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The laws of Ohio governing child support, child custody, and child visitation are generally contained in the Ohio Revised Code at Chapter 3109, available here. Statutes concerning divorce, separation, alimony, and many other family law issues are generally found in the Ohio Revised Code at Title 31, available here.
To fully understand Ohio divorce law and family law, it may be necessary to read and interpret statutes with case law and regulatory law. It is also important to know if law is up to date. For these and other reasons, it is always best to consult with a qualified Ohio family law attorney to know how the law applies to your particular situation. The following legal summaries are not intended as legal advice and should not be relied on as such. They are intended only as an introduction to the way that the law functions in these areas.
Child Support in Ohio
Child support is the court-ordered payment by one parent to the custodial parent of a minor child, generally after divorce or separation.
The amount of child support is generally calculated based on the Child Support Schedule given under section 3119.021 of the Ohio Revised Code (a link here) The applicable worksheets and the other provisions are provided under sections 119.02 to 3119.24 of the Revised Code.
The court may decide to deviate from the set child support schedule if it finds that child support amount calculate is unjust and not in the best interests of the child. These conditions would include:
- • Child having special and unusual needs
- • Extraordinary obligations towards minor children or towards handicapped children who are not stepchildren
- • Payments to be made under other court orders
- • Cost for extending parenting time or extraordinary costs resulting from abiding with the parenting time
- • Obligor seeking additional employment to support his or her second family, while contributing towards the child support amount
- • Available financial resources and the earning ability of the child
- • Disparity in income between parties or households
- • Benefits that either parent receives from remarriage or sharing living expenses with another person
- • Amount of federal, state, and local taxes actually paid or estimated to be paid by a parent or both of the parents
- • Contributions made by each parent in kind
- • Available financial resources, other assets and resources, and needs of each parent
- • Standard of living and circumstances of each parent and the standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the marriage
- • Physical and emotional condition and needs of the child
- • Need and capacity of the child to receive education and the educational opportunities that would be made available to child if the court order for support had not arisen
- • Responsibility of each parent to support others
- • Any other relevant factor
Child support ends under the following circumstances:
- • Child reaching majority i.e. 18 years and is no longer attending an accredited high school. The child support ay continue beyond the age of majority if the child is found attending an accredited high school
- • If the child stops attending an accredited high school on full time basis after attaining majority and if the child support is ordered to continue from the time child starts continuously attending such a high school even after attaining majority age
- • Child’s death
- • Child’s marriage
- • Child’s emancipation
- • Joining of armed services
- • Child’s deportation
- • Change in legal custody of the child
Child Custody in Ohio
Ohio courts generally prefer that parents come to an agreement themselves regarding child custody. However, if parents are unable to agree, courts will determine child custody.
Ohio recognizes two basic forms of child custody sole custody and joint custody. Joint-custody is also referred as “shared parenting.” In the past, Ohio courts were said to “award custody.” These days, Ohio courts would be said to “allocate the parental rights and responsibilities for the care of the minor children of the marriage.”
In Ohio, as in most states, parental rights (aka, child custody) are granted based on the “best interest of the child.”
Ohio Code spells out ten specific factors that must be considered in making custody determination:
- • Wishes of the parents
- • Wishes of the child
- • Interaction and interrelationship of the child with his or her parents, siblings and any other person who significantly affect the child's best interest
- • Child’s adjustment to his or her home, school and community
- • Mental and physical health of all individuals involved
- • Parent who will be more likely to honor and facilitate the visitation right determined by the court
- • Any failure from either of parent to make child support payments including arrearages
- • Any incidence where one of the parents have willfully and continuously hindered the visitation of the other parent that has approved by the court
- • Any incidence where either of parents has been pleaded guilty and convicted for crime involving child abuse or the child was neglected. Whether either parent previously has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to a charge of domestic violence and whether he/she caused physical harm to the victim in the commission of the offense and whether there is reason to believe that either parent has acted in a manner resulting in a child being an abused child or a neglected child
- • In case either parent has plans to move outside the State or has already move his or her residence outside the State.
Before finalizing the custody issue, the court will carry out its investigations to find out the character, family relations, past conduct, earning capacity and financial value of each parent. If it feels appropriate then medical, psychological, and psychiatric examinations may be carried on the parents and child.
For a sole custody, one of the parents needs to plead or file a motion in the court. If the court finds that no shared parenting plan is in the best interest of the child and draws a conclusion that sole custody will be a better option, then it will proceed to designate one parent as the legal and custodian parent and divide the parenting responsibilities with the non-custodial parent.
To grant shared parenting, one of the parents need to make such request before the court and the requesting parent is required to submit a proposed shared parenting plan. The shared parenting plan should include provisions for living arrangements, child support arrangements, provisions for child’s medical and dental care, place of completing schooling, which parent will spend the legal holidays and school holidays with the child.
To accept the proposed parenting plan, courts consider the following factors:
- • Ability of parents to make joint decisions for the child
- • Ability of each parent to encourage and facilitate the child-parent bond with the other parent
- • Any history of child abuse, negligence, domestic violence, parenting kidnapping by any parent
- • Geographical proximity between the parents
- • Recommendations of the guardian ad litem (Guardian Ad Litem is a guardian appointed by the court to look after the welfare of the child while legal proceedings between the parents have been in process)
Child Visitation in Ohio
Child visitation refers to the ability of a non-custodial parent to spend time with his or her child. Sometimes child visitation is referred to as “parenting time.”
Courts in Ohio generally place importance on frequent and continuing contact with both parents and will generally grant reasonable visitation rights to a parent unless it is shown to not be in the best interest of the child.
Parents can reach an agreement on their own relating to child visitation or the court can intervene, if the parents are not able to reach an agreement on child visitation.
Under section 3109.051(C) of the Ohio Revised Code, courts grant companionship or visitation rights to the non-custodial parent to visit and to reinforce parent-child relationship by permitting of parenting time with the child, unless it finds that granting of such rights would not be in the best interests of the child.
Visitation rights can also be granted to any other person, except for parents such as grandparents or relative, if the Court finds granting such rights would prove to beneficial to the child.
The Court will consider specified factors before the parenting rights are granted either to the parent or grandparents or relative, such as:
- • Prior interactions and interrelationships of the child have with the parents, siblings and relatives and non-relatives that had shown keenness to seek visitation rights.
- • Geographical location of the residence of each parent or interested party band the distance between those residences
- • Free time of the child and parents including their daily activity schedule, holiday and vacation schedule
- • age of the child
- • Level of adjustment of the child with his or her home, school and community
- • Wishes of the child
- • Health and safety of the child
- • Time available for the child to spend with his or her siblings
- • Mental and physical health of all parties
- • Each parent’s willingness to reschedule missed parenting time and to facilitate the other parent’s parenting time rights
- • Any past record of either parent convicted or pleaded guilty to any criminal offence involving acts such as child abuse or domestic violence or has neglected the child
- • Any past record of the person other than the parent convicted or pleaded guilty to any criminal offence involving acts such as child abuse or domestic violence or has neglected the child
- • If the residential parent has purposely and willfully denied the other parent the right to visit the child or denied the parenting time with the child that has been granted by the court order.
- • If either of the parents have established or in process to establish his or her residence outside the state.
- • Wishes of the parents towards permitting of visitation rights to another person
- • Any other factor related to the best interest of child
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