Income Plays A Major Factor In Oklahoma Child Support
Video Transcribed: What factors determine child support in Oklahoma? My name is James Wirth. I am a child support attorney in Tulsa, and that’s the question that we have. It’s part of our series that we’re doing related to Oklahoma child support and Oklahoma child support guidelines. 10 factors determine the amount of child support somebody pays in Oklahoma. I’m going to go over those factors.
So, number one will be the number of children. If you have more children in the order, that will be more money. However, the money paid or contributed to child support for the second child will be less than for the first child. Although it doesn’t specify a particular amount for each child, you’ll just see that each additional child adds on less amount than the first child did. So that’s number one, the number of kids that you have.
Number two will be your income, and that’s income from all sources. There’s great detail in Oklahoma child support guidelines to determine what counts as income and what doesn’t, but your income is a big factor in determining child support.
Then obviously, the other factor will be that number three, which will be the other parent’s income. That will also be a huge factor from all the sources included in the Oklahoma child support guidelines. Put that all together, that’s the opposing party’s income, you’ve got your income, you add them together that determines the base amount that is split pro rata.
But long story short, the first factor is the number of children. The second factor is going to be your income. The third factor is going to be the other parent’s income. All right, we’ve got some factors that modify the amount of income for determining child support in the guidelines. So you’ve got your income, but it could be modified for some things before you put it there. So what are those factors that are modified?
We get into number four: other children in the home. If you’re caring for other children that are your biological children, that will be a discount off the income you enter into the child support guidelines. So that’s factor number four. Also, it applies to the other parent. The other parent is caring for other kids, which will lower their income for what is included in the Oklahoma child support guidelines.
Number five is another child support that you’re paying. If you’re paying other court-ordered child support and paying it, that will be a deduction from your income when you enter your income into the Oklahoma child support guidelines.
Another factor that can adjust your income is transportation costs. If the court is ordering you to do certain transportation to facilitate visitation, the costs associated with that may under the Oklahoma child support guidelines, maybe a deduction off of your income as your income is entered into the Oklahoma child support guidelines. So that’s number six, transportation costs.
Similar to that, we’ve got number seven, marital debt. Suppose it’s a divorce proceeding, and you take on certain marital debt with certain monthly costs.
In that case, the Oklahoma child support guideline allows that as a potential discount off your income before that income is entered into the Oklahoma child support guidelines. The court is not required to do that. You’ll notice that it is somewhat rare to see that adjustment made, but it is part of the guidelines, so you can make that request. Number seven marital debt.
All right, once you’re done with that, you’ve got the base child support amount, and then we look at an adjustment from there based on parenting time. So if each parent has more than 120 overnights per year, that affects it.
So the more overnights you have, the less child support you’ll have until you reach 50/50. Now, if it’s 50/50, that doesn’t mean there’s no child support. If one party makes more, there can still be a child support order, even if it’s a 50/50 schedule. But parenting time, several overnights, you have that’s number eight. It affects child support if both parents have 120 or more overnights.
All right, number nine, daycare costs. If there’s out of pocket expenses for daycare, that will be split pro-rata based on the party’s income. It will be in the child support calculation, so that is a factor that determines child support.
Last but not least, we’ve got number 10, which is healthcare costs attributable to the kids. So there’s a cost associated with getting the kids on the health insurance plan that’s going to be a factor for the child support because that’s going to be split pro rata as well.
So 10 factors that determine the amount of child support in Oklahoma. If you’re going through a child support case or a custody case where child support will be determined, you want to look at those factors. Make sure you have all the documentation that you need so you can present a case that’s favorable to you when determining the amount of child support.
To go over those factors more quickly, we’ve got number one: the number of kids. Number two is your income. Number three is the other parent’s income. Number four, the other children in the house you’re caring for are your biological kids. Number five, other child support that you’re paying according to a court order.
Number six, transportation costs for facilitating visitation with a child that’s at issue in that case. Number seven marital debt that you’re ordered to pay as part of that case. Number eight, custody time. How many overnights does each party have? Number nine, daycare costs. Number 10, health insurance costs.
Suppose you’ve got a question related to Oklahoma child support or legal matter in Oklahoma. In that case, you’ll probably want to get legal advice, but to get legal advice, you’ve got to talk to an attorney privately and confidentially. To get that scheduled with somebody in my office, you go to makelaweasy.com.
