There Are Three Additional Times When You Can Deviate from the Child Support
Video Transcribed: Special deviations from the Oklahoma child support guidelines, I’m Tulsa attorney, James Wirth is doing a series related to child support in Oklahoma. The prior video is about deviations from the Oklahoma child support guidelines.
And when you could do so, and this one is about three additional times when you can deviate from the child support guidelines under special circumstances. So what are those? The first one is related to when a child is in DHS or state custody.
So if a child protective services remove a child from the home, puts it into state custody or goes through a deprived child action, then it is somewhat common and the statute allows a deviation downward from the child support guidelines so that the parents are paying less child support because working a plan in a deprived child case, working through your ISP individualized service plan can be costly and put expenses on the parents and they could be needing to get a household set up properly.
They could be paying costs for certain classes. So the statute, which is Oklahoma title of 43 section one 18H, and we’re dealing with subsection F there, allows a deviation downward so that the parents have more funds available to pay on those things rather than paying child support that’s ultimately going to the state while the state has custody of the children. So that’s the first one.
The second one is extraordinary educational expenses. And this relates to if the parents have a child with special needs, and I’ll just read the statute for you at subsection D G of title 43, section one 18 H, extraordinary educational expenses may be added to the presumptive child support as a deviation, extraordinary educational expenses include, or, but not limited to tuition room and board books, fees, and other reasonable and necessary expenses associated with special needs education for a child, with a disability under the individuals with disabilities education act.
And also that the costs have to be appropriate based on the financial abilities of the parents. And in determining the amount of deviation for extraordinary educational expenses, scholarships, grants, stipends, and other cost-reducing programs should be considered. So that’s the second one.
The third special type of deviation is for special expenses and this deals with private school tuition, but it’s only available in limited circumstances. So it’s also title 43, section one 18 H we’re dealing with subsection H then, special expenses.
And it says that special expenses incurred for child-rearing, which can be quantified, may be added to the child support obligation as a deviation upward from the current monthly child support obligation, such expenses include, but are not limited to private school tuition, camp, music or art lessons, travel, school-sponsored extracurricular activities, such as band clubs, athletics, and other activities intended to enhance the athletic, social, or cultural development of a child, but that are not otherwise required to be used in the calculating child support order as are health insurance premiums and work-related childcare costs.
So some factors in determining whether to deviate from extraordinary expenses include a history of expenditures for such activities, the financial abilities of the parents, and whether the child has exhibited an extraordinary aptitude for the activity that you’re talking about.
And just like on the prior one, if there are grants, stipends, or other costs, reducing programs that are being provided, that is factored in as well. So this one deals with primarily extracurricular costs, private school tuition, and the main factor that the court’s going to look at, if we’re deviating to make that part of the child support obligation, is whether that was historically provided prior to the child coming before the court on this issue.
So if you’re going through a divorce and the kids have been getting this for the last 10 years, odds are that the judge is probably going to continue that and order this deviation upward for special expenses.
So those are three types of special circumstances where you can get a deviation, one where the child is in state custody. You got a deprived child action going on and they deviate downwards. So the parents have more funds to pay towards things required on their ISP.
Two, if you’ve got a child with special needs that has additional schooling costs, and educational costs, then there could be a deviation upwards to cover that. And three would be for special extracurricular activities or private school where those have been provided for before, where the child has an extraordinary aptitude for an activity. The court can consider that as well.
But if you’ve got a question about child support in Oklahoma, don’t just watch these videos, talk to an attorney privately and confidentially to get legal advice, to get that scheduled with a Tulsa Child Support Collection Attorney at my office. You can go online to makelaweasy.com.
