Child Support in South Carolina: How Support Is Calculated

As divorce lawyers in Charleston, South Carolina, we often answer questions about the state’s child support laws. In this article, we explain what child support is in South Carolina, how it is calculated, the circumstances when the family court may order more or less than the child support guidelines, when child support ends, what happens if you don’t pay child support, and more. So how is child support calculated in South Carolina, and how long do you have to pay it?

Quick Answer: In South Carolina, child support is calculated under the South Carolina Child Support Guidelines using both parents’ gross incomes, the number of children, work-related child care, health insurance premiums, and other factors, with the total divided between the parents in proportion to their incomes. If each parent has more than 109 overnights a year, the shared custody guidelines may apply. Support generally lasts until the child turns 18, or longer if the child is still in high school.

What is Child Support in South Carolina?

In South Carolina, parents must legally support their minor children financially. This financial support is known as “child support.” Child support is not spousal support or alimony. The non-custodial parent usually pays child support to the custodial parent to support the children. Under South Carolina Code Section 63-17-325, a biological father’s specified financial obligations to the mother, including child support, begin at conception. If paternity is in question, you may need to establish it before the court orders support, and our Charleston paternity lawyers can help.

How is Child Support Calculated in South Carolina?

Child support is calculated based on formulas and tables in the South Carolina Child Support Guidelines. The current Guidelines are the 2024 revision. The child support calculation is based on several factors:

• The gross income (or imputed income) of both parents
• The number of children being supported
• How many overnights each parent has with the children (shared custody)
• Whether alimony is paid by one spouse to the other in the case
• Child support or alimony paid under another court order
• Other children living in each parent’s home
• The work-related child care expenses either parent pays for the children
• The health insurance premiums either parent pays for the child or children

After consideration of these factors, the total child support obligation is divided between the parents in proportion to their incomes. Each parent’s income is usually shown on a Financial Declaration filed with the court. When each parent has custody of one or more of their children, the “split custody” guidelines apply. When each parent has more than 109 court-ordered overnights a year (at least 110), and both parents contribute to the child’s expenses, the “shared custody” guidelines may apply.

For 110 to 127 overnights, the shared custody adjustment is phased in on a graduated scale, and it is not automatic. If you are trying to calculate a potential child support obligation, DSS has created a South Carolina Child Support Calculator that you can use. Please note that DSS’s child support calculator provides an estimate, not a precise calculation.

Can the Family Court Deviate from the South Carolina Child Support Guidelines?

Under certain circumstances, the family court can set child support at an amount that is different from the Child Support Guidelines. Deviation from the Guidelines is the exception and not the norm, and the court must explain the deviation in written findings. Here are the factors a family court considers in deciding whether to deviate from the Guidelines:

• The educational expenses for the children or spouse
• The equitable distribution of property
• The parties’ consumer debts
• Whether the family has more than six children
• Unreimbursed extraordinary medical or dental expenses of either parent, or extraordinary travel expenses for court-ordered visitation
• Mandatory deductions for retirement pensions and union fees
• Unreimbursed extraordinary medical expenses for the children
• Monthly fixed payments imposed by a court or operation of law
• Whether the child has significant available income
• A substantial disparity between the parents’ incomes
• Whether lump-sum, rehabilitative, or reimbursement alimony is paid
• An agreement between the parties, subject to the court’s independent review

The family court may consider other factors not listed here. For example, if the custodial parent relocates to another state and the non-custodial parent would incur substantial travel and lodging costs to spend time with the children, the family court may reduce the non-custodial parent’s child support payment if the facts justify a deviation and the court supports it with written findings.

When Does Child Support End in South Carolina?

Generally, child support continues until the child turns 18, marries, or becomes self-supporting as determined by the court, whichever occurs first. If the child is still enrolled in and attending high school at 18, support continues until the child graduates or until the end of the school year after the child turns 19, whichever is later.

A prior agreement or order, a child’s disability, or other exceptional circumstances can justify support beyond 18. If one order covers more than one child, the paying parent should not simply reduce the payment on their own when the oldest child ages out. Instead, the parent should ask the court to recalculate support.

What Happens if I Don’t Pay My Child Support in South Carolina?

