How a Virginia child support order is changed (2026)

How is a child support order changed in Virginia?

Only by a new order. Under Code of Virginia § 20-108, the court may revise a support decree on the petition of either parent, on its own motion, or on the petition of a probation officer or the Department of Social Services. The petition must give the reasons for the change. There are two routes:

• A petition to the court that entered the order, or the court that now has the case.
• A review by the Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE). DCSE reviews both parents’ income and expenses. If its order is an administrative one, DCSE updates it; if it is a court order, DCSE reports its findings and a proposed modified order to the court, and any change must be entered by the court (§ 63.2-1921 A).

What counts as a material change in circumstances?

Virginia courts change support when circumstances have materially changed. The statutes name some situations:

Situation	What the statute says
A parent is incarcerated for 180 or more consecutive days	A material change on which modification may be based (§ 20-108.1 B 3)
A parent consistently does not use the shared custody time the award was based on	A rebuttable presumption that the award should be modified (§ 20-108.2 G 3 (e))
A parent becomes responsible for a new child	Not by itself a material change (§ 20-108.2 C)
A parent stops extra work taken on to pay off a support arrearage	Not a material change (§ 20-108.2 C)
A DCSE review finds the guideline differs from the award by at least 10 percent and at least 25 dollars a month	Deemed a material change (§ 63.2-1921 C)

Other changes, such as a change in either parent’s income, in the children’s needs, or in child care or health costs, are weighed by the court on the facts.

How much would the amount change?

The new amount is worked out with the guideline at the parents’ current incomes and circumstances. For one family where the other parent’s income rises from $6,000 to $7,000 a month:

Other parent’s income	Guideline a month
$6,000	$750.60
$7,000	$848.91

A change in parenting time can matter more than a change in income, because Virginia’s shared custody formula starts above 90 days a year:

Days a year with the other parent	Formula	Support a month	Paid by
60 days	Sole custody	$750.60	the other parent
90 days	Sole custody	$750.60	the other parent
91 days	Shared custody	$614.19	the other parent
146 days	Shared custody	$350.28	the other parent

How often can the Division of Child Support Enforcement review an order?

DCSE says most orders can be reviewed every 36 months, counted from when the order was first set or last reviewed. A review can happen sooner after a major change, such as a change in income, a change related to a child, or a change in child care or health care costs, and some reviews start automatically. A review does not always lead to a change; if none is needed, the 36 months start again. A review can be requested online by starting the Request for Review and Adjustment in the MyChildSupport portal, or by downloading the form from DCSE’s forms page and uploading it there; DCSE Customer Service and the district offices also take requests. A petition to the court uses form DC-630, Motion to Amend or Review Order, on the courts’ Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court forms page.

When DCSE proposes a modified court order, either parent can ask for a hearing within 30 days of being notified. Without a request, the court enters the order, effective from the date notice of the review was served. If the original order deviated from the guideline, DCSE schedules a hearing instead (§ 63.2-1921 A and B).

Is a change in child support retroactive?

Only back to the date the other parent was given notice of the petition. Section 20-108 says no support order may be retroactively modified, but it may be modified for any period while a petition is pending, from the date notice of the petition was given to the responding parent. Every Virginia order states its effective date, and in a modification it may be the date of notice (§ 20-60.3, item 7). Support that fell due before then stays owed, with interest unless it is waived; see back child support in Virginia.

Does a parent losing a job change support?

It can be grounds for a review, but it does not change the order until a new order is entered. A court can base support on the income a parent could earn when the parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, and it weighs the good faith and reasonableness of a change of job (§ 20-108.1 B 3). See low incomes and imputed income.

Do changes in the law change existing orders?

An existing order does not change by itself when the guideline changes. The schedule updated by chapter 702 of the 2025 Acts of Assembly, in force from 1 July 2025, applies when support is next set or modified. Separately, § 20-108.1 F says amendments to § 20-108.1 are not retroactive and are not by themselves a material change; § 20-108.2 has no matching sentence about the schedule.

Are military deployments handled differently?

A service member who files or is a party to a petition to change custody, visitation or support because of a parent’s deployment is entitled to have the petition expedited on the court’s docket (§ 20-108).

What this guide does not cover

This guide does not cover court filing procedures or fees, how courts decide whether a particular change is material, enforcement of unpaid support, or orders from other states. The amounts shown are guideline estimates, not legal advice. The engine also leaves out these parts of Virginia’s guideline:

• Half of any self-employment tax paid is also deducted from income (not modeled).
• Reasonable and necessary unreimbursed medical and dental costs are shared in proportion to gross income as they are incurred, outside the monthly amount (§ 20-108.2 D, not modeled).
• Deductions for other children are not modeled: support paid for other children under an order or written agreement, and the schedule amount for a parent's own children living with that parent (§ 20-108.2 C).
• Disability benefits paid to the children from a parent's entitlement count as that parent's income and are credited against support (§ 20-108.2 C); not modeled.
• Low income is not modeled beyond the minimum: when the paying parent's gross income is at or below 150% of the federal poverty level, a court may set less than the statutory minimum, and the minimum does not apply to some parents (for example those imprisoned for life or totally and permanently disabled) (§ 20-108.2 B). Shared custody support is not presumed correct when either parent's income is that low (G 3 (d)).
• Days are counted as whole days; the half-day rule for an overnight of less than 24 hours (§ 20-108.2 G 3 (c)) is not modeled.
• Split custody, different schedules for different children, and mixes of sole, split and shared custody (§ 20-108.2 G 2, 4 to 6) are not modeled.