In Ohio, child support is guided by a basic child support schedule that assists in determining what child support obligation is appropriate. ...
When you are actively negotiating the terms of a divorce settlement or involved in family law litigation, it is best to stick to the old-fashioned in-person support methods. Talk about it with your friend over lunch, call you wise aunt, or confer with college buddy who went through the same thing. ...
The IRS provides an Earned Income Tax Credit to provide a tax break to low - moderate income earning families. Under the Tax Cuts and Job Acts of 2017, spousal support is no longer taxable as income for the recipient spouse on his or her federal tax return if the divorce was finalized on January 1, 2019, or later. ...
Courts in Ohio determine child support based on a worksheet. This worksheet includes the incomes of both parents up to a maximum combined income of $300,000, the cost to provide health insurance, and the work related child care costs for the children, which are limited to a certain amount, depending on the age of each child. After providing all necessary inputs, the worksheet determines the guideline child support obligation. This obligation is presumed to be in the best interest of the child(ren). However, the Court can deviate from this presumed amount if the Court finds that such a deviation would be in the best interest of the children. The court can consider many factors when determining whether a deviation is appropriate, some of which include: extended parenting time, the relative financial resources and incomes of the parties, the benefits of either parent's remarriage or shared living expenses, significant in kind...
This blog is written four weeks into the stay-at-home order. Much has already been written about the possibility that a large number of people may decide during this time to request a separation or divorce....
On July 14, 2018, Kentucky amended its custody laws enacting a legal presumption that joint custody and equal parenting time is in the best interest of the child under KRS 403.270. While many Kentucky Judges have informally applied such a presumption in divorce and custody matters in the past, this statute now makes it clear that the Courts must start with this presumption in all cases. It is important to note that this presumption is rebuttable by a preponderance of evidence. Therefore, parties still have the opportunity to present evidence to the Court demonstrating that joint custody and equal parenting time are not in the best interest of their child or children. In making any determination, the Court will consider the best interest factors as identified in KRS 403.270, some of which include the wishes of the parents, the wishes of the child with due consideration given to the influence...
Big changes are coming to the calculation of child support in Ohio. A bill has passed modifying the child support guidelines that have been in place since the 1980s. The new statute and worksheet are effective March 29, 2019. A few of the major changes include: The tables used to determine the amount of child support needed for each child was updated. This means that the same combined incomes may now result in a different child support obligation. There is a self -sufficiency reserve to cap child support orders regardless of the number of children. This reserve changes based on income. The guideline tables now include combined gross income up to $300,000. Under the pre-2019 law, this maximum was $150,000. Automatic child support reduction from the guideline of 10% for a parent exercising more than 90 overnights per year. The factors a court can consider to deviate from the guideline...
Until the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, spousal support payments were tax-deductible to the payor and taxable income to the payee. Now, that will change. For all spousal support orders entered after December 31, 2018, spousal support will no longer be tax deductible to the payor spouse and will be tax free to the payee spouse. This change will have significant impacts on the amount of overall cash available to divorcing families. In most cases, the payor of spousal support is in a higher tax bracket and the payee is in a lower bracket. Thus, when the support is taxed to the payee, a lower total amount of tax is collected. Now, tax on spousal support payments will be paid by the party in the higher tax bracket, resulting in more overall tax being paid on the support funds and less after-tax cash available to the...
Upon filing for divorce in Ohio, the filing party or the responding party can request temporary orders from the Court regarding the custody of minor child(ren), parenting time, child support, spousal support and the payment of marital expenses. In order for the Court to issue any temporary orders regarding custody, parenting time, child support and/or spousal support, the parties must be living separate and apart at the time of the request. If the parties are still residing together, the Court can issue temporary orders regarding the payment of household expenses and debts. The process for requesting temporary orders and deadlines for responses differ between the counties. For this reason it is imperative to know the Court’s local rules and procedures in your county. Furthermore, if you and your spouse reside in different counties, the local rules of each county may impact your decision regarding where to file. In Hamilton and Clermont...
At the end of 2017, Congress enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and many of these sweeping changes have a direct impact on those going through a family law issue. This blog post will attempt to outline the changes on how children are claimed for tax purposes. However, there are many other changes to the tax code that may impact your case that are not discussed here. It is important for you to talk to a local family law attorney and/or tax professional to review the situation based on your individual circumstances. One question that often comes up for a divorcing or separating couple is: which parent is permitted to claim the child as a dependent for tax purposes. Divorcing couples can reach an agreement, or the court will order which parent can claim the child for tax purposes. This is an important tool for negotiation and litigation because claiming...