Are Absent Parents Required to Support Their Children?
Full Question:
Answer:
Parents are legally obligated to provide their children with all the necessities of life. The failure of parents to marry does not affect their responsibility to support their children. If parents are unmarried and cannot agree upon how much each should contribute toward the support of their children, the courts may decide. A court can order one parent to make specified payments to the other for child support. State laws provide that biological parents make all the decisions involving their children, including education, health care, and religious upbringing. Parents are not required to secure the legal right to make these decisions if they are married and are listed on the child's birth certificate. However, if there is disagreement about who has the right to make these decisions courts can decide.
Please see the following OH statutes to determine applicability:
(A) As used in this section, “minor” has the same meaning as in section 3107.01 of the Revised Code.
(B)(1) If a child is born to parents who are unmarried and unemancipated minors, a parent of one of the minors is providing support for the minors’ child, and the minors have not signed an acknowledgment of paternity or a parent and child relationship has not been established between the child and the male minor, the parent who is providing support for the child may request a determination of the existence or nonexistence of a parent and child relationship between the child and the male minor pursuant to Chapter 3111. of the Revised Code.
(2) If a child is born to parents who are unmarried and unemancipated minors, a parent of one of the minors is providing support for the child, and the minors have signed an acknowledgment of paternity that has become final pursuant to section 2151.232, 3111.25, or 3111.821 of the Revised Code or a parent and child relationship has been established between the child and the male minor pursuant to Chapter 3111. of the Revised Code, the parent who is providing support for the child may file a complaint requesting that the court issue an order or may request the child support enforcement agency of the county in which the child resides to issue an administrative order requiring all of the minors’ parents to pay support for the child.
(C)(1) On receipt of a complaint filed under division (B)(2) of this section, the court shall schedule a hearing to determine, in accordance with Chapters 3119., 3121., 3123., and 3125. of the Revised Code, the amount of child support the minors’ parents are required to pay, the method of paying the support, and the method of providing for the child’s health care needs. On receipt of a request under division (B)(2) of this section, the agency shall schedule a hearing to determine, in accordance with Chapters 3119., 3121., 3123., and 3125. of the Revised Code, the amount of child support the minors’ parents are required to pay, the method of paying the support, and the method of providing for the child’s health care needs. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court or agency shall issue an order requiring the payment of support of the child and provision for the child’s health care needs. The court or agency shall calculate the child support amount using the income of the minors’ parents instead of the income of the minors. If any of the minors’ parents are divorced, the court or agency shall calculate the child support as if they were married, and issue a child support order requiring the parents to pay a portion of any support imposed as a separate obligation. If a child support order issued pursuant to section 2151.23, 2151.231, 2151.232, 3111.13, 3111.81 of the Revised Code requires one of the minors to pay support for the child, the amount the minor is required to pay shall be deducted from any amount that minor’s parents are required to pay pursuant to an order issued under this section. The hearing shall be held not later than sixty days after the day the complaint is filed or the request is made nor earlier than thirty days after the court or agency gives the minors’ parents notice of the action.
(2) An order issued by an agency for the payment of child support shall include a notice stating all of the following: that the parents of the minors may object to the order by filing a complaint pursuant to division (B)(2) of this section with the court requesting that the court issue an order requiring the minors’ parents to pay support for the child and provide for the child’s health care needs; that the complaint may be filed no later than thirty days after the date of the issuance of the agency’s order; and that, if none of the parents of the minors file a complaint pursuant to division (B)(2) of this section, the agency’s order is final and enforceable by a court and may be modified and enforced only in accordance with Chapters 3119., 3121., 3123., and 3125. of the Revised Code.
(D) An order issued by a court or agency under this section shall remain in effect, except as modified pursuant to Chapters 3119., 3121., 3123., and 3125. of the Revised Code until the occurrence of any of the following:
(1) The minor who resides with the parents required to pay support under this section reaches the age of eighteen years, dies, marries, enlists in the armed services, is deported, gains legal or physical custody of the child, or is otherwise emancipated.
(2) The child who is the subject of the order dies, is adopted, is deported, or is transferred to the legal or physical custody of the minor who lives with the parents required to pay support under this section.
(3) The minor’s parents to whom support is being paid pursuant to this section is no longer providing any support for the child.
(E) The minor’s parents to whom support is being paid under a child support order issued by a court or agency pursuant to this section shall notify, and the minor’s parents who are paying support may notify the child support enforcement agency of the occurrence of any event described in division (D) of this section. A willful failure to notify the agency as required by this division is contempt of court with respect to a court child support order. Upon receiving notification pursuant to this division, the agency shall comply with sections 3119.90 to 3119.94 of the Revised Code.
3109.03 Equality of parental rights and responsibilities.
When husband and wife are living separate and apart from each other, or are divorced, and the question as to the parental rights and responsibilities for the care of their children and the place of residence and legal custodian of their children is brought before a court of competent jurisdiction, they shall stand upon an equality as to the parental rights and responsibilities for the care of their children and the place of residence and legal custodian of their children, so far as parenthood is involved.
3111.29 Enforcing support obligation.
Once an acknowledgment of paternity becomes final under section 3111.25 of the Revised Code, the mother or other custodian or guardian of the child may file a complaint pursuant to section 2151.231 of the Revised Code in the juvenile court or other court with jurisdiction under section 2101.022 or 2301.03 of the Revised Code of the county in which the child or the guardian or legal custodian of the child resides requesting that the court order the father to pay an amount for the support of the child, may contact the child support enforcement agency for assistance in obtaining the order, or may request that an administrative officer of a child support enforcement agency issue an administrative order for the payment of child support pursuant to section 3111.81 of the Revised Code.
3111.29 Enforcing support obligation.
Once an acknowledgment of paternity becomes final under section 3111.25 of the Revised Code, the mother or other custodian or guardian of the child may file a complaint pursuant to section 2151.231 of the Revised Code in the juvenile court or other court with jurisdiction under section 2101.022 or 2301.03 of the Revised Code of the county in which the child or the guardian or legal custodian of the child resides requesting that the court order the father to pay an amount for the support of the child, may contact the child support enforcement agency for assistance in obtaining the order, or may request that an administrative officer of a child support enforcement agency issue an administrative order for the payment of child support pursuant to section 3111.81 of the Revised Code.
