What this is
About CleanCalc CA
CleanCalc CA estimates California child support using the statewide uniform guideline formula in Cal. Family Code §4055, as amended by SB 343 (operative September 1, 2024). Five questions in sixty seconds, with the formula and the math shown next to the number.
Why we built it
Existing California calculators ask 12–17 questions, use unexplained jargon ("HN," "TN," "K," "obligor"), and present a final number with no breakdown of how they got there. Several of them — including one that bills itself as the "official" calculator — display warnings that their tax math may be out of date. Some are lawyer-referral lead funnels disguised as calculators.
We thought the floor for a tool that handles a number this important — monthly support is often the largest line item in either parent's budget — should be: show the formula, with the user's actual inputs substituted, in plain English. If our number doesn't match a court order or an attorney's calculation, you should be able to see exactly why. That's what this tool does.
Why you can verify the math
The §4055 / §4059 / §4061 / §4062 engine is covered by 226 unit tests + 271 integration tests. We compare every release against the California Department of Child Support Services' own calculator on a fixed set of 26 fixtures spanning single-earner, two-earner, MFJ-with-new-spouse, self-employed, multi-child, low-income (LIA), and hardship scenarios — current parity is 24 of 26 EXACT to the dollar, 26 of 26 within $1/month.
The §4055(b)(3)(A) worked example embedded in the statute itself (K = 0.21 for the canonical inputs) is one of our test fixtures. If the statute publishes an example, we reproduce it to the cent.
Statute citations on this page link directly to leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Verify any claim by clicking the section number.
What it gets right
- Implements the post-SB 343 K-factor table (most online calculator tutorials still use the old gross-income tiers — those are wrong under current law).
- Computes federal income tax (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, tax year 2026) and California state income tax (FTB 2025 schedules — FTB has not yet published 2026 brackets) plus FICA (2026 SS wage base $184,500) from your gross income.
- Returns BOTH the bare-formula number AND the post-Low-Income-Adjustment number as first-class results. The §4055(b)(7) LIA is a rebuttable presumption — the court computes both and rules.
- Reproduces the worked example embedded directly in §4055(b)(3)(A) (K = 0.21 for the statute's own canonical inputs) as one of our test fixtures.
What it doesn't do
- It is not legal advice. See Terms.
- It is not a Judicial Council–certified calculator (Cal. Fam. Code §3830 + Cal. Rule of Court 5.275). Certification is a license to compete that we have not yet pursued — it is not a missing feature. Xspouse, Family Law Software, Cal Support, and FamilySoft SupportCalc are currently certified; CleanCalc targets the same §4055 statute and matches the DCSS reference calculator within $1/month on all 26 fixtures we validate against.
- It does not generate Form FL-342 itself — the underlying order form that you (or your attorney) fill out. CleanCalc does generate the computer-calculation printout that FL-342 Item 1 authorizes as "attached and incorporated in this order," plus the mandatory FL-192 Notice of Rights attachment, plus (when you declare §4057 deviation grounds) FL-342(A) Non-Guideline Findings as a blank for you to complete.
- It does not compute permanent (post-judgment) spousal support. Marriage of Schulze (1997) makes that reversible error — California's §4320 lists 14 discretionary factors that courts weigh case-by-case, no formula. We display the §4320 checklist instead.
- It does not handle other states. California-only is intentional — better to be the best calculator for one state than a mediocre one for fifty.
Who built it
An independent project. Not affiliated with any law firm, the California Department of Child Support Services, or the Judicial Council. The engine source code lives in a private repository while we iterate; the legal disclaimers and statute citations are subject to attorney review before public launch.
Get in touch
Bug reports, feature requests, statute corrections, partnership questions: support@cleancalc.io. For payment or PDF-download issues, include whether you received the Stripe receipt email so we can pinpoint where the flow broke.