Child Support Arrears Calculator

Alabama: 7.5%/year simple interest.

7.5% applies to support orders/judgments arising on or after September 1, 2011. Judgments between Nov 13, 1981 and Aug 31, 2011 accrue at 12%; judgments before Nov 13, 1981 accrue at 6%. Interest accrues automatically by operation of law on each missed payment from its due date and cannot be waived by the court. Simple interest (not compounded).

Source: Alabama Legislature (Code of Alabama) (Ala. Code § 8-8-10). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Alaska: 6%/year simple interest.

Rate is 6% per year, or a lower rate if federal law caps interest below 6%. Under AS 25.27.020, interest accrues automatically once payments are 10 or more days overdue. Confirmed via Justia mirror of the Alaska Statutes; could not directly load akleg.gov (403 error) to cross-check exact current text, so treat as high-but-not-perfect confidence on the automatic/compounding characterization.

Source: Alaska State Legislature (Alaska Statutes) (AS 25.27.025). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Arizona: 10%/year simple interest.

Simple interest on principal only (interest does not accrue on interest). Applies both to non-judgment arrears and to arrears reduced to a final money judgment.

Source: Arizona State Legislature (A.R.S. § 25-510). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Arkansas: 10%/year simple interest.

All child support that becomes due and remains unpaid accrues interest at 10% per annum automatically, unless the judgment owner (or counsel of record) affirmatively requests, before interest accrues, that the judgment not accrue interest. Interest runs from the date each installment became due, not from petition filing.

Source: Arkansas General Assembly (Arkansas Code) (Ark. Code Ann. § 9-14-233(a)). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

California: 10%/year simple interest.

Simple interest, does not compound. A lower 5% rate exists under § 685.010(a)(2) but only for certain medical/personal debt judgments, not child support.

Source: California Legislature / Judicial Council (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 685.010(a)(1) (general money-judgment rate, applies to support arrears once due); cross-referenced in Fam. Code § 17400). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Colorado: 10%/year (compounds — this calculator computes simple interest only, see note below).

For arrearages due on/after July 1, 2021: interest is 2 percentage points above the general statutory judgment rate (C.R.S. 5-12-101), currently resulting in ~10%/year, compounded annually. For arrearages due before July 1, 2021: rate is 4 points above the statutory rate (~12%), compounded monthly. Obligor may petition the court for good-cause reduction/disallowance of interest.

Source: Colorado General Assembly (Colorado Revised Statutes) (C.R.S. § 14-14-106). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Florida: 8.44%/year simple interest.

Variable rate, set quarterly by the CFO (12-month average Fed discount rate + 400 bps). 8.44% is the rate in effect for the quarter this page was last verified — check the source link for the current quarter's rate before relying on this figure.

Source: Florida Chief Financial Officer / Florida Senate (Fla. Stat. § 55.03). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Georgia: 7%/year simple interest.

Accrues starting 30 days after each award/order/installment is due. Court has explicit statutory discretion to waive or reduce interest based on hardship factors, so the accrued figure shown is a ceiling, not a guarantee.

Source: Georgia General Assembly (O.C.G.A. § 7-4-12.1). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Hawaii: 10%/year simple interest. Not automatic — a court finding or request is required before interest accrues in this state.

REDUCED CONFIDENCE: HRS 478-3 is Hawaii's general statutory judgment-interest cap (10%/year, simple), not a child-support-specific statute. Hawaii intermediate appellate case law (97 Haw. 160 (App.), 34 P.3d 1059) held a family court errs if it fails to award this statutory post-judgment interest on a child support arrearage, so it does apply to CS arrears once reduced to/entered as a judgment — but accrual is not automatic on every missed payment the way it is in some other states; it attaches to the arrearage judgment. One secondary source claimed Hawaii charges no interest on arrears at all — that claim was NOT corroborated by any primary source and is contradicted by the statute + case law above, so it was disregarded.

Source: Hawaii State Legislature (Hawaii Revised Statutes) (Haw. Rev. Stat. § 478-3). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Illinois: 9%/year (compounds — this calculator computes simple interest only, see note below). Not automatic — a court finding or request is required before interest accrues in this state.

As of Jan 1, 2021, interest is NOT automatic on all cases — it must be established/adjudicated on request through HFS. When applied: 0.75%/month on the end-of-month unpaid balance (effectively 9%/year, compounding monthly).

