N.C. Gen. Stat. 50-13.4 requires the North Carolina Conference of Chief District Court Judges to prescribe uniform statewide presumptive guidelines for determining the child support obligations of parents, and it requires that the chief judges review the guidelines periodically (at least once every four years) to determine whether their application results in appropriate child support orders. The Conference of Chief District Court Judges currently is reviewing the statewide presumptive child support guidelines.
A copy of the current Guidelines can be found here:
The review includes all sections of the Guidelines that became effective January 1, 2023, including the substantive provisions contained in the first six (6) pages of the Guidelines, the Schedule of Basic Support Obligations, and the Worksheets used to calculate support obligations.
The purpose of the review is to ensure that payments ordered for the support of a minor child are in such amount as to meet the reasonable needs of the child for health, education and maintenance, having due regard to the estates, earnings, conditions, accustomed standard of living of the child and the parties, the child care and homemaker contributions of each party, and other facts of the particular case.
The chief judges are interested in receiving comments and suggestions regarding the Guidelines from judges, attorneys, clerks of court, members of the public and others. Comments and suggestions must be received by May 25, 2026.
Written comments should be mailed to:
N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts
Office of General Counsel
Attention: Child Support Guidelines Committee Staff
PO Box 2448, Raleigh, NC 27602
Written comments also can be sent to me by email at howell@sog.unc.edu and I will forward them to the chief judges.