Anything Involving Children must be Included
Video Transcribed: Does a child support order have to be included as part of my divorce case? I’m Oklahoma lawyer James Wirth, and that’s the question that we have as part of our child support series. And, that is statutory as well, the answer to that, and the answer is yes.
If there are children involved and you’ve got custody decisions, you’re going to have to have child support decisions in there as well. We have a lot of people that just want to get an order in turn on one thing and not another thing, and the judge rejects it and they don’t know why.
Well, it’s statutory. It’s Title 43, section 112. And what it provides is that a petition or a cross-petition for a divorce, legal separation or annulment must state whether or not the parties have minor children of the marriage.
If there are minor children of the marriage, the court shall make provisions for guardianship, custody, medical care, support, and education of the children. So, that is a shall.
So the law says that in order for the court to make orders related to those things, it’s got to include an Oklahoma child support order as well. Sometimes, under the right circumstances, you might be able to do some temporary orders that don’t include it, as long as your final order does.
It depends on the judge and how strictly they want to follow the statute. But generally speaking, if you’re filing for the divorce, there are children involved, and the court is going to want an order related to child support, custody, and everything else together. Most judges do not like to piecemeal it, they like it all done at the same time.
If you’re dealing with those circumstances, and need some help from an attorney, you’re going to want to talk to somebody privately and confidentially. To get that scheduled with somebody in my office, you go online to makelaweasy.com.
