Oklahoma Parenting Coordinator Act Does Specify Who Pays the Parenting Coordinator
Video Transcribed: Who pays for a parenting coordinator appointed in Oklahoma family law case? I’m Oklahoma family law attorney James Wirth and we’re about to talk about the cost of a parenting coordinator.
The Oklahoma Parenting Coordinator Act does specify in it a general default on who pays the parenting coordinator, and that is a split by the child support guidelines. So, essentially, the cost is split pro-rata based on the party’s income, just like child support is determined.
So if one party makes 75% of their total combined income, the other party makes 25, then that party that makes 75% is going to be paying for 75% of the parenting coordinator fee.
That’s the default. It doesn’t have to be that way. The court either could accept an agreement of the parties to do something different.
Sometimes they deviate from the guidelines, the child support’s split to go 50/50.
Or the court could make a determination that something else is more beneficial to the parties, and the court could decide a different split than that.
So the default is split pro-rata by income, but if there’s an agreement by the parties, or the court finds that something else is in the best interest of the children, the court could order something different.
Okay, so what is the cost of a parenting coordinator? Well, it depends on the parenting coordinator. There’s various parenting coordinators out there from different backgrounds. They charge different rates.
So you might have a mental health professional that is a parenting coordinator that charges a certain amount. Most of them are attorneys and they typically charge something akin to their regular hourly fee that they charge their clients in family law cases.
So if you’re looking for a parenting coordinator, you want to shop around. Check out different rates, check out different backgrounds. And then when you request the appointment, you’re going to want to have arguments ready on how those fees should be split and how they’re going to be paid.
Because the court does not pay those fees, it’s not going to come out of the court fund. The parties are going to have to come up with them. The parenting coordinators for the most part are not volunteering their time, they do have to be paid.
But just feel good that you’re saving a lot of time and saving a lot of money by using a parenting coordinator, usually, then by taking all the issues through the court process.
If you’ve got more questions about appointing a parenting coordinator, want to talk to an attorney about it, you can talk to somebody in my office by going to makelaweasy.com.
