How is child support calculated in Ohio?

Income

For a parent employed to full capacity, income is gross income; for a parent who is unemployed or underemployed, it is gross income plus potential income (R.C. 3119.01(C)(10)). Potential income is imputed only for a parent found voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, based on criteria such as prior employment, education, local job availability and wages, and evidence of the ability to earn it (R.C. 3119.01(C)(18)).

Income must be verified electronically or with documents such as paystubs, employer statements, and tax returns with all supporting schedules (R.C. 3119.05(A)). For overtime and bonuses, the court uses the lesser of the three-year yearly average or the prior year’s total (R.C. 3119.05(D)), and a new spouse’s income is not included (R.C. 3119.05(E)).

Parenting time

Except as R.C. 3119.051 otherwise provides, the annual individual support obligation is reduced by 10 percent when a court has issued or is issuing a court-ordered parenting time order that equals or exceeds 90 overnights per year. The reduction may be in addition to other deviations, and the court may eliminate it at the obligee’s request if the obligor, without just cause, has failed to exercise court-ordered parenting time.

Deviations

A court may order a different amount only if, after considering the factors in R.C. 3119.23, it finds the calculated amount unjust or inappropriate and not in the child’s best interest, and it must journal the calculated amount and its findings (R.C. 3119.22). Shared parenting orders follow R.C. 3119.24. The minimum order is $80 a month for all children under the order, with discretion to order less in appropriate circumstances (R.C. 3119.06).