New Changes to the Ohio Child Support Statute

The Ohio Legislature in the enactment of SB 337 called the Collateral Sanctions Act has amended Ohio’s child support law in Ohio Collateral Sanctions Act ( SB 337) Amends Ohio Child Support Sections As follows:

R.C. 3119.01 ( B) (11)
(11) “Potential income” means both of the following for a parent who the court pursuant to a court support order, or a child support enforcement agency pursuant to an administrative child support order, determines is voluntarily unemployed or voluntarily underemployed:

(a) Imputed income that the court or agency determines the parent would have earned if fully employed as determined from the following criteria:
(i) The parent’s prior employment experience;
(ii) The parent’s education;
(iii) The parent’s physical and mental disabilities, if any;
(iv) The availability of employment in the geographic area in which the parent resides;
(v) The prevailing wage and salary levels in the geographic area in which the parent resides;
(vi) The parent’s special skills and training;
(vii) Whether there is evidence that the parent has the ability to earn the imputed income;
(viii) The age and special needs of the child for whom child support is being calculated under this section;
(ix) The parent’s increased earning capacity because of experience;
(x) The parent’s decreased earning capacity because of a felony conviction;

3119.05 (H)(1) amended as follows:

(H) When the court or agency calculates gross income, the court or agency, when appropriate, may average income over a reasonable period of years.

(I) A Unless it would be unjust or inappropriate and therefore not in the best interests of the child, a court or agency shall not determine a parent receiving means-tested public assistance benefits to be voluntarily unemployed or underemployed and shall not impute income to that parent, unless not making such determination and not imputing income would be unjust, inappropriate, and not in the best interest of the child if either of the following conditions exist:

(1) The parent is receiving recurring monetary income from means-tested public assistance benefits, including cash assistance payments under the Ohio works first program established under Chapter 5107. of the Revised Code, financial assistance under the disability financial assistance program established under Chapter 5115. of the Revised Code, supplemental security income, or means-tested veterans’ benefits;
(2) The parent is incarcerated or institutionalized for a period of twelve months or more with no other available assets, unless the parent is incarcerated for an offense relating to the abuse or neglect of a child who is the subject of the support order or an offense under Title XXIX of the Revised Code when the obligee or a child who is the subject of the support order is a victim of the offense.

(J) When a court or agency requires a parent to pay an amount for that parent’s failure to support a child for a period of time prior to the date the court modifies or issues a court child support order or an agency modifies or issues an administrative child support order for the current support of the child, the court or agency shall calculate that amount using the basic child support schedule, worksheets, and child support laws in effect, and the incomes of the parents as they existed, for that prior period of time.

(K) A court or agency may disregard a parent’s additional income from overtime or additional employment when the court or agency finds that the additional income was generated primarily to support a new or additional family member or members, or under other appropriate circumstances.

(L) If both parents involved in the immediate child support determination have a prior order for support relative to a minor child or children born to both parents, the court or agency shall collect information about the existing order or orders and consider those together with the current calculation for support to ensure that the total of all orders for all children of the parties does not exceed the amount that would have been ordered if all children were addressed in a single judicial or administrative proceeding.

Sec. 3123.58. (A) On receipt of a notice pursuant to section 3123.54 of the Revised Code, the registrar of motor vehicles shall determine whether the individual named in the notice holds or has applied for a driver’s license or commercial driver’s license, motorcycle operator’s license or endorsement, or temporary instruction permit or commercial driver’s temporary instruction permit. If the registrar determines that the individual holds or has applied for a license, permit, or endorsement and the individual is the individual named in the notice and does not receive a notice pursuant to section 3123.56 or 3123.57 of the Revised Code, the registrar immediately shall provide notice of the determination to each deputy registrar. The registrar or a deputy registrar may not issue to the individual a driver’s or commercial driver’s license, motorcycle operator’s license or endorsement, or temporary instruction permit or commercial driver’s temporary instruction permit and may not renew for the individual a driver’s or commercial driver’s license, motorcycle operator’s license or endorsement, or commercial driver’s temporary instruction permit. The registrar or a deputy registrar also shall impose a class F suspension of the license, permit, or endorsement held by the individual under division (B)(6) of section 4510.02 of the Revised Code.

(B)(1) A court may grant an individual whose license, permit, or endorsement is suspended under this section limited driving privileges in accordance with division (B) of section 4510.021 of the Revised Code pursuant to a request made during an action for contempt initiated under section 2705.031 of the Revised Code. Prior to granting privileges under this division, the court shall request the accused to provide the court with a recent noncertified copy of a driver’s abstract from the registrar of motor vehicles and shall request the child support enforcement agency that issued the notice pursuant to section 3123.54 of the Revised Code relative to the individual to advise the court, either in person through a representative testifying at a hearing or through a written document, the position of the agency relative to the issue of the granting of privileges to the individual. The court, in determining whether to grant the individual privileges under this division, shall take into consideration the position of the agency, but the court is not bound by the position of the agency.

(2) A court that grants limited driving privileges to a person under division (B)(1) of this section shall deliver to the person a permit card, in a form to be prescribed by the court, setting forth the date on which the limited privileges will become effective, the purposes for which the person may drive, the times and places at which the person may drive, and any other conditions imposed upon the person’s use of a motor vehicle.

(3) The court immediately shall notify the registrar, in writing, of a grant of limited driving privileges under division (B)(1) of this section. The notification shall specify the date on which the limited driving privileges will become effective, the purposes for which the person may drive, and any other conditions imposed upon the person’s use of a motor vehicle.

(C) If a person who has been granted limited driving privileges under division (B)(1) of this section is convicted of, pleads guilty to, or is adjudicated in juvenile court of having committed a violation of Chapter 4510. of the Revised Code or any similar municipal ordinance during the period of which the person was granted limited driving privileges, the person’s limited driving privileges shall be suspended immediately pending a reinstatement hearing.