Source: Illinois Dept. of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) (735 ILCS 5/12-109, incorporated by 750 ILCS 5/505). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Indiana: 18%/year simple interest. Not automatic — a court finding or request is required before interest accrues in this state.

18%/year (1.5%/month) is a court-discretion MAXIMUM, not automatic — interest is only awarded if the obligee/agency specifically requests it and the court grants it. Actual practice varies significantly by county; treat this as a ceiling.

Source: Indiana General Assembly (Ind. Code § 31-16-12-2). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Iowa: 10%/year simple interest.

Interest on periodic child, spousal, or medical support payments does not begin to accrue until 30 days after the payment becomes due and owing, then accrues at 10% per annum thereafter. No interest accrues on amounts unpaid solely because an employer's income-withholding pay cycle timing differs from the order's due date. Official PDF fetch returned only binary/unreadable content in this session; rate corroborated across multiple secondary legal-reference sites (Justia, LawServer, FindLaw) citing the same statutory text, so confidence is good but not a direct primary-text read.

Source: Iowa Legislature (Iowa Code) (Iowa Code § 535.3). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Kansas: 10%/year simple interest.

On and after July 1, 1996, there is a rebuttable presumption that 10% per annum is the correct interest rate on judgments arising from a person's duty to support another person (i.e., child support arrears), regardless of when the underlying support obligation accrued. This differs from Kansas's general post-1996 judgment rate, which floats with the federal discount rate + 4 points. The presumption can be rebutted by a party proving a different correct total.

Source: Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes (K.S.A. § 16-204(e)(3)). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Kentucky: 12%/year (compounds — this calculator computes simple interest only, see note below).

A judgment for unpaid child support bears 12% interest compounded annually from the date the judgment is entered — this is a specific carve-out; the general Kentucky judgment interest rate was cut from 12% to 6% in 2017 (HB 223), but child support judgments were exempted and remain at 12%. FindLaw mirror used because the official apps.legislature.ky.gov PDF would not render as readable text in this session.

Source: Kentucky General Assembly (Kentucky Revised Statutes) (KRS 360.040). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Louisiana: 7.5%/year simple interest.

Louisiana's judicial interest rate is recalculated annually (Federal Reserve discount rate as of Oct 1 + 3.25 points), published by the Commissioner of Financial Institutions; the rate for calendar year 2026 is 7.5%. Under La. R.S. 13:4291, each missed child support installment automatically becomes an enforceable money judgment and accrues judicial interest from its due date (simple interest, not compounded). Because this rate is reset each year, the 7.5% figure is specific to 2026 and will likely change in future years — verify current-year rate before relying on it long-term.

Source: Louisiana Office of Financial Institutions (rate-setting authority under R.S. 13:4202) (La. R.S. 13:4202, applied to support arrears via La. R.S. 13:4291). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Maine: 6%/year simple interest.

The commissioner of Maine's Division of Support Enforcement and Recovery (DSER) may collect interest of 6% per year on support debt owed to the department under 19-A M.R.S. § 2301. A separate, variable post-judgment interest track exists under 14 M.R.S. § 1602-C (1-year T-bill rate + 6%) for judgments generally; it is less clear from available sourcing whether that variable track, the flat 6% DSER rate, or both apply depending on whether the case is IV-D/department-involved versus private. Treat the 6% figure as reliable for department-collected arrears specifically; confidence is lower for non-IV-D private arrears cases.

Source: Maine Legislature (Maine Revised Statutes) (19-A M.R.S. § 2354). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Maryland: 10%/year simple interest.

Not a child-support-specific statute — general judgment-interest rate (also reflected in Md. Const. art. III, § 57). Some secondary sources cite a distinct Family Law § 10-119.1 for this figure; that specific citation could not be independently confirmed against primary source text, so the general judgment-interest statute is used instead.

Source: Maryland General Assembly (Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 11-107(a) (general judgment interest rate, applies to support arrears once reduced to judgment)). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Massachusetts: 12%/year simple interest. Not automatic — a court finding or request is required before interest accrues in this state.

12%/year interest, PLUS a separate 6%/year penalty on arrears exceeding $500 (so up to ~18%/year combined on qualifying balances) — this calculator shows the 12% interest component only, not the additional penalty. Courts reportedly rarely order this in practice; treat the result as a statutory maximum, not a guaranteed amount.