If you don’t pay your court-ordered child support, then the consequences can be very severe. Some of the consequences of nonpayment of child support include:

• A finding of contempt of court
• Fines, jail, or a public works sentence
• Withholding from wages and certain other income, including unemployment and workers’ compensation benefits, where permitted
• Revocation of your driver’s license, professional license, or hunting and fishing license in qualifying cases
• Interception of your state and federal tax refunds
• Denial of a U.S. passport for qualifying arrears
• Reporting to credit bureaus and liens on your property
• Exclusion from receipt of certain government benefits where applicable
• Effect on military standing where applicable

Also, if the supporting parent doesn’t pay court-ordered child support on time, then the family court can order that parent to pay via wage withholding and/or through the family court. If payment is made through the court or the state’s centralized withholding system, then the paying parent is charged an additional 5% in court costs on top of the support.

If a parent is paying child support through the court and falls behind, the clerk of the family court may seek a “bookkeeping” rule to show cause. In a rule to show cause, the parent must appear before the family court to respond to the allegation that they violated the support order.

Jail is not automatic: before imposing contempt sanctions, the court must make the findings required for the type of contempt and sanction imposed, including consideration of the parent’s ability to comply with any purge condition.

Specifically, if a parent is found to be in contempt of court, that parent can be sentenced to up to one year in a local detention facility, fined up to $1,500.00, ordered to complete up to 300 hours of public works, or a combination of all three penalties. For more information regarding contempt in family court, please click here to read our article. If the parent pays child support directly to the other parent and falls behind, the other parent can seek a rule to show cause to enforce the order.

If a parent claims the other has failed to pay court-ordered support, proof of the order and nonpayment can require the other parent to show payment or another defense; the burden does not shift merely because someone makes an allegation. For this reason, giving the custodial parent cash (or items such as diapers) without getting a receipt or acknowledgment via text or email from the other parent exposes the non-custodial parent to risk that the court won’t later acknowledge that support.

We’re not saying a non-custodial parent shouldn’t drop off diapers, clothes, or toys at the other parent’s house. We’re emphasizing that if it ever ends up in court, the other parent might not acknowledge what you’ve done. The non-custodial parent should document it if they can. Even documented gifts or direct payments may not count toward a court-ordered payment unless the court allows credit.

Can You Modify Child Support in South Carolina?

Yes. Section 63-17-310 of the South Carolina Code of Laws gives the family court the authority to modify child support based on changed circumstances. South Carolina courts require the parent seeking modification to prove a substantial or material change in circumstances. Common examples of changed circumstances include:

• Changes in the parents’ finances
• Remarriage that results in a termination of alimony
• Changes in the child’s needs

For example, if the child becomes disabled, the additional cost of medical treatment may be considered a substantial change in circumstances. As another example, if a parent is involuntarily laid off from work, or they become disabled and are no longer able to work, that may be considered a substantial change in the parent’s financial abilities.

However, a voluntary drop in income does not by itself justify a reduction, and the court may impute income to a parent who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed. Also, a modification ordinarily does not change payments that came due before the modification action was filed and served, so a parent should file as soon as circumstances change.

Can You Get Retroactive (Back) Child Support in South Carolina?

Yes, but claims for retroactive child support depend on the facts of the case. Back (retroactive) child support can mean you are seeking child support going back in time before there was a court order to pay support. In South Carolina, whether it is awarded depends on the evidence and the equities of each case. For example, in McSwain v. Holmes, our Supreme Court recognized that a family court judge can award retroactive child support.

However, the court did not grant the mother’s claim for 3 years of support because, among other reasons, a substantial lump sum would have been an inequitable burden under the facts of that case. As another example, in Major v. Major, the court awarded 16 months of retroactive child support. Separately, in Sutton v. Sutton, the court increased an existing child support order effective as of a date after the petition to modify was filed.

What Happens if You Wait Too Long to Claim Retroactive Child Support in South Carolina?

If you wait too long, the court may deny your claim for retroactive child support. A legal term called “laches” can apply when a person unreasonably delays asserting a right and that delay prejudices the other party. Laches sometimes can apply to a claim for support for a period before any support order was entered.

Delay alone does not establish laches, and a parent seeking an increase under an existing order must also account for the statutory limit on modifying installments that accrued before the modification action was filed and served. For example, in Hallums v. Hallums, when the child was twenty-four, the mother sought sixteen years of retroactive child support for a period when no support had been ordered. The court decided that, under the facts of that case, the mother’s claim was barred by laches.

