Each county in Ohio has a Child Support Enforcement Agency, a Juvenile Court and a Domestic Relations Court. The Ohio Revised Code, Title 31, establishes the criteria, guidelines and Child Support Worksheet to be utilized in determining appropriate child support. The Child Support Guidelines, in theory, take into account the cost of living including costs related to food, housing, transportation and medical expenses.

Most divorcing spouses pay little attention to the boilerplate with all those little numbers required in Separation Agreements, Shared Parenting Plans, and in Decrees. And they may never even read the little print on the back of the withholding notices.

According to Ohio law, a biological parent of a child, a man determined to be the natural father of a child pursuant to law, an adoptive parent, a parent who acknowledged paternity on a child’s birth certificate or a parent who acknowledged paternity in probate court has a duty to pay child support. This is in addition to the parental duty of support imposed upon married persons by Ohio law.