Source: Massachusetts Dept. of Revenue, Child Support Enforcement Division (M.G.L. c. 119A, § 6(a); implementing regulation 830 CMR 119A.6.1). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Michigan: 4.725%/year simple interest. Not automatic — a court finding or request is required before interest accrues in this state.

Variable 'surcharge,' not a fixed statutory rate: 1% + average yield on 5-year U.S. Treasury notes over the preceding 6 months, recalculated semiannually (Jan 1 / Jul 1). 4.725% shown is the rate computed for the period around the verification date — check the source before relying on it. Only applies if a court finds the nonpayment was willful.

Source: Michigan Dept. of Health & Human Services (Child Support policy) (MCL § 552.603a). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Minnesota: 0%/year simple interest. Not automatic — a court finding or request is required before interest accrues in this state.

Minnesota eliminated interest on child support judgments effective August 1, 2022: 'interest does not accrue on a past, current, or future judgment for child support, confinement and pregnancy expenses, or genetic testing fees.' Interest that accrued before August 1, 2022 was preserved and is carried forward as principal upon judgment renewal, but no new interest accrues going forward. This is a notable and relatively recent policy change — double-check for any subsequent legislative amendment before publishing.

Source: Office of the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes (Minn. Stat. § 548.091, subd. 1a(b)). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Mississippi: 8%/year simple interest. Not automatic — a court finding or request is required before interest accrues in this state.

REDUCED CONFIDENCE: § 75-17-7 sets Mississippi's general judgment-interest framework (judge sets a per annum rate 'from a date determined by the judge to be fair'), and by its terms exempts child support from the restriction that interest cannot predate the complaint's filing — each missed CS payment becomes a judgment and accrues interest from its due date. However, the rate itself is NOT a single fixed statutory percentage; it is set by the trial judge's discretion, and Mississippi appellate decisions have upheld rates ranging roughly 3%-8% on child support arrears. 8% is the commonly cited default/ceiling in practice, but this is judge-set, not automatic-by-statute at a single fixed number, so automatic_accrual is marked false to reflect that a judicial determination of the rate is required.

Source: Mississippi Legislature (Mississippi Code) (Miss. Code Ann. § 75-17-7, as applied to child support arrears by Mississippi case law). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Missouri: 12%/year simple interest.

1% per month simple interest (=12%/year), applies to judgments entered on/after Sept 1, 1982; automatic accrual, no court order required.

Source: Missouri Revisor of Statutes (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 454.520). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Nebraska: 6.37%/year simple interest.

Delinquent child support draws simple interest at the rate specified in Neb. Rev. Stat. § 45-103 in effect on the date of the most recent order/decree (yield of the last 1-year T-bill auction, published by the Secretary of the Treasury); the rate is fixed per-order at issuance, not a single statewide constant. Interest begins accruing 30 days after a payment becomes delinquent. The 6.37% figure reflects the rate in effect as of the most recently confirmed publication (Oct. 2024) and should be treated as an example/typical value rather than a guaranteed current rate. MODERATE CONFIDENCE on the exact current numeric value; statute citation and mechanism are high confidence.

Source: Nebraska Legislature (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 42-358.02 (rate keyed to § 45-103)). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Nevada: 10%/year simple interest.

NRS 125B.095 imposes an automatic 10% per annum penalty (prorated for partial periods) on any child-support installment delinquent by one month or more; this penalty is included by operation of law in arrearage computations without a separate court petition, except where the delinquency was caused by the employer or the enforcing agency. SEPARATELY, general judgment interest under NRS 99.040 (prime rate of Nevada's largest bank, set each Jan 1/Jul 1, plus 2%) can also apply to support judgments; that rate is variable (recently cited around 8.75%) and was not independently re-verified for the current period, so it is not used as the primary reported figure here.

Source: Nevada Legislature (Nevada Revised Statutes) (NRS 125B.095 (penalty); see also NRS 99.040 and NRS 17.130 for general judgment interest). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

New Mexico: 4%/year simple interest.

Interest accrues on delinquent child support at 4% per year from the date support becomes delinquent until paid; a consolidated judgment for delinquent support also accrues interest at 4% from entry until satisfied. The Human Services Department may forgive accrued interest on state-assigned arrears at its discretion. LOWER CONFIDENCE on source: could not directly load the official New Mexico Compilation Commission site (nmonesource.com) during verification; text is corroborated by multiple consistent secondary legal-database mirrors of the official code.

