What is Child Support, and How Much Can I Expect to Pay or Receive?
One of the most common questions posed by parents of minor children who are separated – or who are about to separate – is: what is child support and how much can I expect to pay or receive in child support from my co-parent?
This question and the concern which underlies it are completely understandable. Life is expensive on its own, and adding the cost of raising a child or children, and it is no wonder that both the prospective child support obligor (i.e. the person who pays support) and obligee (i.e. the person who receives support) might have concerns about how much each month they stand to owe or receive in child support, respectively.
In the second part of this three-part series, we took a closer look at how income and the other requisite inputs for the child support equation are calculated. In this third installment, we will examine some special circumstances that may impact the calculation of child support, including credits and deviations.
Credits
In addition to the credits discussed in part two of this series—specifically, the credit to a parent or parents for paying the cost of work-related daycare and the credit to a parent or parents for paying the cost of the child or children’s health, dental, and vision insurance—there is at least one additional main credit that may be available to the child support obligor: the 90-overnight credit. Specifically, if the child support obligor has 90 overnights per year with the child or children, they will receive a 10% credit. This credit applies to the annual child support obligation calculated by the Ohio Child Support Worksheet. To qualify for the credit, the court-ordered parenting time schedule must include 90 overnight visits between the obligor and the child or children. Notably, receiving the 10% credit does not prevent the court from incorporating additional deviations—both upwards and downwards—to the annual child support obligation calculated by the Ohio Child Support Worksheet.
Deviations
As discussed in part one of this series, the annual child support obligation calculated by the Ohio Child Support Worksheet is presumed to be the correct amount of child support for a court to award to the child support obligee. However, in many cases, that presumption can be challenged. Indeed, that presumption can be rebutted by evidence that certain expressly identified circumstances exist which render the calculated amount unjust or inappropriate and not in the child or children’s best interest. Such circumstances, if shown, may result in a deviation to the child support obligation.
In Ohio, a “deviation” simply refers to an increase or decrease to the annual child support obligation calculated by the Ohio Child Support Worksheet after any and all appropriate credits are incorporated. For example, imagine the annual child support obligation calculated by the Ohio Child Support Worksheet is $10,200 per year (or $850 per month). If the court were to, instead, award a child support obligation of $15,000 per year (or $1,250 per month), the same would represent an upward deviation to the annual child support obligation. In contrast, if the court were to, instead, award a child support obligation of $6,000 per year (or $500 per month), the same would represent a downward deviation to the annual child support obligation. As set forth above, deviations to the annual child support obligation may be appropriate in certain circumstances.
Factors for Child Support Deviations
Notably, the Ohio Revised Code expressly identifies certain factors which the court can consider when determining whether to grant a deviation. Those factors are as follows:
- Special and unusual needs of the child or children, including needs arising from the physical or psychological condition of the child or children.
- Other court-ordered payments.
- Extended parenting time or extraordinary costs associated with parenting time, including extraordinary travel expenses when exchanging the child or children for parenting time.
- The financial resources and the earning ability of the child or children.
- The relative financial resources, including the disparity in income between parties or households, other assets, and the needs of each parent.
- The obligee’s income, if the obligee’s annual income is equal to or less than one hundred per cent of the federal poverty level.
- Benefits that either parent receives from remarriage or sharing living expenses with another person.
- The amount of federal, state, and local taxes actually paid or estimated to be paid by a parent or both of the parents.
- Significant in-kind contributions from a parent, including, but not limited to, direct payment for lessons, sports equipment, schooling, or clothing.
- Extraordinary work-related expenses incurred by either parent.
- The standard of living and circumstances of each parent and the standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the marriage continued or had the parents been married.
- The educational opportunities that would have been available to the child had the circumstances requiring a child support order not arisen.
- The responsibility of each parent for the support of others, including support of a child or children with disabilities who are not subject to the support order.
- Post-secondary educational expenses paid for by a parent for the parent’s own child or children, regardless of whether the child or children are emancipated.
- Costs incurred or reasonably anticipated to be incurred by the parents in compliance with court-ordered reunification efforts in child abuse, neglect, or dependency cases.
- Extraordinary childcare costs required for the child or children that exceed the maximum state-wide average cost estimate as described in division (P)(1)(d) of section 3119.05 of the Revised Code, including extraordinary costs associated with caring for a child or children with specialized physical, psychological, or educational needs.
- Any other relevant factor.
Special Considerations for Shared Parenting
Additionally, where the parties have a shared parenting custodial arrangement, the Ohio Revised Code includes further factors for the court’s consideration, including:
- The ability of each parent to maintain adequate housing for the children.
- Each parent’s expenses, including childcare expenses, school tuition, medical expenses, dental expenses, and any other expenses the court considers relevant.
- Any other circumstances the court considers relevant.
Extended Parenting Time and Further Deviations
Finally, if the child support obligor has more than 90 overnights per year with the child or children based on the governing court-ordered parenting time schedule, then he or she may be entitled to a downward deviation to his or her parenting time as a result of this extended parenting time. This deviation is in addition to the 10% credit discussed earlier in this article. Typically, this additional deviation is most appropriate in circumstances when parents have roughly equal parenting time with the child or children at issue.
Legal Guidance in Child Support Matters
Ultimately, it is important to remember that calculating child support is more of an art than a science. Indeed, as the Ohio statutes reveal, while the Ohio Child Support Worksheet exists to calculate a baseline child support obligation, there are no similar statutory guidelines to assist in calculating an appropriate deviation to child support, if one is warranted. Moreover, when a court elects to grant a deviation to the child support obligation, the same is not inherently dollar-for-dollar or expressly correlated to the allocation of parenting time between the parents. As a result, the court maintains a lot of discretion when calculating child support. And with discretion can, at times, come uncertainty as to outcome. Accordingly, being represented by an attorney knowledgeable in family law can be invaluable in these circumstances.
What’s Next? Examining Low-Earning and High-Earning Scenarios
In the fourth and final installment of this series, we will examine how child support is calculated in two specific scenarios—in particular, when a child support obligor is especially low-earning or especially high-earning.
Do you have questions about child support? The experienced attorneys at KJK Family Law can help. If you need assistance on these or other domestic relations matter, please contact Janet Stewart Scalley at js@kjk.com or by phone at (216) 696-8700.