How is the amount of child support decided?
When deciding how much child support to award, the court generally considers the following factors for both parents:
- amount of time the child lives with each parent;
- income from work, including tips, commissions, bonuses, etc.;
- income from partnerships, business, corporations, practices, etc.;
- rental income if either parent owns property and rents it out;
- interest income from investments;
- Social Security benefits;
- worker’s compensation benefits;
- unemployment benefits;
- disability benefits;
- gifts;
- prizes or gambling winnings; and
- royalties.1
Things that are not considered when deciding how much the child support payments are:
- child support, adoption subsidies, or foster care payments that you receive for other children;
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF);
- Supplemental Security Income (SSI);
- food stamps;
- General Assistance and State Supplemental Payments for Aged, Blind, and the Disabled; and
- any income the child gets, such as disability benefits, except that Social Security Title II benefits are counted as income.2
There are other sources of income not mentioned in the list above that can be considered – if you or your child receives a different type of income than listed above, you may want to consult with an attorney to see how that income will be calculated. You can find legal referrals on our Oklahoma Finding a Lawyer page. To get a rough idea of how much child support you may receive, go to AllLaw.com’s Oklahoma child support calculator.
If you are applying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Child Support Enforcement Department (CSED) will automatically seek child support from the non-custodial parent, and you will have to cooperate with process.3
1 43 O.S. §118B(A)
2 43 O.S. §118B(B)
3 See Oklahoma Human Services website