Oklahoma Child Support

Oklahoma Child support is money paid by a parent for the financial benefit of the child(ren). The support is also intended to protect the child(ren) from the economic impact of the termination of the normal parent child relationship.  You will find child support orders in law suits including divorce, paternity and guardianship’s.  The obligation to pay support and the child’s right to receive such support has been internationally recognized.  Usually courts will order the non-custodial parent to pay to the custodial parent a certain amount for the benefit of the child(ren). In Oklahoma family and divorce law when determining the amount of support the courts are guided by the Oklahoma Child Support Guidelines.

Calculating Child Support

Oklahoma law provides a rebuttable presumption in any judicial or administrative proceeding for the award of child support, that the amount of the award which would result from the application of the Oklahoma Child Support Guidelines is the correct amount of child support. The guidelines provide that all child support shall be computed as a percentage of the combined gross income of both parents.

Gross income includes both earned income and passive income. For example, Earned income includes but is not limited to salaries, wages, commissions, bonuses, and severance pay. Passive income includes but is not limited to dividends, pensions, rent, interest income, trust income, annuities, social security benefits, workers’ compensation benefits, unemployment insurance benefits, disability insurance benefits, gifts, prizes, and royalties.

In the event one parent is unemployed at the time, that parent will be imputed to make at least minimum wage or an amount a person with comparable education, training and experience could reasonably expect to earn. There is some income that is excluded from the gross income. Those amounts include actual child support received for other children, and benefits received from public assistance programs including, but not limited to: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Food Stamps, and General Assistance and State Supplemental Payments for Aged, Blind and the Disabled. Other factors are considered when calculating a parties’ child support obligation.

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Child Support of Each Parent

After the total combined child support is determined, the percentage share of each parent shall be allocated by computing the percentage contribution of each parent to the combined adjusted gross income and allocating that same percentage to the child support obligation to determine the base child support obligation of each parent. The base child support obligation for each parent is also used to determine each parent’s percentage obligation for other child related expenses. Such as day care, insurance, out of pocket medical and school expenses. The number of overnights the child(ren) stay with each parent is included in the calculation. In sum, the more overnights the child(ren) stay with a parent the less that parent’s child support obligation will be. Finally, in all cases the parent with the larger child support obligation shall pay the difference between the two amounts to the parent with the smaller child support obligation

Modification of Child Support

Oklahoma law provides that Oklahoma child support orders may be modified upon a material change in circumstances which include, but not limited to, an increase or decrease in income, changes in actual child care expenses, changes in medical or dental insurance, or when one of the children in the child support order reaches the age of majority or otherwise ceases to be entitled to support pursuant to the support order or Oklahoma law.

Its important to realize that if your child support needs modified that you do it now. The reason is that child support isn’t retroactively modifiable. If you wake up one day and realize you’ve been paying to much child support you can only reduce it going forward.

Tulsa Lawyers Near You

If you’ve got a family law concern we can help. Family law and child support doesn’t have to be so difficult but sometimes it is. Our law firm helps with all sorts of child custody and child support cases. With nearly twenty years of experience with all sorts of cases throughout Oklahoma we know what to do. Get a free consultation by calling 918-743-2233 or clicking here for an email question.