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HOW IS CHILD SUPPORT CALCULATED, COLLECTED AND PAID?
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When the parents of a child obtain a divorce through the court, the court will require that each parent pay a certain percentage of the monthly support of the child based upon the parent’s earnings. The child support is calculated as a percentage of the total amount due and includes, but is not limited to, expenses for the care, maintenance, food, health related expenses, housing, education, transportation, and extra-curricular activities for the children. These expenses have been reviewed in-depth by the Ohio legislature and have been codified in the child support statutes and set forth as a fixed amount of money to be paid by each parent in direct proportion to the income earned by each. The court considers it an affirmative duty imposed by Ohio law that it assess and collect child support for the benefit of the children. The Child Support Enforcement Agency in each county creates a file on each case, recording the income of each parent and the court Order on the amount of child support to be paid by each parent through the court. It is mandatory that the child support be paid through this agency which is a division of the domestic relations court. The Child Support Agency keeps track of the child support on a monthly basis and records any overpayments or arrearages owed by either parent.
When any parent falls behind in their child support obligation, the court can schedule a hearing to determine why there is a child support arrearage and how the payments will be made to bring the account current on the unpaid child support. If a parent persists in not paying the child support, appropriate contempt motions may be presented to the court and a parent who continues to fail to pay child support can be ordered to spend time in jail.
The child support laws in Ohio are complex and parents need the assistance of an attorney to calculate the current and future payments to be made on child support. The attorney also prepares and files orders with the court causing the child support to be deducted from the payor parent’s income, serving a copy of the court Order upon the payor parent’s employer who then pays the child support on a monthly basis into the Child Support Enforcement Agency who records the payment and distributes the child support. Certain statutory remedies are available that can be filed against an employer who fails to comply with the court Order on withholding the court ordered child support and paying that money into court on behalf of the employee parent. The court retains jurisdiction over the case until the youngest child is emancipated which can be when the child graduates from high school or attains the age of 18. The court has the jurisdiction to subpoena tax returns and other records to prove the income of a parent as long as the duty to pay child support exists.
In certain circumstances, the child support amount to be paid each month can be more or less than the amount set by statute in the event that the payment of the statutory amount would be inappropriate or unjust. In some cases, there are extraordinary expenses incurred by the payor parent such as transportation or travel expenses, which the court can take into account and adjust child support where the parent who may have custody has moved from the State of Ohio to a distant state and the non-custodial parent must incur very substantial expenses in traveling to exercise visitation with the child. In other cases, the amount of income earned by one parent may be so extraordinarily high, that it would be inappropriate for the child to not receive additional monies as child support.
If a parent decides to become voluntarily unemployed, the court can impute income at a level equal to the amount of money that the parent could earn if the parent were to work full-time based upon the parent’s education and skill level and jobs available in the community for that parent. The amount of income imputed to the parent is inserted into the Child Support Guidelines Worksheet in calculating the amount of money allocated to that parents’ obligation to pay his or her percentage of the monthly child support owed for the child.
In addition to child support, the court will review the matter of medical insurance coverage for the child and order that one or both of the parents maintain said insurance until the obligation to pay child support is terminated for that child. The availability of the medical insurance at a reasonable cost in today’s economy is a serious problem. The court must be careful not to order a parent to pay an obligation that the parent cannot pay or it is totally unreasonable to order given the extraordinary high cost of medical insurance. When the statutes on child support were formulated, the cost of medical insurance was a fraction of what it is in today’s economy. Certain innovative methods must be considered in allocating the costs of medical insurance between the parents in order to make sure that the child’s medical and health related expenses are paid by insurance, if possible.
There is no obligation of either parent to continue paying child support beyond age 18 or graduation from high school for their child. The court does not have jurisdiction to order either parent to pay for room, board, books, or tuition, or other college expenses after graduation from high school, unless the parties agree in a Separation Agreement or an Agreed Judgment Entry - Decree of Divorce to provide for payment of those expenses. If either parent has caused an alienation of affections to occur between the child and the other parent, often times that parent will find an excuse not to make any contributions toward the college expenses.
Sometimes, if the parents have worked out a parenting time and visitation schedule whereby the child spends one-half of the days each month with each parent, the child support obligation is zero for each parent and no money is owed to the other parent unless there is an extraordinary difference in income between the two parents. In those cases where there is an extraordinarily high difference of income, the court can deviate from the court ordered child support under Ohio law and order a reasonable amount of child support to be paid for the benefit of the child. The child support is paid solely for the benefit of the child and is not paid to the other parent for that parent’s personal expenses.
If a custodial parent interferes with visitation, the child support obligation continues and the money must be paid by the non-custodial parent, but that parent may file the appropriate motions with the court to enforce the prior parenting time and visitation schedule as ordered by the court. In the event that the child is not receiving the benefit of the money being paid each month for child support, the court will also entertain the appropriate motions at a hearing to listen to the facts and make Orders that will be in the best interests of the child, both as to the problems that existed and remedies for those problems now and in the future.
If a parent becomes unemployed and can no longer pay the child support obligation, the court will entertain a motion and set the matter for hearing to review the facts on why the child support order should be reduced. Likewise, in those cases where the income of a parent substantially increases from year to year, the court has continuing jurisdiction to review those increases in income, review the tax returns filed by the parties, and increase the child support where necessary for the benefit of the child. |
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