation can work through them with a neutral to reach a support arrangement that is accurate and that both understand.