Ohio Child Support

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Child support is the legal duty of divorced parents. It can also be termed as the legal right of children of such parents. It is determined by highlighting many major factors like the economic condition of parents, custodial arrangement, needs of children and standard of living. Since all these conditions vary from one family to another, the support amount is also different for different families. In Ohio, laws and regulations are formed pertaining to this issue. Ohio divorce child support this is determined by using a model named ‘Income share' that focuses on parent's responsibility in proportion to their income.

As mentioned in Ohio Revised Code (section 3103.03), the support amount should be continued until the child becomes emancipated that is, up to 18 years of age. The duty of support may be continued if the child is 19 and attending high school. Generally, no duty of support continues beyond 19 until this is specified in the relevant court order.

Ohio Divorce Child Support Guidelines

• The Ohio legislature had drafted the guidelines on the basis of economical condition of both the parents. These are implemented while calculating the child maintenance amount.
• In each case, the support amount derived using these guidelines are regarded as the precise amount of support.
• The earnings of the father as well as the mother are taken into account.
• Let us think of a parent who has a biological child from some other relationship and this child is residing with this parent. The guidelines permit an adjustment for each such child and this adjustment is equal to the federal tax exemption for each child.
• As per the guidelines, a credit must be given for child care expenses of those children mentioned in the order. These expenses can be related to education, employment training or work.
• According to the guidelines, there is a provision of credit for out of pocket and marginal expenses of health insurance. This credit impacts the amount of the support order.
• Let us think of those parents who are getting public benefits. Such parents are given child support services free of cost. All that is expected is they have to cooperate with the CSEA (Child Support Enforcement Agency) for determination of paternity and collection of child support. If any family is not getting public benefits, such parents have to make a written application for the services. The parent must submit an application at the local CSEA office in his/her county of residence.

• The Child Support Program in this state has a phone-in telephone system that gives information regarding payments, balances, addresses and telephone numbers of the county CSEAs. This system is called as the Interactive Voice Response System (IVR).
• The payment information provided by the IVR comprises of the following:
  • The date on which the previous payment was received. There is a daily updating of this information.
  • The gross balance due amount
• The Child Support Payment Status website provides different information to the payers and recipients like current balance, last payment, date of receiving, arrearage balance, total balance etc. When payments are not done as mentioned in a mandated order, the past due amount of child support is termed as 'arrearage'.
• An obligor can pay the support money in the form of cashier's check, money order or personal check. Checks should be payable to Ohio Child Support Payment Central (CSPC). One can mail via standard U.S. mail to:

  Ohio CSPC
  P.O. Box P.O. Box 182372
  Columbus, Ohio 43218-2372

• There are On-line payments options also. Payment by checking account debit can be made by visiting the website www.Expertpay.com. Payment by credit cards (MasterCard, Visa and Discover) can be made at www.e-ChildsPay.com.
• CSEA also accepts walk-in payments. An obligor must contact their county CSEA and confirm walk-in payments before visiting the agency in person.
• Custodial parents can receive the support amount in two ways - Direct Deposit and Ohio e-QuickyPay® Debit MasterCard®.
  • In the first method, the amount is deposited directly to the receiver's account.
  • The e-QuickyPay® Debit MasterCard® provides the custodial parent with a debit card in order to receive the amount. It can be used by a custodial parent at any place that accepts Maestro® or MasterCard® debit card.

It is extremely essential for non-custodial parents to continue their Ohio divorce child support amount as specified in the court order. Otherwise they will be the subject of enforcement orders that include reporting to credit bureaus, seizure of various funds like pensions, insurance proceeds, any endowment, annuities etc., personal earnings withholding and placement on the state's Most Wanted Poster. Thus parents should realize this fact and plan their course of action, well in advance.

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