Changing a child support order in Texas (2026)

When can child support be modified in Texas?

Texas Family Code § 156.401(a) allows a court to modify a support order, including an order for health or dental coverage, if either:

1. A material and substantial change. The circumstances of the child or of a person affected by the order have materially and substantially changed since the order was rendered, or since the signing of the mediated or collaborative law settlement agreement it was based on; or
2. Three years and a guideline difference. It has been three years since the order was rendered or last modified, and the monthly amount differs by either 20 percent or $100 from the amount the guidelines would give now.

If the parents agreed to an amount different from the guideline, the court may modify it only on the first ground (§ 156.401(a-1)).

How does the 20 percent or 100 dollar test work?

Either difference is enough. The comparison is between the amount in the order and the guideline amount for the current circumstances. Three examples for one child, each comparing the guideline at an earlier and a later wage, both computed with the rules in force today:

Example	Wages before	Guideline before	Wages now	Guideline now	Which part of the test is met
Moderate raise at a high income	$10,000	$1,554.17	$11,000	$1,691.47	the dollar difference only
Raise at a low income	$1,256.67	$232.11	$1,600	$290.35	the 20 percent difference only
Larger raise	$4,000	$679.13	$6,000	$991.37	both

The test works in both directions: a lower income can produce the same size of difference.

What counts as a material and substantial change?

The statute names a few situations and leaves the rest to the court:

• incarceration of the paying parent for more than 180 days (§ 156.401(c-1));
• release from incarceration, if support was abated, reduced or suspended during it (§ 156.401(d));
• not, by itself, an order of joint conservatorship (§ 156.401(c));
• not a history of paying more than the order voluntarily (§ 156.403);
• not an increase in the needs, standard of living or lifestyle of the parent receiving support (§ 156.405).

The Attorney General’s Child Support Division gives as examples a change in the paying parent’s income, a new legal duty to support more children, a change in the children’s health insurance, and the children now living with a different parent.

The court can use the single and multiple family guidelines to decide whether a change warrants modification (§ 156.402), and a new spouse’s income is never added to either parent’s (§ 156.404).

Does the 2025 cap increase allow a modification?

Not on its own date. The net resources cap rose from $9,200 to $11,700 a month on 1 September 2025, but existing orders did not change. For a paying parent with net resources above the old cap, the higher guideline amount can create the 20 percent or $100 difference once three years have passed since the order, or be part of a wider change in circumstances. See the high income guide.

From when does a modified amount apply?

A modification of the amount applies only to support that accrues after the earlier of the date the other party is served with citation or the date that party appears in the modification suit (§ 156.401(b)). Until then the existing order applies in full. The Attorney General’s office states that unpaid support carries interest and that the ordered amount changes only through a court order. Support already unpaid stays owed: a court confirming arrears may not reduce them (§ 157.263(b-3)). The back child support guide covers interest and enforcement, including the federal tax refund offset.

How do you request a review from the Attorney General?

Parents with an open case at the Office of the Attorney General can submit one Request for Review, online or on the paper form mailed to the Child Support Division. The office describes the process this way:

1. It contacts both parties within 30 days.
2. It gathers both parties’ income, the children’s health insurance and addresses.
3. A review specialist decides whether a modification should proceed; both parties can disagree and pursue their own modification.
4. If approved, a Child Support Review Process negotiation appointment is scheduled to write a new order for a judge to sign; if a party does not agree, the case goes to court.

The office says obtaining a modified order this way may take at least 6 months. Parents can also file a petition to modify directly with the court that has the case.

What if the order came from another state?

Unless both parents and the child now live in Texas, a Texas court can modify another state’s order only as the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act in chapter 159 allows (§ 156.408). See moving to another state.

Open this family in the Texas calculator

What this guide does not cover

This guide does not cover court filing steps and forms, temporary orders, or modification of custody and possession. The calculator cannot compute an order made before 1 September 2025 under the earlier cap and tax charts, so the examples above use today’s rules for both incomes. The engine also leaves out these parts of the Texas guideline:

• For children in one household. Children in more than one household are computed with a credit for the other children (154.128), or with the alternative table in 154.129; not modeled.
• Dental support (up to 1.5% of the paying parent's resources, 154.1825), cash medical support when no health insurance is available (154.182(b)(3)) and uninsured medical costs (154.183(c)) are ordered on top of this, not modeled.
• Self-employment income is not modeled. The engine deducts an employee's Social Security and Medicare; for self-employment income the Attorney General's self-employed chart deducts self-employment tax instead, which gives lower net resources.
• Net resources here only count wages. Other income and some deductions (154.062) are not modeled.

The figures are estimates of the guideline amount. A court can order a different amount, and an existing order only changes when it is modified.