GLASTONBURY, CONNECTICUT · FAMILY LAW + FAMILY-VIOLENCE DEFENSE
The guidelines produce a number from two figures: each parent’s net weekly income. Almost every real dispute in a Connecticut child support case is about those two figures rather than about the arithmetic that follows.
Income is broader than a paycheck. It includes wages and salary, commissions, bonuses, overtime, self-employment income, rental income, and many benefits.
Bonuses and overtime are income even though they fluctuate. Recurring variable pay cannot simply be left out because it is not guaranteed. How it is treated — averaged over a period, or handled as a percentage of amounts actually received — is frequently negotiated.
Self-employment income is calculated after ordinary and necessary business expenses. That is not the same as the bottom line on a tax return, and the gap between the two is where many of these cases are actually litigated — personal expenses run through a business, depreciation, retained earnings, and compensation set at an artificially low level.
For hourly workers, the guidelines count paid hours including overtime up to a ceiling of 45 total paid hours.
Only the deductions the guidelines specifically allow — not every deduction a person actually takes from a paycheck. These include taxes, certain insurance costs, and other specified items.
The 2026 edition made several changes worth knowing:
A disagreement about whether a $40,000 bonus is income, or whether a business owner’s actual earnings are what the return shows, moves the support figure far more than any argument about the schedule.
That makes documentation the work: pay records, tax returns with schedules, business records, and for variable pay, enough history to establish a realistic pattern.
Connecticut’s child support guidelines changed August 1, 2026. How the income shares model works, what the new schedule covers, and when courts deviate.
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When a Connecticut court uses what a parent could earn instead of what they do earn, and the factors the 2026 guidelines require it to consider.
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How Connecticut child support is calculated under the 2026 guidelines, what counts as income, and who pays for college. Glastonbury attorney Daniel M. Morton.
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Every case starts with a conversation about what you’re facing and what it would take to handle it.
