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When parents live apart, the Courts use the Oklahoma Child Support Guidelines to set their parental child support obligations. The statutory guidelines determine the amounts of support that parents at particular family income levels are presumed to spend on their children. Child support calculated under the guidelines is presumed by law to be the correct amount of child support. The amount of child support a parent will be required to pay will basically depend upon the parents' income and number of children.
First, each parent's income is computed then added together to arrive at a gross monthly income figure. The Guidelines provide several ways of computing gross income. For example, when a parent is unemployed, the Court may impute income to that parent in an amount which may be expected for a person with comparable education, training and experience. For a self-employed parent, gross income is defined as “gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary expenses required for self-employment or business operations”. The Guidelines give the Court discretion to determine what is equitable.
Second, the parents' base child support obligation is determined using the combined gross monthly income figure and a schedule set-out in the Guidelines. Each parent's percentage of their combined gross monthly income determines each parent's percentage share of the base child support figure under the schedule. The parent who is not the primary physical custodian of the child generally becomes the “obligor”– the parent who pays the other parent his or her percentage share of the base child support figure. Adjustments to the parents' respective base child support obligations are made in shared parenting arrangements, depending on the number of overnight periods the non-primary physical custodial parent has with the child. Other adjustments may also be applicable, depending on the facts and circumstances of the particular case.
Medical, dental and other health care costs of the children, including insurance premiums, and work and education related child care expenses are allocated between the parents in the same percentage amounts as their base child support.
The Child Support Guidelines are capped at $15,000 per month in combined income. For parents whose gross monthly income is exceeds $15,000 per month, the Court has the discretion to determine a child support figure, typically considering three factors in setting support: (1) the child's actual needs, (2) the parents' ability to pay, and (3) the child's prior standard of living. Base child support is still divided on a percentage of the parents' combined income.
In addition, parents can agree on a different amount of child support different from the guidelines so long as it is in the child's best interests. A Court may deviate from the child support indicated by the guidelines "if the amount of support so indicated is unjust, inequitable, unreasonable, or inappropriate under the circumstances, or not in the best interests of any child involved." Both parties must be represented by counsel for an agreed deviation to be approved.
Any child in Oklahoma is entitled to support by his or her parents until the child reaches eighteen (18) years of age. If a child is still in high school, child support is paid until the child graduates or turns nineteen (19) years of age, whichever happens first. If you are paying support for more than one child, the child support does not drop automatically when one child no longer qualifies for support. You must take affirmative steps to recompute future support for the remaining child or children, and have the court enter a revised support order. When the last child no longer qualifies for child support, the support obligation ends if there is no past due support owed. An income assignment will continue in effect until the employer receives an order or notice amending or terminating the assignment.
Child support can be modified. The court may modify or change a child support order whenever there is "a material change in circumstances." Courts have held that a material change of circumstance can be an increase or decrease in the Obligor's income, an increase or decrease in Obligee's income, or a change in the needs of the child. Ordinarily a parent's increased or decreased expenses due to, for example, remarriage, are not by themselves grounds for modifying child support. Child support is based on income, not expenses. Child support may not be modified retroactively. Only future payments can be modified.
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