Arkansas uses the Arkansas Administrative Order No. 10 (Income Shares) to determine child support obligations. Under the Income Shares model, both parents' incomes are combined to estimate what the family would have spent on the child if the household were intact. The obligation is then divided proportionally based on each parent's contribution to combined gross income.

Arkansas has several distinctive features in its child support system. Arkansas transitioned from a percentage-of-income model to income shares in 2020 — some older orders still use the old formula. The state uses a Family Support Chart that is updated periodically by the Arkansas Supreme Court. Imputed income at minimum wage applies when a parent is voluntarily unemployed.

Arkansas bases calculations on gross income — meaning income before taxes and deductions. This includes wages, salaries, commissions, bonuses, self-employment income, and other sources. The self-support reserve in Arkansas is $1,200/month, ensuring the paying parent retains enough income to cover basic living expenses.

Arkansas recognizes "Shared Physical Custody" when the non-custodial parent has the children for at least 110 overnights per year (approximately 30% of the time). When this threshold is met, the standard child support formula is adjusted to reflect the increased direct expenses borne by both parents.

Under Arkansas' Income Shares approach, the shared parenting adjustment typically calculates each parent's obligation based on their income share, then applies a credit or cross-calculation that accounts for the time each parent directly supports the child. The more overnights the non-custodial parent has, the greater the reduction in their payment — but the adjustment is not dollar-for-dollar because fixed costs like housing don't decrease when the child is away.

Below 110 overnights, Arkansas generally treats the arrangement as a sole custody situation with standard visitation, and no custody time adjustment is applied to the child support calculation.