Source: New Mexico Legislature (statute); Justia mirror used because the official nmonesource.com page could not be reached directly during verification (NMSA 1978 § 40-4-7.3). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

New York: 9%/year simple interest.

Not a child-support-specific statute — general civil judgment interest rate, applies once arrears are reduced to judgment. Courts cannot waive the interest component once judgment is entered.

Source: New York State Senate / Legislature (CPLR § 5004 (general post-judgment interest rate; applies once arrears are reduced to a money judgment under DRL § 244)). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

North Carolina: 8%/year simple interest.

Not a child-support-specific statute — general statutory legal rate applied to the judgment.

Source: North Carolina General Assembly (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 24-1 (general legal rate of interest, applied to non-contract judgments including child support)). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

North Dakota: 11%/year simple interest.

North Dakota charges simple interest (never compounded) on past-due support ordered by a North Dakota court, at a rate set annually each January 1 by the State Administrator: 11.00% for 2025, 11.50% for 2024, 10.00% for 2023. Could not directly confirm the 2026 rate or the precise NDCC subsection number via a working fetch of the state's own interest-charges page (kept redirecting); rate history and mechanism are corroborated by multiple consistent sources referencing the same agency page. MODERATE CONFIDENCE on the current-year (2026) numeric rate and the exact statute subsection — treat 11.0% as the most recently confirmed figure (2025), not a guaranteed 2026 value.

Source: North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services, Child Support Division (N.D.C.C. ch. 14-08.1 (interest on child support judgments; exact subsection not independently confirmed)). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Ohio: 7%/year simple interest. Not automatic — a court finding or request is required before interest accrues in this state.

Variable, recalculated annually (federal short-term rate rounded + 3%); 7% is the current-year rate. Interest on support arrears is discretionary and requires a court finding of willful default — not automatic.

Source: Ohio Legislature / Ohio Tax Commissioner (Ohio Rev. Code § 1343.03(A), rate set annually under § 5703.47; applied to arrears via § 3123.171). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Oklahoma: 2%/year simple interest.

Court-ordered past-due child support draws interest at 2% per year, accruing from the date each installment becomes delinquent; lump-sum arrears judgments draw interest from the first day of the month after entry. This is a reduced rate — Oklahoma's statute previously set the rate at 10% (in effect through at least 2015) before being lowered to 2%; confirm the effective date of the reduction if precision on historical arrears calculations is needed.

Source: Oklahoma State Courts Network (OSCN) — official Oklahoma statute repository (43 O.S. § 114). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Oregon: 9%/year simple interest. Not automatic — a court finding or request is required before interest accrues in this state.

General judgment interest rate of 9% simple per year applies to child support arrears, but it is NOT added automatically by the state child support program — the party owed support (or their attorney) must affirmatively request it and submit an accounting/calculation of accrued interest for it to be added to the arrears balance. Back child support in Oregon remains collectible for a long limitations period (commonly cited as up to 35 years for judgment liens).

Source: Oregon Legislative Assembly (Oregon Revised Statutes) (ORS 82.010(2)). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Rhode Island: 12%/year simple interest.

12% annual interest applies to unpaid child support arrears/late payments/retroactive support, not compounded. Family Court judges retain discretion to lower or waive the interest for good cause shown, but absent such relief the interest accrues by operation of law rather than requiring a separate motion. LOWER CONFIDENCE on source: the official Rhode Island General Assembly statute server (webserver.rilegislature.gov) returned a connection error during verification; the citation and rate are corroborated by multiple consistent secondary sources but the primary statute text itself was not directly read in this session.

Source: Rhode Island General Assembly (statute); official webserver.rilegislature.gov could not be reached directly during verification (R.I. Gen. Laws § 15-5-16.5 (see also § 15-13-3.1(i))). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

South Carolina: 10.75%/year (compounds — this calculator computes simple interest only, see note below).

