Child Support
Giulitto Law Office has attorneys with experience in handling child support issues in all courts in Portage County, Ohio and surrounding areas. Call our office today to speak with a lawyer about your child support issue.
Child support arises in a variety of contexts. If a child is born during a marriage and the parents divorce, the court will address support.
If parents have a child outside of a marriage, the mother is automatically presumed to be the custodial parent of the child. The mother is also entitled to receive child support. Ohio has a worksheet which is used to determine the monthly amount of support.
Support is typically established in two ways. The first would be to ask Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) to set up an administrative order. Paternity must be established, which the agency can do as well. Once paternity is established, the CSEA can order a monthly amount of support. If either party disagrees, they may ask a court to review the order.
The second way to establish support is through the court. The court will order support when paternity is established or through a divorce.
Child support may seem fairly straightforward because Ohio law has a calculation worksheet. The worksheet asks for information and will calculate a monthly support obligation.
This worksheet can be straightforward but in other cases can be quite complex. The worksheet gives credit for certain things, such as insurance costs to insure the child, day care expenses and credit for support paid to other children. There are also important questions related to what constitutes income, voluntary underemployment and how bonuses are calculated, just to name a few. Deviations from the calculation may also be appropriate in some case. Ohio law lists factors that the court considers when a party asks to grant a deviation. Further, the worksheet will only calculate incomes up to $150,000 per year. Parents above that threshold must properly determine their obligation without the assistance of the calculator.
All in all, child support can be fairly complex. Don’t put yourself in a situation where you are receiving too little or paying too much in support.
Call Giulitto Law Office today for a FREE CONSULTATION.
The Ohio Child Support statute can found here: