Wisconsin Shared Placement Child Support Calculator

When both parents have the children at least 92 overnights a year, Wisconsin applies the shared placement formula: both incomes, the standard percentage, a 150 percent multiplier, and each parent's share of overnights.^[1] Enter both incomes, your number of children, and one parent's court-ordered overnights below. The calculator runs both sides and shows who pays whom.

Shared placement is now the primary way Wisconsin support gets calculated, because most orders involve it.^[2] The overnight count drives the result more than people expect, and the count that matters is the one in your court order. A handful of nights can move the payment by real money every month.

Please read before you start. This is an estimate, not a court order. It applies the shared-placement formula in Wis. Admin. Code § DCF 150.035(1) to the figures you enter. That formula is available only when both parents have court-ordered placement of at least 25 percent, and using it is up to the court. Overnight counts here are your own, not a court's finding, and equivalent care can change them. Under Wis. Stat. § 767.511(1m) a court can order a different amount. Using this tool does not create an attorney-client relationship with Sterling Lawyers and nothing here is legal advice.

Built on the shared placement formula in Wis. Admin. Code DCF 150.035(1) and checked against the state's official shared placement worksheet and calculator.^[3]

Is this the right calculator for you?

Use it when both parents have court-ordered placement of at least 25 percent of the year, which is 92 overnights, and the order has each parent covering the children's basic costs during their own time. If your situation looks different, one of these fits better.

• One parent has fewer than 92 overnights. Shared placement does not apply, and support runs on the standard percentages through the main Wisconsin child support calculator.
• Some children are shared and others live mainly with one parent. Different placement structures in one case call for the combined shared and split placement calculator.
• The paying parent already has an earlier support order. Prior obligations reduce the income this formula starts from, so run the serial family child support calculator first and bring the adjusted income here.
• Income is unusually high or low. Courts can combine the shared formula with the high income tiers or the state's low income schedule. The calculator flags both situations when your inputs suggest them.

How the shared placement formula works

The formula runs the same steps for both parents, then nets the two results against each other. Here is the exact sequence the calculator performs.

1. Start with each parent's monthly income available for child support. Wisconsin uses gross income from all sources, not take-home pay.^[4]
2. Multiply each income by the standard percentage. That is 17 percent for one child, 25 for two, 29 for three, 31 for four, and 34 for five or more.
3. Multiply each result by 150 percent.
4. Multiply each parent's figure by the other parent's share of overnights. More time with you lowers what you pay; more time with the other parent raises it.
5. Subtract the smaller result from the larger one. The parent with the larger number pays the difference.

One more check runs after the offset. The payer's number under this formula cannot exceed what the straight percentage standard would require, so if the shared result comes out higher, the lower standard amount applies. The calculator shows that comparison with every result.

Why the formula multiplies by 150 percent

Two households now carry costs one household used to carry. Each parent keeps a bedroom, clothing, and everyday items for the children, so the state grosses up the base amount by half to reflect that duplication. It is not a penalty; it is an acknowledgment that shared placement costs more in total.

A worked example

Parent A earns $3,600 a month and has 200 overnights. Parent B earns $5,000 a month and has 165 overnights. They have two children, so the standard percentage is 25 percent.

• Parent A: $3,600 x 25% = $900. Then $900 x 150% = $1,350. Then $1,350 x 45.2%, which is Parent B's 165 nights out of 365, equals $610.
• Parent B: $5,000 x 25% = $1,250. Then $1,250 x 150% = $1,875. Then $1,875 x 54.8%, which is Parent A's 200 nights out of 365, equals $1,027.
• The offset: $1,027 minus $610 means Parent B pays about $417 per month.

The cap check passes here, because $417 sits well below the $1,250 Parent B would owe under the straight percentage standard.

Counting overnights the right way

Enter the exact overnight count from your placement order, not an estimate like roughly half. The formula divides each parent's court-ordered nights by the year's total, so precision matters at every step. If your order alternates 183 and 182 nights year to year, use the current year's number.

When daytime care counts: the equivalent care rule

Courts can credit daytime care toward placement when it puts real basic support costs on that parent, for example a third shift worker who covers days instead of nights. A block of at least six hours that includes a meal can count as half a day, and two half day blocks equal one overnight.

Two guardrails matter. Equivalent care must be in the court order to count, and a parent cannot stack equivalent care credit on top of their own overnight credit for the same stretch of time. When equivalent care is ordered, the year's total can also run past 365, which changes each parent's percentage, so this calculator's standard 365 night model will not match those orders. Bring an order with equivalent care credits to an attorney or run the state's official worksheet.

Does 50/50 placement mean no child support?

Usually not. Equal overnights only zero out support when both incomes also match, because the formula weighs income and time together. With a true even split, the difference between the parents' incomes drives the payment.

Take one child, an even schedule, and incomes of $4,000 and $6,000. The lower earner's side works out to $510 and the higher earner's side to $765, so the higher earner pays $255 a month. Same house time, different incomes, support still moves.

One vocabulary trap: 50/50 legal custody is about decision making and does not touch this math. Custody covers choices like school and health care. Placement time is what the formula reads.

What this estimate leaves out

Variable costs are not in your result. Child care, tuition, and a child's special needs sit above basic support, and courts assign them in proportion to each parent's placement, based on an itemized list. Those payments run between the parents or straight to the provider, outside the support payment itself.

• Medical support. Courts assign health insurance responsibility and health care costs separately from this number.
• Deviations. Either parent can ask the court to depart from the formula when it would be unfair, and the court decides with written findings.
• The order itself. This is an estimate. Only a court sets, approves, or changes support, including any agreement you two reach.

How Sterling Lawyers can help

A placement schedule is also a financial decision, and most people negotiate the two at the same time without seeing the full math. Sterling Lawyers practices family law exclusively across Wisconsin, and our attorneys run these numbers with clients routinely. We will show you what different schedules actually do to the support figure before you agree to anything.