The Oklahoma Statue Is Clear-Cut On When It’s Used
Video Transcribed: When are the Oklahoma Child Support Guidelines used? I’m Oklahoma attorney James Wirth. That’s the question that we have. I’m doing a series regarding Oklahoma child support, and that’s the first question is, when are the Oklahoma Child Support Guidelines used?
So first off, the Oklahoma Child Support Guidelines, are the statutory terms that determine how much child support a person pays. Essentially, there are a few rules. It’s based most saying the party’s income.
You take those combined incomes and you put them into this chart that is statutory, and it shows the amount of support and then is divided between the parties. With the main custodial parent, not paying, generally speaking, and then the other parent paying that amount or his pro-rata share in child support.
But the question is, when do we use these guidelines? And the statute is clear on that, for the most part. So let me just read this part of the statute for you. It says this is Title 43, Section 118. It’s the first statute of the child support guidelines. What it says is, “There shall be 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 following guidelines, that is the correct amount of child support to be awarded.” So it says the amount that is determined based on the child support guidelines, these guidelines that are statutory, that there’s a rebuttable presumption that, that is the correct amount.
It says, “The schedule of basic child support obligations assumes that all families incur certain child-rearing expenses, and includes in the basic child support obligation and average amount to cover these expenses for various levels of the parents’ combined incomes, and the number of children.
Comprising of, housing, food, transportation, basic public education, expenses, clothing, and entertainment. So it assumes that the parents are going to have those certain types of expenses and that the amounts determined for child support are under that assumption. So because you have these expenses here and there, that is not a reason to go around the guidelines.
So generally speaking, in almost every child support case, you go by the guidelines. There’s one clear-cut exception, and that is, the guidelines only go up to a combined income of the parents of 15,000 per month. If the combined income of the parents is more than $15,000 a month, the guidelines do not apply to you.
If the guidelines do apply to you, then it’d be very difficult to rebut that presumption. Most judges won’t do it. In the right crazy circumstances, maybe the court would do that. But generally speaking, you go by the Child Support Guidelines.
If you’ve got questions about child support in Oklahoma, you’re going to want to talk to an attorney about that, to get specific answers based on your specific circumstance. To get that scheduled with somebody at my office, you can go online to makelaweasy.com.
