Child Support Survey...Oklahoma Residents

[possumfritter]

I am doing some research for an article I am writing concerning Child Support (CS).

If you are "paying" CS...

1. Do you make payments directly to the custodial parent?

2. Is CS deducted from your paycheck by your employer and sent directly to the custodial parent?

3. Is CS direct deposited into the checking account of the custodial parent?

4. Are CS payments made directly to OKDHS/CSED through income assignment or garnishment?

5. Are you active duty military or retired military?

If you are "receiving" CS...

1. Are you receiving your CS payments from OKDHS/CSED?

2. Are you receiving the full monthly amount ordered by the Court or is OKDHS/CSED withholding a portion?

Thank You

[TaoMaas]

I'm paying child support and my answers would be, "Yes, no, no, no, no."

[Midtowner]

Your method lacks accuracy, but let us know your results anyhow.

[possumfritter]

Your method lacks accuracy, but let us know your results anyhow.

I am asking the questions that I need to ask. How about I add, "this is an unscientific survey?"

Out of curiosity, what is it you think I am trying to substantiate?

Thanks for your comment anyway.

[Midtowner]

I'm guessing that you're trying to figure out how much DHS cashes in on other peoples' child support.

That information would probably be freely available if you did an open records request.

[possumfritter]

I'm guessing that you're trying to figure out how much DHS cashes in on other peoples' child support.

No sir, I am already familiar with Title IV-D programs and services, and OKDHS/OCSS policies.

I am focusing on another area.

[kmf563]

I am receiving CS and it goes through the DHS program. Not by choice. FYI - all CS that goes through a court procedure for updates or anything is pushed through the DHS program is what we were told. He has paid CS directly to me for the last 12 years and it now has to go through the DHS program. It is taken directly from his payroll to them and then they put it on those stupid Oklahoma Debit cards. They do not take a percentage, but there is a $3 fee per usage if you use more than twice a month.

Sidenote...I've not had one good experience with this entire program. Matter of fact, my card is still in my maiden name for a reason that can't be explained and I haven't had since 1996. I can pay a $26 fee to correct that. ha!

[Buickcarnut]

Possumfritter

I pay, but DHS is the biggest damn crooks that I've ever met. If your the non-custodial parent...bend over....cause all your gonna get is excuses and total unfairness. I have never missed a payment, let me repeat, never missed a payment, yet went I went to a hearing because I questioned the state in the way they figured monthly support, the states attorney treated me like a dead beat dad. I guess she didn't like the fact that I came loaded for bear with facts and figures and made her look like crap.

I also love the way that DHS forces parents to pay them, instead of the custodial parent, so they can use their stupid debt card. Here's the problem, it take over a month for DHS to process payments, so I asked who's racking in the intrest on the money that has been deposited into DHS's coffers?

While your writing on DHS, please find out why it takes 6+ months to get any action. Bottom line, this agency needs a complete overhaul.

[PennyQuilts]

Child support, no matter where it is, is a cluster. You mix in the good parents with the dead beats; the frugal custodial parents with the ones who flaunt it at the ex; the ones who work, the ones who won't work; the ones who hate their ex more than they love their kids; the ones who just want to do the right thing.

People whose personal lives are screwed up to the point where they are in court to get a parent to support a child expect the government to do a better job with less aggravation to all concerned. Good luck with that.

Anyone who goes to court or deals with the system wants to be treated fairly - of course. In a perfect world, they would be. In a perfect world, the dead beats would be horse whipped. Of course, in a perfect world, people would have children with someone who they stay with and the court would have nothing to do with it.

I feel so sorry for people in that grinder. It is the last thing a lot of people consider when they bring children into the world and then it takes over their life. It is hard enough to raise a child without the court appearances and the hoops. It is just harder. But most of the time, it is flat out the result of poor choices when kids are brought into the world. People just don't think about how their lives and the lives of their kids are going to be complicated when they break up or when they have kids with the wrong person. People totally underestimate what a nightmare collection of child support can be. I thank god, everyday, that I never had to go through that. Wouldn't wish it on anyone.

