Texas parents who choose mediation over a courtroom fight often start from the assumption that child support is simply whatever the two of them agree to. It isn’t, quite. Texas courts measure every proposed child support number against a statutory guideline formula, and that formula shapes both what a reasonable starting point looks like at the table and whether a judge will actually sign off on the agreement once it’s reached. Knowing how the guideline works before mediation starts tends to produce numbers that hold up.
The Starting Point Is Net Resources, Not Gross Pay
Texas does not calculate support from a parent’s paycheck total. Under Texas Family Code § 154.062, the court works from “net resources,” a defined figure that includes wages, commissions, bonuses, self-employment income, rental income, retirement benefits, and several other income categories. From that total, the law allows a narrow, specific list of deductions: Social Security taxes, federal income tax calculated as if the parent claimed a single exemption and the standard deduction, union dues, and the cost of the child’s health and dental coverage. Real-world expenses that aren’t on that list, a car payment, a second mortgage, credit card debt, don’t reduce the net resources figure, even when they’re genuinely tight.
Guideline Percentages and the 2025 Cap Increase
Once net resources are calculated, Texas applies a flat percentage based on the number of children the order covers: 20 percent for one child, 25 percent for two, 30 percent for three, 35 percent for four, and at least 40 percent for five or more, under Texas Family Code § 154.125.
That percentage doesn’t apply to unlimited income. The guideline schedule caps out at a maximum monthly net resources figure that the Title IV-D agency (the Office of the Attorney General) adjusts every six years for inflation. That cap rose from $9,200 to $11,700 effective September 1, 2025. Anyone mediating a support agreement off an older worksheet or an outdated online calculator could easily undercalculate what a court would treat as the current guideline amount for a higher-earning parent.
When Income Exceeds the Cap
For a parent whose net resources exceed $11,700 a month, the guideline percentage applies only to that first $11,700. Beyond that, Texas Family Code § 154.126 lets a court order additional support based on the child’s proven needs, though the total generally can’t exceed the greater of the presumptive guideline amount or 100 percent of those proven needs.
Courts, and mediators helping parents anticipate what a court would do, can also depart from the straight percentage calculation entirely. Texas Family Code § 154.123 lists the factors a judge may weigh, including each parent’s share of possession time, extraordinary medical or educational expenses, child care costs tied to employment, whether either parent already supports children from another relationship, and the cost of travel required to exercise visitation. None of these factors override the guideline automatically; they’re grounds a court can use to justify moving away from it.
Health Coverage Is Its Own Line Item
Cash support and medical support aren’t the same obligation. Texas Family Code §§ 154.181 through 154.1825 require every child support order to address health and dental coverage separately from the monthly dollar figure, generally by directing whichever parent has access to reasonably priced coverage through an employer to carry the child. “Reasonable cost” has its own statutory ceiling, capped near 9 percent of the obligor’s annual resources for health coverage and 1.5 percent for dental. Parents who settle a mediated agreement without addressing this piece explicitly often find the court sends it back for revision.
Why the Guideline Number Still Matters at the Table
A mediated agreement on child support isn’t self-executing. Under Texas Family Code § 154.124, the terms parents reach in mediation become an enforceable order only after a judge reviews the agreement and finds it’s in the child’s best interest. An informal understanding, even a detailed one both parents signed, doesn’t carry the weight of a court order until that happens.
Timing matters too. Under Texas Family Code § 156.401, a later request to modify support generally requires either a material and substantial change in circumstances or, absent that, at least three years since the order was rendered along with a 20 percent or $100 gap between the existing amount and what the current guidelines would produce. Notably, the material-change clock can start running from the date a mediated or collaborative law settlement agreement was signed, not only from the date a judge later signs the final order. Parents who mediate a support number months before their divorce is finalized should keep that signing date in mind.
Parents working through mediation in Texas often benefit from having a firm like The Ramage Law Group review the proposed numbers against the current guideline before the agreement goes to the judge, since a mediated figure that doesn’t reflect the current cap, the correct deductions, or a properly addressed medical support provision is one a court is more likely to send back for revision.
The Bottom Line
Mediation gives Texas parents more control over how a child support agreement gets built, but it doesn’t remove the guideline framework from the equation. The net resources calculation, the current $11,700 cap, the deviation factors, and the separate medical support requirement all still apply, and a judge still has to sign off before any of it is enforceable. Building a mediated agreement around the current guideline, rather than around what feels fair in the room, is usually the faster path to a number that sticks.