|
HOW IS CHILD SUPPORT CALCULATED, COLLECTED AND PAID? By James H. Allison, Attorney at Law
7737 Olentangy River Road 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. |