You Can Have Joint Custody and Still Be Ordered to Pay Child Support
Video Transcribed: If I have joint custody, do I still have to pay child support? I’m Tulsa Family Law Attorney James Wirth, and we’re talking about that. As it relates to Oklahoma law, the law in Oklahoma, if I have joint custody, do I still have to pay child support? And the answer is if we’re talking joint custody or sole custody, that is a separate issue from physical custody and is a separate issue from child support.
When we’re talking joint versus sole custody, that means legal custody. That means decision-making means who makes decisions for the children or the child, which is not necessarily a factor.
Well, technically, it’s not a factor at all in determining what child support is. So no, you can have joint custody and still be ordered to pay child support.
Technically you can have sole custody and be ordered to pay child support under bizarre circumstances because legal custody is not a determination. It’s about who has physical custody the majority of the time.
And if you have physical custody for over 120 nights per year, that starts to affect child support and lower child support for you the more overnights you have. But simply because you have joint legal custody, it is not an effect.
However, if you have joint legal custody, it’s more likely that you’re going to have more amounts of visitation. So maybe you have a 50/50 schedule. So if the question is, if you have a 50/50 schedule, does that mean that you don’t have to pay child support? The answer there is maybe.
Having that amount of visitation does affect child support, and it could ultimately lower it to zero, but it doesn’t have to. It depends on the disparity of income between the two parties.
If one party makes a lot of money and the other party makes a little money, and it’s a 50/50 schedule, the party that makes a lot of money will pay child support to the other parent.
However, if you make around the same amount of money or mainly if you make the same amount of money and you have a 50/50 schedule, then nobody’s going to be child-paying child support. It’s going to be a zero child support case. But your circumstances, I mean, they may be different.
The answer to this is going to be very specific to those. So you will want to talk to an attorney privately and confidentially to get legal advice. You’re going to get an appointment with a child custody attorney in Tulsa at my office to get legal advice particularized to your circumstances. Go to makelaweasy.com.
