Child Support
Throughout this section, you will find the most up-to-date information that is available on Child Support in Ohio.
The tabs at the side of the page will take you to the information that you need to know as you deal with what many have found to be an evil monster for many. Confusing I will give you but the financial support of your child is one of the most important aspects of being a parent. Misapplied by many courts and many agencies, they have shown very little consistency through the years. Often we have found agencies that have completely overstepped their bounds in what many feel is nothing but a money grab.
One of the things that we have always done is try to make this process less confusing. We have also worked hard to make the distribution of child support fairer for both the obligee and the obligor. We are currently working on getting the State of Ohio to audit the entire child support system. This came about due to the many complaints that we have received and because of inspections of numerous records that have indicated missing money. This is money that is due to the entire one of the two parents and should not just be sitting in a bank account somewhere collecting interest when it should be feeding an Ohio family.
During the last Guidelines Review, we spoke up big on the many problems that exist. While we did not get everything we asked for we did get something that is becoming a very major issue that has to be addressed, a proper child support reserve or at least acknowledgment of the need. We were able to drive home a very important fact to the committee the problems being caused by the thought that we should expand Medicaid and increase the poverty level will cause the reserve level that is supposed to be built into the guideline tables. It may not sound like something important to everyone but when you couple that with the problem the state faces with expansion, it has effectively shut down any efforts at this point to change the current tables.
Take the time to read the report that we submitted to the legislature that addresses the problems and suggestions we made to correct them. You will find many of the solutions to be innovative and pure common sense.
If you are having problems with your local CSEA we need to know about it. Please use the button at the side to take you to a form that will allow you to tell us what the problem is and upload any proof that you have of this problem.
Ray R. Lautenschlager
Legislative Director
