Virginia uses statutory guidelines to determine the amount to be paid for child support. These guidelines take into consideration the gross monthly earning capacity of both parents, the cost of child care to enable a parent to work, and the cost of health insurance for the child. The formula also provides that if each parent has the child for more than ninety days of the year, the parents are considered to have shared custody which reduces the support amount. If the parents are not able to agree on the level of child support, the court then determines it using the scheduled guidelines which are presumed to be the correct amount. However, the Judge may deviate upward or downward from those guidelines depending on the factors of any given case. Normally once the scheduled guideline amount is determined, each parent is responsible for his or her proportionate share of the support based on his or her percentage of the total income. If a parent is voluntarily unemployed or voluntarily underemployed, that is not working by choice or making a lower salary than the parent is capable of earning, the court may assign an appropriate amount of income to him or her for the purpose of calculating child support. This assigned or imputed income will be what the parent is capable of earning. If the child is below school age, the court may determine that it is appropriate for the physical custodian of the child not to work.

The amount of child support may be increased or decreased whenever there is a material change in circumstances such as an increase or decrease in income, unavoidable unemployment or changes in the child's needs, including changes in the cost of living. Although the amount of child support can always be changed, you can not get back payments before your petition for child support is filed unless those payments were previously ordered by the Court.

Only a natural or adoptive parent must pay child support. A stepparent who has not legally adopted the child has no duty to pay child support and a stepparent's income is not considered in setting child support. You do not need to have been married to the other parent to request an order of support for your child. And, if this is a child support request made after the other parent has divorced and if either one of you has remarried, normally the income from your new spouse is not considered in setting the child support. However, if you or your spouse have additional children or other family members for whom you are providing support, that will be considered in determining the child support.

Generally health and medical insurance coverage is required to be provided for the child. Normally the parent who can best provide the insurance (or who has the most comprehensive coverage at the lowest price) will be required to do so. Health insurance costs for the child and extraordinary medical and dental expenses are normally divided between the parents on a pro-rata basis to their earnings/income.

Any agreement or Court Order issued regarding child support should designate the day or days of the month when the support payments are due and when the Court enters a support order it would normally include language that provides for wage or payroll withholding unless the parents reach another arrangement. If the paying spouse falls more than thirty days behind in the child support payments they may be subject to a wage assignment through the Virginia Department of Social Services. That means that the amount of child support will be deducted automatically from his or her paycheck, and, if a parent is delinquent for ninety days or more or for $5,000.00 or more, the Court may suspend any license or certificate or registration issued by the Commonwealth to engage in any business, trade, profession or occupation. In addition, the Department of Motor Vehicles has the authority to suspend or refuse to renew a driver's license for a person who is delinquent in paying child support. Most people choose to have child support paid directly to them because if you have the payments go through the State's Department of Social Services or the Division of Child Support Enforcement, checks are normally delayed for 5 or 10 business days for processing and if there are out of state checks, the delay may be three or four weeks.

Child support normally terminates once the child reaches the age of eighteen. However, if the child is still a full time student in high school and resides with the custodial parent, support continues until the child is nineteen or graduates from high school, whichever occurs first. The duty of a parent to support a child will end if the child marries, enlists in the military or otherwise becomes legally emancipated by the Court.