Keeping Receipts Could Go Towards Your Child Support
Video Transcribed: Can the things I purchase for my child count towards my child support? I’m James Wirth, an attorney in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And that is the question that we have.
If I buy some items for my kids, do I get to deduct the cost for my child support obligation? The answer to that is no. Your child support obligation is money, and it’s money not paid to the child but paid to the custodial parent. And no matter what you buy for the child, separate from that, you cannot deduct it from your child support obligation.
However, keep those receipts if a child support order has not been entered yet, and you are buying things for your child. If it goes forward and they request child support later, if you were not married, under Oklahoma law, they can go back two years for back child support.
If they try to do that to you, you’ll want to say, “Look, I was providing things for my child, and I want that deducted from the back child support obligation before a child support order has been entered.” You may make some advances and get some headway on that. Get a judge to agree with you on that.
But if there’s already a child support order in place that determines the exact amount you’re supposed to pay per month, no, nothing that you purchase for your child, no matter how much it costs, no matter what it is is the court going to find that is a deduction from your child support obligation.
Your child support obligation is an obligation to the other parent. And it is a monetary obligation, not an obligation to provide stuff, but to provide money that the custodial parent decides how to best use for the child’s benefit.
So hopefully, that answers your question. Suppose you’ve got other questions in Oklahoma related to family law or other legal issues. In that case, you will want to talk to a Tulsa Child Support attorney privately and confidentially about that to convey specific legal advice. To get that scheduled with somebody at my office, you can go to makelaweasy.com.
