Kansas Child Support Laws: Guidelines and Schedule

Kansas sets child support with the Kansas Child Support Guidelines, which the Kansas Supreme Court adopts under K.S.A. 20-165 and every court must follow under K.S.A. 23-3002; they use an income-shares formula that starts from both parents' gross ("domestic gross") incomes. Support generally ends at 18, continues automatically until June 30 of the school year the child turns 18 if the child is still in high school, and can be extended on motion through the school year the child turns 19 in limited cases (K.S.A. 23-3001(b)).

This page covers Kansas state law. Federal rules and the exact terms of your own court order also govern a case; our guide to child support laws in every state explains the federal layer.

How Kansas Calculates Child Support (Kansas Child Support Guidelines, K.S.A. 20-165)

K.S.A. 20-165 says "The supreme court shall adopt rules establishing guidelines for the amount of child support to be ordered in any action in this state." K.S.A. 23-3002(a)(1) then tells every court setting support to "Follow the Kansas child support guidelines adopted by the supreme court pursuant to K.S.A. 20-165."

The guidelines are published on the Kansas courts' Child Support Guidelines page. They are an income-shares model: the schedules are derived from an economic model of what families spend on children, the schedule amount for both parents' combined income is found, and each parent owes a share in proportion to his or her income.

The figure on Line I.2 of the worksheet "is a rebuttable presumption of a reasonable child support order," and the party asking for a deviation or adjustment carries the burden of proof (Guidelines I.B.2). In plain terms, the worksheet runs like this:

1. Find each parent's domestic gross income, then adjust it for court-ordered support paid in other cases and spousal maintenance paid or received. The result is child support income.
2. Add the two parents' child support incomes and read the schedule for that combined amount, the number of children and each child's age group.
3. Divide the schedule amount by each parent's share of combined income.
4. Apply any adjustments the court finds appropriate, such as parenting time, and add health insurance premiums and work-related child care.

For an estimate with your own numbers, use the Kansas child support calculator. Only the order a court actually enters is binding.

Which schedule applies

Kansas's current schedules came in with the 2024 guidelines, adopted by Administrative Order 2024-RL-073 and effective August 1, 2024. Two 2025 orders revised the guideline text without changing the schedules: 2025-RL-037 (effective May 1, 2025) and Administrative Order 2025-RL-121, which took effect July 1, 2025, and revised sections on financial information, income computation and judgments.

The courts' guidelines page states: "Updated guidelines do not impact existing child support orders based on earlier guidelines." A newer version of the guidelines alone does not change an existing order; a parent has to ask for a modification.

The schedules have three age groups for each child: 0-5, 6-11 and 12-18. As an illustration of how age changes the number, the one-child schedule row for $5,000 of combined monthly income reads $808 for ages 0-5, $904 for ages 6-11 and $961 for ages 12-18. Your own figure depends on every line of the worksheet.

What counts as income

Kansas uses gross income. The guidelines call it domestic gross income, which is income from all sources, and they explain that "Federal and State taxes and Social Security are already considered within the child support schedules." Listed sources include wages, bonuses, military pay, disability and workers' compensation payments, and retirement distributions (Guidelines II.C.1.a). Public assistance and child support received for other children are not counted.

If a parent "is deliberately unemployed or under employed, although capable of working," the court "may impute income" (Guidelines II.B). With written findings, a court may find a parent able to earn at least the federal minimum wage for 40 hours a week. When a parent was fired for misconduct, the previous wage may be imputed, at no less than federal minimum wage.

Incarceration has its own rule: "Incarceration by itself may not be treated as voluntary unemployment for purposes of establishing or modifying child support" (Guidelines II.B.6). Other circumstances may still be considered.

Low incomes and high incomes

The guidelines build in an ability-to-pay check. "In calculating child support, the court must take into consideration the current federal poverty guidelines for a household of one" (Guidelines VI.G). The worksheet subtracts that poverty figure from a parent's child support income. If what remains is less than the support amount, the court sets the obligation based on the best interest of the child. The guidelines set no fixed minimum order.

When combined child support income is above the top of the schedule, the guidelines provide an extended formula, and the court "should exercise its discretion." Schedule amounts are presumptive; amounts from the extended formula are discretionary.

Health insurance, child care and other adjustments

Health insurance premiums for the children and work-related child care costs are added to the obligation and credited to the parent who pays them (Guidelines IV.I, IV.J). Child care is reduced by the anticipated tax credit. Unreimbursed medical costs are shared by each parent's percentage from Line D.3 (Guidelines I.H.1).

Other adjustments are discretionary. The parent without primary residency who has other children living with him or her may ask for a multiple-family adjustment, but not for children already covered by another support order (Guidelines IV.F). A cost-of-living adjustment can apply only when the parents live in different areas; it is not used when both live in Kansas or in the same metropolitan area (Guidelines IV.E).