[smurf]

I'll answer on behalf of husband:
1. Do you make payments directly to the custodial parent? NO

2. Is CS deducted from your paycheck by your employer and sent directly to the custodial parent? No

3. Is CS direct deposited into the checking account of the custodial parent? No

4. Are CS payments made directly to OKDHS/CSED through income assignment or garnishment? Yes

5. Are you active duty military or retired military? Yes

He completely got screwed. It all started back 2 years ago. I opened the mailbox and found a letter addressed to him from Child Support Enforcement. Mind you, at this point, we had 3 kids and had been together for 10 years. I completely freaked out. First thing that popped into my head is he's had an affair and a baby. I called him at work. He was completely dumbfounded as well. He told me to open it. So I did and it says he's the father of a "baby boy" born 7/25/96 <which was 9 months to the day before my daughter's birth> It lists a woman's name and no contact info for her. My husband "knew" her, but had no idea she had a kid. We call the number listed for Child Support, who basically stated they couldn't give any info at all and to show up at a hearing 3 months down the road. We tried unsuccesfully to find the woman. We even went so far as to get private i looking for her. She had absolutely no records/phone/address/arrests/tickets/marriage/family etc. 3 months later, we go into the hearing and this lady walks in with an 11 year old boy. She doesn't acknowledge my husband, but does say to the kid "that's your father." DNA was done and sure enough, he was the dad. She went 11 years without saying anything to him. Court ordered him to pay support and get this BACK SUPPORT for the last 5 years that he never paid (lol because he didn't know) and interest for the back support. Isn't that just crap? Of course, she has no job and is living in a RV behind her momma's double wide. And if you're still reading this, god bless ya. LOL

[oklgrl]

I agree with some of the members here. WE'RE being screwed by the child support. I know I'am I have 3 boys I was paying 360.00 a month and now my oldest is 19 my child support is higher it doesn't make no sense i make a lot less money i worked less than 40 hrs a week in retail, you know they go by 40 hrs a week which is a crock. Are they too lazy to take people checks and go by the hrs they worked... The reason i got for my child support went up is because of the economy. How us the payee our wages didn't go up because of the economy. Yes i have interest i 'm behind even though i worked all year and they take my income tax... What i don't understand is why i have too pay and extra 68.00 to the state for insurance ( soonercare). I'm a tax payer that's what my taxes go for that. It seems like i never get ahead. I pay taxes on my child support money why don't the other party have to pay on it end of the year oh i forgot it's free money to them or to the dhs. The system really sucks here in oklahoma I think something needs to be done. That's why people are on drugs to forget about the problem I know I have been there I went into a deep depression even went to griffin in norman i couldn't handle it. How would you feel if brought home 150.00 every two weeks tell me who's gong to pay my bills. Not the dhs because i make too much money for one person. I did't buy drugs you can get it anywhere free... The world be a much happier place if someone would focus on the child support and try to help the ones who does pay and is not a dead beat mom or dad... It seems like the ones who tries get screwed.. At least dhs can provide us some vaseline or I forgot we prob. make too much money for that also so please quit scewing the ones who tries . Oh by the way I' am a female who's has been screwed over by my ex and the state. I just wish something was done or could be done .. WE THE PAYEE LIVES IN THIS ECONOMY ALSO.. Oh yea how much is the interest when they don't get their money which they garnish on time.. It's not my fault its sound like someone aren't doing their job right.

[Uncle Slayton]

It's sort of an 'honor system', but I've never been a day late. I drive to "our" former credit union and deposit directly into her account. I'm not ex military.

[Midtowner]

I've represented folks in adversarial hearings with DHS on both sides (payor and payee). Generally speaking, my experiences have been pretty good. If anyone is interested, here is how child support is calculated (as of today, February 5th, 2010). There are other factors involved which I'm not touching on, so this is an overview and should NOT be thought of as legal advice applicable to any specific situation.

The statute which controls how child support is calculated is found under Title 43 of the Oklahoma Statutes. I'd include a link, but OSCN is currently down. The citation is 43 O.S. section 118. The mechanism for figuring out base child support works as follows:

1) The income of the payee (usually non-custodial parent) and the payor (usually custodial parent) are determined. Typically, this is done by looking at their income tax returns, but that's not always the sum-total of what goes into that. Often, other things are included as well, e.g., unreported income, fringe benefits (such as company cars), and so on. I'd best analogize this to what goes on under Section 61 of the IRS code in that income means all income, "from whatever source derived." A wide net can be cast here.

2) Child support is calculated "per the guidelines." 43 O.S. 118 contains a formula from which child support can be calculated. To do so, the incomes of the parents are added together, then applied to a table found in the statute to arrive at the 'chart amount.' That chart amount is found at 43 O.S. Section 119. For example, both parents earn $5,000 per month and have two children -- the chart amount there would be $1537.00 per month -- the number of children make a difference as in this case, if there was only one child, the chart amount would be reduced to $1097.00, or if there were three children, base support would be $1,807/month.

