Ohio

Child Support May Get an Overhaul if S.B. 292 Passes

By Cleveland Law Library

The process of awarding child support in Ohio is a mess, and it has needed a fix for a very long time. Once parents finally receive an award, it never grows despite inflation, and the numbers they receive are very, very low. Some custodial parents also get saddled with high expenses for health care and insurance. My informal survey of divorced child support recipients shows that they all receive the same amount, despite ex's with different incomes, and many have to pay all costs for health insurance, which is not inexpensive. The drive behind S.B. 292 explains why. According to Senator Smith (D-Cleveland), the courts are still awarding support based on figures from 1992, and there are no escalators in the law for inflation. All that and more could change, hopefully for the better, with S.B. 292. As a starting point, before adjustments, an average child support recipient from a divorcing couple with a combined income of about $150,000 would receive about $5,000 more per year. Even that modest increase would help a lot of mothers, who the stats  have shown experience a reduced standard of living when they get divorced. 

Full post as published by Cleveland Law Library Weblog on August 26, 2010 (boomark / email).