Each past-due child support installment becomes a judgment by operation of law under South Carolina law, and interest accrues on it at the 'legal rate of interest' for money decrees and judgments, which the SC Supreme Court sets annually by order under § 34-31-20 (Wall Street Journal prime rate as of the first business day of the year, plus 4 percentage points, compounded annually). A Supreme Court order located during research covering Jan. 15, 2023 - Jan. 14, 2024 set the rate at 11.50%; a secondary source referenced a Jan. 7, 2026 order setting 10.75% for the Jan. 15, 2026 - Jan. 14, 2027 period, which is the figure used here as most current. MODERATE CONFIDENCE on the exact current-year numeric rate — the 2026 SC Supreme Court order PDF itself could not be read directly (PDF text extraction failed); the rate-setting mechanism, statute citations, and compounding are high confidence.

Source: South Carolina Supreme Court / South Carolina Judicial Branch (S.C. Code Ann. § 63-17-470 (child support interest, tied to the general judgment rate); § 34-31-20 (rate-setting mechanism)). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Tennessee: 6%/year simple interest. Not automatic — a court finding or request is required before interest accrues in this state.

Complex/tiered by when the arrears accrued: pre-4/17/2017 arrears accrued 12%/year automatically. For arrears since 4/17/2017, interest does not accrue automatically — a court must make a written finding. IV-D cases are capped at 6%/year by finding; non-IV-D (private) cases default to 6%/year but a court may reduce it, including to zero. This calculator uses the current 6% rate as a simplification.

Source: Tennessee General Assembly (Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-5-101(f)(1)). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Texas: 3%/year simple interest.

Simple interest. Per HB 4213, the rate is 3% for arrears/judgments arising ON OR AFTER Jan 1, 2026. Arrears accrued before that date continue at the prior 6% rate until paid — this calculator uses the current 3% rate as a simplification; a mixed old/new balance needs a manual split.

Source: Texas Legislature (Tex. Fam. Code § 157.265). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Vermont: 6%/year simple interest.

Vermont does not charge 'interest' as such on unpaid child support; instead, since Jan. 1, 2012, a child-support surcharge is imposed in lieu of interest, computed monthly at 0.5% (annualized 6%), not compounded. By statute the surcharge is deemed principal, not interest — flagged here because it functions economically like an arrears interest rate but is legally categorized differently, which matters for payment-application order (current support, then arrears, then surcharge). The court may discharge surcharges accrued since the last judgment if the obligor proves inability to comply.

Source: Vermont General Assembly (Vermont Statutes Online) (15 V.S.A. § 606). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Virginia: 6%/year simple interest.

Interest accrues automatically 30 days after a payment is missed. The obligee may waive interest in writing; the underlying arrears principal cannot be forgiven by the court.

Source: Virginia General Assembly (Va. Code § 20-78.2, tied to the judgment rate in § 6.2-302). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Washington: 12%/year (compounds — this calculator computes simple interest only, see note below).

Compounds annually — interest is added to principal at year-end, then earns interest itself the following year. This calculator computes simple interest only; your actual balance may be higher if it has compounded over multiple years. Does not apply to orders that already specify a different interest rate.

Source: Washington State Legislature (RCW § 26.23.030(2); RCW § 4.56.110(2)). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

West Virginia: 5%/year simple interest.

Each matured, unpaid child support installment stands as a decretal judgment by operation of law, and the unpaid amount bears interest from the date it accrued at 5% per annum (prorated for partial amounts/periods). Confirmed via direct statute text.

Source: West Virginia Legislature (W. Va. Code § 48-1-204). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Wisconsin: 12%/year simple interest.

1%/month simple interest (=12%/year). A department pilot program may apply a reduced 0.5%/month (6%/year) rate in certain cases.

Source: Wisconsin State Legislature (Wis. Stat. § 767.511(6)). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.

Wyoming: 10%/year simple interest.

Each child support installment becomes a 'judgment by operation of law' on its due date; if unpaid 32 or more calendar days after that, an automatic 10% late-payment penalty applies to the judgment amount, functioning as Wyoming's effective arrears interest/penalty mechanism (obligee must file a sworn affidavit with the clerk to reduce the penalty to a collectible amount, but the penalty itself accrues automatically once the 32-day threshold passes). LOWER CONFIDENCE on the precise text pull (drawn from a secondary Justia mirror plus consistent search-result quotations rather than a directly-read wyoleg.gov page), though the citation and mechanism are corroborated across multiple sources.

Source: Wyoming Legislature (statute); official wyoleg.gov statute page not directly loaded during verification (Wyo. Stat. § 1-16-103). Rate last verified 2026-07-30.