Colorado’s family courts make all decisions in the child’s best interests, including child support calculations in Denver, which strive to allow a child to continue the same standard of living they had during the parents’ marriage.
Often, high-earning parents ask: “Does Colorado cap child support?” Under C.R.S. 14-10-115, the state’s child support statute lists no hard cap on child support; however, Colorado’s standard formula for calculating child support reaches a threshold at $40,000 per month of combined total income.
This threshold was increased from the former threshold of $30,000 per month of total combined income under the state’s updated statute effective as of March 1st, 2026.
Colorado’s child support law under C.R.S. 14-10-115 describes the guidelines’ purpose as follows:
“To establish as state policy an adequate standard of support for children, subject to the ability of parents to pay; to make awards more equitable by ensuring more consistent treatment of persons in similar circumstances; and to improve the efficiency of the court process by promoting settlements and giving courts and the parties guidance in establishing levels of awards.”
Denver family courts use the Income Shares Model to calculate child support. This model combines the total gross incomes of both parents to estimate each parent’s portion of gross income that they would typically spend on their child while living together.
The Colorado child support formula then divides that total amount proportionately between the parents, based on each parent’s portion of the total family income.
Then, the model adjusts each share of the total financial obligation based on the number of overnight child custody stays the child has with each parent under their court-ordered child custody agreement (parenting time schedule).
The same formula proportionately divides any extraordinary costs, such as childcare, health insurance, and medical costs for a child with a health condition or other special needs.
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The child support statute now exempts a self-support reserve (SSR), so lower-income parents can support themselves while also paying child support for their children.
The state also removed the previous 92-overnight barrier, which didn’t allow credit for overnights for a parent with fewer than 92 nights per year. Now, each parent receives credit for supporting their children for every custody day in their parenting-time schedule.
Before March of 2026, the state’s threshold for using the child support formula capped out at combined parental incomes of $30,000 per month, but now applies to parents with combined incomes of up to $40,000 per month.
This threshold is in place to prevent excessive child support amounts that are far greater than required to reasonably support a child.
The court has discretion in determining child support for children with parents with combined incomes of $40,000 per month or greater.
When high-income parents cannot agree on an amount of child support in a settlement agreement, they may present their arguments and evidence to the court in a contested divorce or child custody case. Call us to speak to our child support attorney in Denver for a free case evaluation today.
