Child Support Guidelines
Ohio family law includes official Child Support Guidelines for judges to use to help determine and order an amount of child support. Courts use these guidelines in case parents aren’t able to agree on a child support amount on their own.
Family law courts in the state use the Income Shares Model to calculate child support. That model estimates the amount of support that the child would have received if the marriage had not failed, then divides the amount proportionally to the parents according to each parent’s income and ability to pay.
Factors that Ohio judges use in arbitrating child support orders include special and unusual needs of the children, spousal support obligations, income disparities between parents, benefits received by either party from remarriage or shared expenses, and many others.
Sole Residential Parent vs. Shared Parenting Support Arrangements
In a sole residential parent situation, parents divide basic child support between themselves on a pro rata basis. The support amount also figures in items like day-care and health insurance premium costs. In a shared parenting situation, support is calculated for parent as though each was the sole residential parent and legal custodian. This formula figures in the parenting time division and other factors like exceptional educational costs for the child.
Medical Expenses and Health Insurance
Basic medical and dental expenses for the child are included in child support orders. But Ohio additionally requires that one or both parents pay for any extraordinary health care that the child needs that aren’t covered by insurance. Ohio courts calculates those extra amounts by using a formula that factors in both parents’ incomes.
Child Support Duration
The typical Ohio child support order ends when the child turns 18 or graduates high school, unless another arrangement is ordered by the court or agreed upon by the parent. Exceptions to this may include special circumstances for disabled children, and or when parents agree to extend child support through the child’s tenure in college.
Modifications
You may qualify to have your child support obligation modified due to a change of circumstance in your life i.e. job loss, seriously illness that renders you unable to work, birth of a new child, etc. It’s imperative that you contact a family law attorney to discuss whether your circumstances qualify for a modification of child support.