After base support is determined, we look at the total 'pie' and determine how big a piece of that pie (i.e., what percent) each parent's income is. So in our previous example where both parents earned $5,000, then each parent's share is 50%. Base support is reduced by the percentage of the custodial parent's share, which in our case is 50%, therefore, the base support of $1537 would be reduced by 1/2, leaving child support at $768.50.

Those guideline percentages are typically also applied to the medical insurance the child is receiving and to any child care costs. If the non-custodial parent is paying for the medical insurance, he or she gets a reduction in child support to give him or her credit for that. For example, if you spend $100/month extra to cover the child under your insurance plan and you're the non-custodial parent, (let's keep the 50/50 percentages for simplicity), you get a $50 reduction each month to give you credit for that payment.

3) If applicable, the shared parenting credit is applied. The statute for the shared parenting credit was newly revised in 2009. It provides a separate formula for reducing the child support obligation when the non-custodial parent is exercising visitation in excess of 121 days. The factors applied here are 1st -- how many days the NCP has the child. The 'chart amount' is adjusted by a factor determined by the number of days with the NCP. The ranges are 121-131, 132-143 and 144 and up. We take that new chart amount, figure out what each parent's share (think of the pie chart again) of that amount is, then further reduce that amount by a percentage which is based on the number of overnights with the other party. Those two numbers are subtracted from each other, and the adjusted amount is found.

For example, take a shared parenting situation where physical custody with the child is 50/50. Father's income is $5,900 and mother's is $2,900. We find our 'chart amount' on the Table at 43 O.S. 119, which in this case is $979.

We then skip to the shared parenting statute. here, each parent spends 50% time with the child, so that's in excess of 144 nights. The statute specifies that here, the chart amount is multiplied by a factor of 1.5. That yields $1,468.50. This number is called the "Adjusted Combined Child Support Obligation." That number is then multiplied by the percentage of the 'pie' of income. In this case, dad makes around 66.5% and mom around 33.5%.

So the arithmetic is as follows:

$1,4698 * 66.5% = $976.55 (dad's adjusted child support obligation); and
$1468.50 * 33.5% = $491.95 (mom's adjusted child support obligation)

Then the numbers are further reduced by the percentage of time the child spends with the other party. In this case, by 50%, so:

$976.55 * 50% = $488.28 = dad's base child support obligation; and
$245.98 * 50% = $245.98 = mom's base child support obligation.

Those two numbers are subtracted from one another and the person with a balance left over pays that as their total obligation (with child care and all of that factored in as well), so in this example,

$488.28 - $245.98 = $242.30 child support paid by dad.

____________________

A couple more points -- all things considered, I think the system is pretty fair. Not perfect, but not awful. The purpose of showing you all those mechanisms above is to show how hard the legislature has worked to provide us with a system for determining child support which is both fair and predictable.

The interest on arrearages needs to be looked at. I'm not going to go research when that statute was enacted, but I imagine it was done at a time when interest rates were higher. It'd make past-due amounts a little more tricky to calculate, but I'd like to see that rate become a variable rate which is determined by the Federal Prime Rate or something which is in some way reflective of the current economic environment.

If you think you are paying too much child support because either your income has changed or the other party's has changed, you have rights. Contact an attorney. Also, while arrearages are supposed to be paid out in three-years time, the courts have pretty wide latitude to reduce those payments if the payor can show hardship.

Also, interest can be waived in many cases by either DHS or the payee.

Finally, DHS has some 'unofficial' tools you can use to calculate child support on your own. They're located here:

OKDHS.org - Oklahoma Child Support Services: Guidelines and Computation

On the whole, I think that folks facing DHS really shouldn't try to go it alone. Effective representation really can and really does make a difference. I have seen people come out with what I thought were very unfair results when they either tried to 'go it alone' or else had ineffective lawyers. Perhaps in a perfect system, that wouldn't be the case. But the system isn't perfect. It's pretty good when it works, but far from perfect.

[gmwise]

Its like watching a Springer show.
The whore, doesnt know or remember who the father is, and essentially playing the lottery.

[rcjunkie]

Its like watching a Springer show.
The whore, doesn't know or remember who the father is, and essentially playing the lottery.

Tacky, rude, totally uncalled for, but then I read who the poster was and wasn't surprised. gm wise had nothing of substance to post so he made his usual wise A$$ comment.

[gmwise]

I am told someone will find what I post to be offensive.
There's a way to either report it, or ignore me via a button.
I am sure I have already done so for them.
As for the offended one,I should have said Maury Show.
Click ignored or report but please dont play the "shocked moral compass", read through "your posts"..lol