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I am a NCP in Ohio and I have the same experiences with the court system as you.  There is not any value placed in the 'best interest of the child' and the child support calculation is unbelievable.  I am planning to get laid off shortly and I want to file for a reduction.  I know my ex (not even a spouse) will fight to stop the reduction (even though my income will be less than 50%).  My wife makes a good living and we can afford for me not to work for a while and use unemployment to allow me to stay home and care for our 7 month old son, but we can't afford to do this with a $480/month child support obligation.  We are afraid to try to lower the child support obligation when I get laid off because my ex will probably try to get my wife's income included and that is completely unfair.  We have thought about trying to get custody of my daughter as my ex leaves her with a sitter all week, but my attorney wants a $15,000 retainer and does not truly believe the court will rule in our favor.  The Ohio Court system is extremely unfair and we don't know what to do with the situation.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

One other question:

Can my ex refuse to accept what CSEA determines as the child support amount and get an attorney to force an additional child support amount based on my wife's income?

Hi Socrateaser,

Background:

State of Ohio

I have an 8 year old daughter with my ex girlfriend.  I am now married with a 7 month old son.  I have agreed to a voluntary lay off with my current employer of 7 years.  My wife has a great paying job and I would like to spend some time with my new son while on unemployment.  My ex works about 50 hours per week and goes to school 20 hours per week.  My daughter has told me she stays at the babysitter's all week without seeing her mom at all.  I pay $480/month support for my daughter and am considering sending a reduction request to the CSEA when the lay off occurs.  I don't want to increase my child support obligation and if they take my wife's income into consideration, it will increase my support payment.  In the past, my ex has used an attorney to deal with anything that happens between us and I am sure she will get him involved if I file for the reduction.  The mediation will probably get drawn out for a long time - it was over a year last time when I filed a motion for contempt against her for not letting me see my daughter.

Question 1:  If I file for the reduction, will they look at my wife's salary in determining the amount of child support?

Question 2:  If they will look at her income, do I even need to file with CSEA or just have unemployment take the child support payments from my unemployment check?

Question 3:  Do the court's really look at the 'best interest of the child' - meaning it would seem to be better for my daughter to stay with me during the week?

Is there a custody agreement on file between the two of them?  If so, the terms of contact are included in the agreement.  If they are divorced, there is more than likely a custody agreement and I would definitely get a copy of it to see what it states.

If ex is violating the agreement - not letting him talk to his son and not cooperating with visitation - you could file a Motion for Contempt against ex.  

It may also be a good idea to send a certified letter to ex with the terms of the custody agreement included so that she knows that your boyfriend plans to start enforcing the agreement.

I know that 8 hours is far away and the custody agreement may need to be modified so that he can get his visitation when it is more convenient - I doubt every other weekend is very convenient with 8 hour travel time each way.