If the court departs from the worksheet amount, it "must make written findings regarding deviations" and include the reason the deviation is in the child's best interest (Guidelines VI.A).

Parenting Time and the Kansas Support Number (Guidelines IV.H and VI)

Under Guidelines IV.H.2, "If the child spends 35% or more of the child's time with the parent not having primary residency, the court shall determine whether an adjustment in child support is appropriate." The time "at school or in day care shall not be considered." The guideline does not state this as a number of overnights.

If the court finds an adjustment appropriate, the guidelines' table supplies the percentage:

A separate adjustment for extended parenting time, 14 or more consecutive days, can reduce support by up to 50 percent.

Equal parenting time

Equal time has its own rules in Guidelines VI. First, the court must have decided that equal parenting time is in the children's best interest. To qualify, the parents must share the children's time on an equal basis and share the children's basic direct expenses. Parents who meet those conditions may be eligible for the shared expense formula or the direct expense formula. Equal-time parents without an agreed expense-sharing plan may agree to, or the court may order, the direct expense formula (Guidelines VI.C, VI.F).

The older Equal Parenting Time Formula is retired. The guidelines say establishment and modification of child support after their effective date "must not use the Equal Parenting Time Formula and Equal Parenting Time Worksheet" (Guidelines VI.F.1). How parenting time itself is decided is covered on our page on Kansas child custody laws.

When Does Child Support End in Kansas? (K.S.A. 23-3001)

Under K.S.A. 23-3001(b), a court may order support for a child under 18, "at which age the support shall terminate" unless one of three things applies:

1. Agreement. The parents agree, by written agreement approved by the court, to pay support past 18.
2. Still in high school at 18. Support "shall not terminate automatically, unless otherwise ordered by the court, until June 30 of the school year during which the child became 18 years of age if the child is still attending high school."
3. Still in high school after that June 30. On motion, the court "may order support to continue through the school year during which the child becomes 19 years of age so long as the child is a bona fide high school student and the parents jointly participated or knowingly acquiesced in the decision that delayed the child's completion of high school."

Kansas has no statute that makes a parent pay for college. Support for college happens only when the parents put it in a written agreement the court approves.

The three exceptions in 23-3001(b) do not mention an adult child with a disability. If your child has a disability expected to continue past 18, talk with a family lawyer about your options before the order's end date. Emancipation and its effect on support are covered on our page on Kansas emancipation laws.

How to Modify Child Support in Kansas (K.S.A. 23-3005, 10 Percent Rule)

Under K.S.A. 23-3005(a), a court may modify a support order, including one in a title IV-D case, "within three years of the date of the original order or a modification order, when a material change in circumstances is shown." After three years, "a material change in circumstance need not be shown."

The guidelines define the most common material changes. "A 10% change in the basic child support obligation on Line I.2 or a change in the child's age group constitutes a material change of circumstances" (Guidelines I.E). An age-group change happens when a child passes the 6th or 12th birthday.

The guidelines also list changes that are not, by themselves, material:

• Non-historical second-job or overtime income of the parent without primary residency.
• Irregular bonuses alone.
• An increase in the primary residential parent's income, as a basis for increasing support.
• Losing a job through misconduct or quitting voluntarily is not ordinarily a material change.

A modification motion must include a completed domestic relations affidavit and a proposed worksheet (K.S.A. 23-3002(c)).

How far back a change can reach

"The court may make a modification of child support retroactive to the first day of the month following the filing of the motion to modify" (K.S.A. 23-3005(b)). It cannot reach back before that. If your income drops, file promptly; support keeps coming due under the current order until a court changes it.

Parents with a case through Kansas Child Support Services can ask that office about a review. Federal rules also let parents in those cases request a review every three years.

What Happens If Child Support Is Not Paid in Kansas

Kansas Child Support Services (CSS), part of the Kansas Department for Children and Families, enforces support in cases it handles. Payments generally go through the state's central collection unit, the Kansas Payment Center, unless the court finds good cause for another arrangement (K.S.A. 23-3004); a written agreement for direct payment counts as good cause unless it is not in the child's best interest.

Interest and judgments that do not expire

"Child support becomes a judgment when it is due and goes unpaid" (Guidelines VII.A). Under K.S.A. 16-204(e)(3), "it shall be presumed that applying interest at the rate of 10% per annum will result in the correct total of interest accrued on any judgments ... arising from a person's duty to support another person." Anyone contesting that amount has the burden of proving a different total.

Under K.S.A. 60-2403(b), "no judgment for the support of a child shall be or become dormant for any purpose," except judgments that had already become void as of July 1, 2007. Past-due support can still be collected years later. The statute does have a real estate effect: such a judgment stops operating as a lien on real estate on the date it would otherwise have become dormant, though it is not released of record.

License suspension

Under K.S.A. 23-3120, a court, on motion, orders notice served on a professional licensing body when three conditions are met: the parent owes past-due support "equal to or greater than three months' child support," is or may be licensed in a profession, and has failed, after a reasonable opportunity, to comply with a payment plan. The licensing body must then notify the licensee within 30 days of its intent to suspend or withhold the license (K.S.A. 74-147(b)).

A parent who ignores a warrant or subpoena in a support case and has or may have an occupational, professional or driver's license faces sanctions the court "deems appropriate" until the parent complies (K.S.A. 23-3119). Federal law requires every state to have authority to suspend driver's, professional and recreational licenses for overdue support (42 U.S.C. 666(a)(16)).

Retirement accounts after a lost license or underemployment

Since July 1, 2025, K.S.A. 23-3002 reaches retirement accounts in a narrow situation: arrears that build up after a parent "has experienced a loss of income or termination from employment due to loss, revocation, suspension or surrender of a professional license because of professional misconduct or voluntary underemployment." In that case the court "shall, upon the occurrence of a distributable event as defined by the terms of the qualified plan, order the use of individual retirement plan accounts ... to pay the arrearage with a one-time lump-sum distribution." It is not a general collection tool for every past-due balance.

Federal tools

• Tax refund offset. Federal rules allow an offset when the past-due amount is at least $150 in a public-assistance case or $500 in another child support agency case (45 CFR 303.72).
• Passport denial. The U.S. State Department refuses passports to parents who owe more than $2,500 in child support (42 U.S.C. 652(k)).
• Wage garnishment limits. Federal law caps garnishment for support at 50 to 60 percent of disposable earnings, or 55 to 65 percent when arrears are more than 12 weeks old (15 U.S.C. 1673(b)).

Contempt and criminal nonsupport (K.S.A. 21-5606)

A court can enforce its order through contempt; Kansas's contempt procedure is in K.S.A. 20-1204a. Under K.S.A. 21-5606, criminal nonsupport includes "A parent's failure, neglect or refusal without lawful excuse to provide for the support and maintenance of the parent's child in necessitous circumstances," where a child means a child under 18. "Criminal nonsupport is a severity level 10, nonperson felony." The court may order periodic support payments and probation instead of, or in addition to, the penalty.

The prison range for a severity level 10 felony comes from Kansas's sentencing grid and depends on a person's criminal history. If you face a charge, talk with a criminal defense lawyer or ask the court about appointed counsel.

Paternity and Child Support in Kansas (K.S.A. 23-2209)

Under K.S.A. 23-2209(a), an action to establish a presumed father and child relationship may be brought at any time, and an action where paternity is not presumed may be brought until three years after the child reaches the age of majority.

A signed and witnessed voluntary acknowledgment of paternity is a legal finding of paternity. Since July 1, 2026, a signer may revoke it only within 60 days after signing or before any administrative or court proceeding about the child in which the signer is a party, such as a support case, whichever comes first. A signer who was under 18 at signing may challenge it until turning 19 (K.S.A. 23-2209(e), as amended by 2026 Senate Bill 408).

After those deadlines, an acknowledgment can be challenged only for fraud, duress or a material mistake of fact, and the request must be filed as soon as practicable after the person learns of it. Genetic test results with a verifiable chain of custody that exclude the signer count as a material mistake of fact. Support obligations from the acknowledgment are not suspended during the challenge except for good cause, and support paid before a revocation order cannot be recovered, although the court may award actual damages in exceptional circumstances.

Getting Help With a Kansas Child Support Case

• Kansas Child Support Services. The DCF Child Support Services page is where to start to apply for state child support services.
• The guidelines and worksheet. The Kansas courts' Child Support Guidelines page has the current guidelines and the orders adopting them.
• Your district court. Motions to set or modify support are filed in the district court that has your case. Many district courts publish self-help information for parents without a lawyer.
• Legal aid and lawyer referral. Parents with low incomes can contact a legal aid office, and a bar association lawyer referral service can connect you with a Kansas family lawyer.

Spousal maintenance is figured separately; see Kansas alimony laws. For the divorce process, see Kansas divorce laws.

