2021 Version - Missouri Civil Procedure Form 14: Child Support Amount Calculation Worksheet

In 1989, the Missouri Supreme Court issued guidelines for establishing a "presumed child support amount" in dissolution cases and other proceedings in which child support is awarded. These guidelines, contained in Missouri Supreme Court Rule 88, require the use of "Civil Procedure Form No. 14" for the calculation of the presumed amount of child support in all such cases. Under the authority of Section 452.340.8, R.S.Mo., the amount of support resulting from the Rule 88 guidelines "is the correct amount of child support to be awarded" unless a court specifically finds that application of the guidelines would be "unjust or inappropriate in a particular case."

Form 14 is subject to periodic review and revision by the Missouri Supreme Court. The most recent version of Form 14 was adopted by the Court on May 4, 2021, for use in all Missouri cases after November 4, 2021. In addition, the Court entered an order on October 5, 2021, clarifying certain instructions for performing the child support calculations and changing the minimum income requirements for determining the Line 11 adjustment for overnight visitation and custody. Together, these orders make significant new changes to Form 14.

This office has developed an electronic spreadsheet (a Microsoft Excel workbook) for use in performing the calculations mandated by Rule 88 and Form 14. This spreadsheet is available to family law practitioners and judges throughout Missouri, as well as to interested individuals. From this page you may:

• Purchase: Download a copy of the 2021 edition of Form 14 in spreadsheet form, for use with MS Excel 2007 or later


• Login: If you have already purchased the 2021 version of the spreadsheet, login here to download your copy. (Ver. 7.03 - 11/2/21)

Features of the New Form 14

The Supreme Court's 2021 version of Form 14 implements several significant changes to the previous version, including:

• A new schedule of basic child support obligations, with updated amounts at the lower and upper ends of the income spectrum.
• A change in the minimum income requirements that must be met before the parent paying support can receive the Line 11 credit for overnight visitation and custody.
• Changes and additions to the Directions and Comments for Use, including
• guidance for identifying the "parent paying support" when the parents have substantially equal parenting time,
• additional factors for determining whether income should be imputed,
• a refinement of the Line 2(c) instructions for determining whether a party should receive a deduction from income for the support of after-born children in a motion to modify case, and
• more specific instructions for addressing support obligations when custody has been awarded to a third party.

Version 7.0 of the spreadsheet implements these changes and preserves many of the other features familiar to existing users, including:

• Single click recalculation of support by redesignation of Petitioner or Respondent as the "Parent Paying Support,"
• The complete "Directions, Comments for Use and Examples for Completion" from the official form for easy reference,
• Automated prompts and alerts when special caveats or conditions may apply to the calculations, and
• A printable result suitable for filing as an exhibit.
• the ability to designate the party filing the Form 14 without a separate memo,
• refinements to the multicolumnar sheet that permit easy adjustment of varying additional child rearing costs,
• automated prompts whenever the new Line 5 test results in a lower presumed support amount for the Parent Paying Support, and
• the addition of a new sheet to clearly demonstrate operation of the new Line 5 test.

New improvements to the spreadsheet include:

• An additional display of calculated support results near the top of the Input Sheet, so that the effects of new or additional data are clearly visible.
• A return of the "notes" feature on the Input Sheet to track assumptions or annotate sources of values used in the form.

Screen shots of version 7.03 of the spreadsheet are available below.

This document was last revised: November 4, 2021.