One of the most frequently asked questions is how much child support should they be receiving or paying? Child support in Ohio is governed by Ohio Revised Code section 3119.

This statute contains the guideline child support tables that are presumed to be the correct amount of child support an individual should pay or receive based on the factors in the worksheet. It does not matter if you are going through a divorce, dissolution, collaborative divorce, or juvenile court case in Cincinnati, Hamilton, Clermont or Warren Counties; the child support you pay or receive should be the same.

Please be aware that the explanation contained in the preceding paragraph states only that the child support figure is the presumed correct amount.  In individual cases there may be reasons to deviate upwards or downwards.  The most common reasons to deviate downward are: extended parenting time or assumption of other costs.  The most common reasons to deviate upward would be extraordinary needs of the child(ren) such as medical or extracurricular activities.

In addition the tables contained in the statute top out at a combined $150,000.00 income level.  If the parties have a combined income of over $150,000.00 there may be reasons that the child support amount should be extrapolated beyond this $150.000.00 level.

For the purposes of this blog article, in calculating support, the assumption is going to be that this is a typical case, below the $150,000 combined income level and that there are no reasons to deviate upwards or downwards in support.

To understand how child support is calculated please go www.childsupportsoftware.com or navigate to the Client Resources Tab of this website for the link.  This website will allow you to input the information that is needed to calculate a child support worksheet.

After inputting the type of worksheet, which in this example is the sole or shared parenting worksheet, and inputting the number of children; the first section of the worksheet deals with the incomes of the parties. Lines 1 through 7 of the worksheet list different categories of income that need to be inputted to correctly calculate support.  An individual may have more than one type of income, and all income must be included in the worksheet. The figures used in this section are gross income amounts, not the income received after taxes and insurance.

Lines 8 through 20 of the worksheet are for deductions in income for both parties.  Items in this category include health insurance premiums paid for the children (only the difference between the cost for an individual policy and the cost for a family policy), daycare cost, other minor children not issue of the parties, spousal support or child support paid by either party, local income taxes paid, and work related deductions. As you can see there is nowhere in the worksheet to input any bills or expenses of the parties as this information is not included in a child support calculation.

The last part of the calculation is entered on lines 27(a)(b) and concern the deviation factors that were discussed at the beginning of this blog. After the information is entered into the worksheet, this website will automatically prepare a child support worksheet. Line 28 will be the yearly amount of child support to be paid, Line 29 is the monthly amount of support to be paid,  and line 30 and 31 deal with the amount of cash medical support to be paid. Cash medical support is only paid in situations where the children are covered under Medicaid for their health insurance.

This blog article was meant to give potential clients a general idea of how much child support they should be paying or receiving.  It by no means is meant to be an exact calculation. Even in calculating a relatively straightforward worksheet there are items that need to be looked at carefully, such as making sure that any day care expenses claimed are reduced by the federal income tax deduction received.

If are looking into a divorce, dissolution, collaborative law, or juvenile court case and are seeking a divorce attorney  in Cincinnati, Hamilton, Clermont or Warren County  please visit www.AndrewIceLaw.com  for  information or contact us at 513.651.4227 with any questions.