Recent Changes in Kansas Child Support

• 2026 law (Senate Bill 408, L. 2026, ch. 88, effective July 1, 2026). It amended K.S.A. 23-2209 so a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity can be revoked only within 60 days after signing or before the first proceeding about the child in which the signer is a party, whichever comes first (until 19 for a signer who was under 18). After that, a challenge is allowed only for fraud, duress or material mistake of fact. These changes apply retroactively.
• 2025 law (L. 2025, ch. 112, effective July 1, 2025). It amended K.S.A. 20-165, 23-3001 and 23-3002. Courts may order support for an unborn child, calculated from the date of conception, but "The maximum amount of child support to be ordered for the support of an unborn child shall not exceed the direct medical and pregnancy-related expenses of the mother" and excludes costs of an elective abortion (K.S.A. 20-165(c)-(d)). The same law added the retirement-account rule for arrears after a lost professional license or voluntary underemployment (K.S.A. 23-3002).
• 2025 guideline revisions. Administrative Order 2025-RL-037 (effective May 1, 2025) revised language on the direct expense formula. Administrative Order 2025-RL-121 (effective July 1, 2025, filed October 3, 2025) revised the sections on financial information, income computation and judgments, including support for an unborn child. The schedules have not changed since August 1, 2024.
• Four-year review under way. The Kansas Supreme Court appoints an advisory committee to review the guidelines every four years. The committee's meetings were scheduled for August 28, September 25 and October 23, 2026. As of November 7, 2026, the Kansas courts' Child Support Guidelines page listed Administrative Order 2025-RL-121 as the current guidelines and showed no newly adopted guidelines or schedules.
• Federal. The federal office is again called the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), after being called the Office of Child Support Services from 2023 to 2025. A federal rule taking effect November 30, 2026 removes obsolete and duplicative child support regulations; it does not change how support is calculated or enforced.

More Kansas Laws

• Kansas Alimony Laws
• Kansas Child Custody Laws
• Kansas Divorce Laws

Frequently Asked Questions

How is child support calculated in Kansas?

Kansas courts follow the Kansas Child Support Guidelines, an income-shares formula. Each parent's domestic gross income is adjusted for support paid in other cases and spousal maintenance, the two incomes are combined, and the schedule gives an amount for that income, the number of children and their age groups. Each parent owes a share in proportion to income, and the court can then apply adjustments such as parenting time and add health insurance and child care.

Does Kansas use gross or net income for child support?

Gross. The guidelines use domestic gross income, which is income from all sources, and say federal and state taxes and Social Security are already considered within the schedules. Enter income before taxes.

What age does child support end in Kansas?

Generally at 18. If the child is still in high school, support does not end automatically, unless the court orders otherwise, until June 30 of the school year the child turns 18. On motion, a court may extend support through the school year the child turns 19 if the child is a bona fide high school student and the parents jointly participated in or knowingly acquiesced in the decision that delayed graduation (K.S.A. 23-3001(b)).

Do Kansas parents have to pay for college?

Not under Kansas statute. Apart from the high school extension, support past 18, including for college, depends on a written agreement between the parents that the court approves (K.S.A. 23-3001(b)(1)).

Do you pay child support with 50/50 custody in Kansas?

It depends. Equal parenting time does not cancel support. If the court has found equal time in the children's best interest and the parents share time and basic direct expenses equally, they may be eligible for the shared expense formula or the direct expense formula. Equal-time parents without an agreed expense-sharing plan may agree to, or the court may order, the direct expense formula. With less than equal time, the court decides whether to adjust support once the child spends 35 percent or more of the child's time, not counting school or day care, with the parent without primary residency.

How do I change a child support order in Kansas?

File a motion to modify in the district court with a domestic relations affidavit and a proposed worksheet. Within three years of the last order you must show a material change in circumstances, such as a 10 percent change in the Line I.2 support figure or a child moving into a new age group; after three years, no material change is needed. Any change can reach back no earlier than the first day of the month after you file.

Does unpaid child support collect interest in Kansas?

Yes. Unpaid support becomes a judgment when it is due, and Kansas presumes interest at 10 percent a year is the correct total on support judgments. A person who disputes that total must prove a different amount (K.S.A. 16-204(e)(3)).

Is there a time limit to collect back child support in Kansas?

Kansas child support judgments do not become dormant (K.S.A. 60-2403(b)), except judgments that were already void as of July 1, 2007, so past-due support can still be collected years later. A support judgment does stop operating as a lien on real estate on the date it would otherwise have become dormant.

Can you go to jail for not paying child support in Kansas?

It is possible. Criminal nonsupport of a child under 18 in necessitous circumstances is a severity level 10, nonperson felony under K.S.A. 21-5606, and the sentence depends on the sentencing grid and the person's criminal history. The court may order support payments and probation instead of, or in addition to, the penalty. Courts can also use contempt to enforce an order.

Does child support stop if a parent goes to prison in Kansas?

Not automatically. The guidelines say incarceration by itself may not be treated as voluntary unemployment when support is set or modified, so an incarcerated parent can ask the court to modify the order. Support keeps coming due under the existing order until the court changes it, and a change can reach back only to the first day of the month after the motion is filed.

Can Kansas take child support from my retirement account?

Only in a narrow case. Since July 1, 2025, K.S.A. 23-3002 requires the court, when the plan allows a distribution, to order a one-time lump-sum distribution from retirement accounts to pay arrears that built up after a parent lost income because a professional license was lost, revoked, suspended or surrendered for misconduct, or because of voluntary underemployment.