However, if the court ordered child support in the past, and the parent receiving support waits many years to enforce the court’s order, delay alone generally will NOT allow the paying parent to defeat enforcement by claiming laches. In other words, a parent who falls behind on court-ordered payments can still owe arrears even after the child grows up.

Do not confuse enforcing an existing support order with seeking a first order of support for past years. Whether a limitations period affects a particular claim should be evaluated separately; the decisions discussed here do not establish that statutes of limitation never apply to any child support or paternity case.

Can You Retroactively Increase Child Support in South Carolina?

Yes, but only under special circumstances if the increase would reach installments that accrued before the modification action was filed and served. In Harris v. Harris, a mother sought a retroactive increase in child support after learning that the father earned more than $400,000 in additional income over several years from a business he had not disclosed, in addition to the $48,000 annual salary he had reported.

Our Supreme Court decided that retroactive child support increases can be permissible in “special circumstances” to prevent a “serious injustice.” This narrow exception applies to increases, and it does not authorize a routine retroactive reduction. An increase effective on or after filing and service of the modification action is a separate question.

Can You Recover Overpayments of Child Support in South Carolina?

The answer depends on the facts of each case. For example, in Blackwell v. Fulgum, a mother unilaterally cut her court-ordered child support payments in half after the older of two children turned 18 and graduated from high school. The father sent letters telling the mother to go through the attorneys or go to court.

The mother ignored the letters, and after 18 months, the father filed a contempt action (also called a Rule to Show Cause). The court held that a parent cannot unilaterally reduce a support order that covers more than one child when one child emancipates, and the mother remained responsible for the unpaid support even though she was not held in contempt.

However, in Hopkins v. Hopkins, the court ruled that a father was entitled to reimbursement of overpayments of child support because, at the beginning of the case (at a temporary hearing), the father sought to stop his child support payments, but the mother asked the court to continue payments with the understanding that if the father was legally correct, then child support would be adjusted at the end of the case. Even then, any reimbursement must account for any arrears the paying parent owes.

Is a Parent Entitled to Credit on Child Support Payments for Disability Benefits Paid to Support a Child?

Yes. In Justice v. Scruggs, the court held that “a parent is entitled to credit on his child support payments for disability benefits paid for the support of the children.” This credit applies to Social Security disability dependent benefits paid to the child based on the paying parent’s work record. It does not apply to Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

Who Gets the Child Tax Exemption in a South Carolina Divorce?

Under federal tax law, the custodial parent, meaning the parent the child lived with for the greater part of the tax year (generally measured by overnights), is usually the parent who can claim the child as a dependent and claim the child tax credit.

If the child spent an equal amount of time with each parent, then the parent with the higher adjusted gross income may claim the child if both claim the child. Higher income does not override an unequal number of overnights. Although the dependency exemption is currently $0, claiming a child as a dependent still matters because it affects the child tax credit and other tax benefits.

The custodial parent can release the right to claim the child to the non-custodial parent by signing IRS Form 8332, which allows the non-custodial parent to claim the child and, if otherwise eligible, the child tax credit. The non-custodial parent must submit the release as required by the IRS, and the release does not transfer all child-related tax benefits.

In some cases, South Carolina family courts may order the custodial parent to sign this release. The court may consider the parties’ circumstances and the actual tax benefit in deciding how to allocate the claim. A family court order alone does not replace the federal release requirements or guarantee that a parent qualifies for a tax benefit.

Sometimes the issue of which parent gets to claim the children on their taxes arises mid-case. For example, a judge at a temporary hearing may award custody to one parent, or award joint custody but give one parent more than 50% of the overnights. However, many temporary orders do not address who claims the children.

In this situation, if both parents claim the same child, the IRS generally will reject the second electronically filed return; a parent may still file a paper return, and the IRS may then resolve the conflicting claims under federal tax rules. The parent who was not entitled to claim the child may owe back taxes, interest, and potentially penalties. We caution non-custodial parents against claiming their children without a signed Form 8332 because you could violate IRS rules and cause costly problems in family court.

What Happens if a Parent Moves Away from South Carolina to Avoid Child Support Payments?

In some instances, a parent may move out of South Carolina to avoid being brought before the family court for contempt proceedings. However, crossing state lines does not necessarily prevent child support enforcement.

