Ohio child support calculator

Ohio starts from a simple idea: a child should receive the same share of parental income they would have if the parents lived together. So it does not look at one parent’s income alone. It combines both parents’ annual gross income, finds the total the state expects them to spend on the children, and then divides that total between them in proportion to what each earns.

Gross income is broad — wages, salary, self-employment income, overtime and bonuses, and most other income — with limited deductions (for example, support actually paid for other children). The combined figure is what drives the schedule lookup in the next section.

The Basic Child Support Obligation comes from Ohio’s Basic Child Support Schedule (form JFS 07767, adopted under R.C. 3119.021) — a published table indexed by combined annual income and number of children. For example, at $60,000 combined annual income the basic obligation for two children is $13,866 a year; at $100,000 it is about $11,864 for one child and $17,631 for two. This calculator reads the actual 547-row table, so those figures match to the dollar.

The schedule runs from $8,400 up to $336,000 of combined annual income. Above $336,000 the schedule ends and the court sets the amount on a case-by-case basis (R.C. 3119.04); this tool uses the top schedule row and marks the result Approximate. At the low end, a built-in self-sufficiency reserve keeps the order affordable, down to a minimum order.

Two costs are added to the basic obligation before splitting: work-related child care and the children’s health insurance cost. The resulting total obligation is then divided by each parent’s share of the combined income. If Parent A earns 60% of the combined income, Parent A is responsible for 60% of the total obligation — that share is the starting support figure before any parenting-time adjustment. Ohio also requires provision for the children’s medical needs (cash medical support), which the court sets alongside the base amount.

Ohio reduces the paying parent’s support when that parent has meaningful parenting time. Under R.C. 3119.051, the obligor generally receives an automatic 10% reduction of the annual obligation once the parent has at least 90 overnights a year with the children. For very high parenting time — approaching equal time — a court can grant a further deviation (R.C. 3119.231). This calculator applies the flat 10% adjustment when you enter 90 or more overnights; larger deviations are case-specific, so confirm them with the worksheet or an attorney.

It does not handle every adjustment the worksheet allows — credits for other children the parent supports, spousal support paid or received, split or shared parenting arrangements, extraordinary medical or educational costs, cash medical support, or income imputed to an underemployed parent. It computes the core income-shares calculation from the actual schedule and applies the automatic 10% parenting-time adjustment. For a figure you can file, use the official Ohio worksheet or consult an attorney.