Support orders can be registered and enforced in other states under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, as we explain in our article on whether you can get a divorce in South Carolina if your spouse lives in another state. In qualifying cases, a parent may also be subject to the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act of 1998 (DPPA), a federal law that addresses interstate evasion and willful nonpayment of support obligations. Under the DPPA, a parent can be criminally liable if the parent:

• Willfully fails to pay a support obligation with respect to a child who resides in another State, if such obligation has remained unpaid for a period longer than 1 year, or is greater than $5,000;
• Travels in interstate or foreign commerce with the intent to evade a support obligation, if such obligation has remained unpaid for a period longer than 1 year, or is greater than $5,000; or
• Willfully fails to pay a support obligation with respect to a child who resides in another State, if such obligation has remained unpaid for a period longer than 2 years, or is greater than $10,000.

A first offense of willful nonpayment involving a child in another state, when the obligation is more than 1 year overdue or greater than $5,000, is punishable by up to six months in jail.

Traveling in interstate or foreign commerce with the intent to evade a qualifying obligation, willfully failing to pay an obligation involving a child in another state that is more than 2 years overdue or greater than $10,000, or a repeat offense for the first type of willful nonpayment is punishable by up to two years in prison. Fines may also be imposed, and upon conviction, the court must order restitution equal to the total unpaid support obligation at sentencing.

How Does a Parent’s Financial Hardship Affect Child Support Payments in South Carolina?

Perhaps one of the most unfortunate situations is when a parent falls on tough financial times and can’t make their regularly scheduled child support payments. In this situation, the parent finds themselves between a rock and a hard place. They can’t afford to hire an attorney because they don’t have enough money, and yet they need to go to family court to ask the court to reduce their child support payments.

Nevertheless, being proactive is important: a parent should seek a modification promptly rather than assume a loss of income automatically changes the order. Falling behind can lead to a rule to show cause and possible sanctions, although jail is not automatic and the court must apply the required contempt procedures.

If a parent falls behind, they can petition the family court to do one of two things. First, they may ask the court to place them on a payment program to allow them to catch up over time on their arrears. If the parent’s financial situation has taken a more permanent turn for the worse, then they can petition the court to reduce their support obligation based on a substantial or material change in circumstances.

In many cases, simply showing a loss of income isn’t enough to reduce support. The court may consider whether the loss was voluntary, the parent’s earning capacity, efforts to find work, the child’s needs, and the parent’s financial circumstances. A parent should document both the change in income and efforts to meet the current child support obligation.

Can I Still Visit With My Child If I Don’t Pay Child Support in South Carolina?

Yes, if you have visitation rights under the court’s order, nonpayment alone does not cancel them. In South Carolina, visitation is separate from child support obligations. In other words, a parent who fails to make child support payments may still exercise their visitation rights, and the custodial parent may not unilaterally restrict court-ordered access because support is unpaid. The child has the right to receive support, and neither parent may use support to control or punish the other parent.

Is Failing to Support a Child a Crime in South Carolina?

Under South Carolina Code Section 63-5-20, it is a misdemeanor if an “able-bodied person capable of earning a livelihood” fails to provide reasonable support for their dependent minor unmarried child “without just cause or excuse.” If convicted in circuit court, a person can face up to one year in jail, a fine ranging from $300 to $1,500, or both jail and a fine. This criminal charge is separate from contempt of family court. In our many years of practicing family law, we have never seen or heard of anyone getting arrested under this law.

Do You Have to Pay for Your Child’s College Expenses in South Carolina?

Maybe. College support is not automatic, but the family court has limited power to order a parent to help pay for college. In McLeod v. Starnes, the court held that “[w]hile it is certainly true that not all married couples send their children to college, that does not detract from the State’s interest in having college-educated citizens and attempting to alleviate the potential disadvantages placed upon children of divorced parents.

Although the decision to send a child to college may be a personal one, it is not one we wish to foreclose to a child simply because his parents are divorced. It is of no moment that not every married parent sends his children to college or that not every divorced parent refuses to do so.” South Carolina courts consider the following factors in deciding whether one or both parents should pay for college:

• The characteristics of the child indicate that he or she will benefit from college;
• The child demonstrates the ability to do well, or at least make satisfactory grades;
• The child cannot otherwise go to college; and
• The parent has the financial ability to pay for such an education.

Do You Need a Child Support Lawyer in Charleston?

As you can see in this article, South Carolina’s child support laws are very complicated. Mistakes in calculating income, overnights, or credits can cost you thousands of dollars over the life of an order. If you need a family law attorney in Charleston, SC, regarding paying or receiving child support, please contact us today.