Home  »  Rights and Responsibilities

Rights and Responsibilities

Confidentiality of Case material Information

  • You have the right to see the parts of your file at the Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) about you and action taken for you by the agency.
  • You cannot see some parts of your file that are protected by confidentiality laws, such as information obtained from the IRS.
  • Information about you in the CSEA file is confidential. However, certain portions of your file become public record when a court is notified about your case.

Hearing Rights

If you disagree with any action, lack of action, or delay by the CSEA, you can ask for a state hearing. For a full explanation of your hearing rights and the hearing process, please read the attached JFS 04059, Explanation of State Hearing Procedures.

OWF Participants

  • As a condition of eligibility to receive OWF benefits, you give up the right to keep child and spousal support up to the amount of assistance you received.
  • You must cooperate in establishing paternity for each child born if you were not married to the father.
  • You must assist the agency in getting support payments and any other payments.
  • If you fail to cooperate without good cause (determined by your CSEA) you may be ineligible to receive OWF benefits.

While a family is receiving OWF, support collections are used to repay benefits. When a family leaves OWF, current support and family arrears are released to the family. Payments from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are applied to repay benefits before being applied to support payable to the household.

Medicaid Participants

While Medicaid benefits are received, cash medical support is paid to ODJFS to reimburse Medicaid benefits. If health insurance is available, that insurance will be used first for payment of medical bills. If you are eligible for medical assistance and are covered by a health insurance plan, it is your responsibility to notify the physician, hospital, or other providers of medical services that you have medical insurance coverage and Medicaid coverage for the uninsured costs.

IV-E Foster Care Participants

If a child receives Title IV-E foster care benefits, the assignment includes current child support during the time the child is eligible for benefits and child support arrearages accruing before and during the time the child is eligible for benefits. Support that does not exceed foster care maintenance payments is distributed to reimburse Title IV-E benefits. When IV-E foster care maintenance benefits cease, the assignment of support rights terminates, except for the amount of any unpaid support that accrued under the assignment.

The CSEA Can Assist You With the Following Available Services:

  • Location of Absent Parent(s), including “Location Only Services” if the sole need is to find the absent parent.
  • Establishment or Adjustment of Child Support and Medical Support, if you need to establish paternity. The CSEA can help with a Review and Adjustment of your support order (if timely) and help establish a medical support order.
  • Enforcement of Existing Orders, to help you get current support and back child support.
  • Federal and State Income Tax Refund Offset, by intercepting a non-payor’s federal and state tax refunds.
  • Withholding of Various Types of Income, to help you get payroll deductions for current and back support.
  • Establishing Paternity, by obtaining an order for paternity establishment, if you were not married to the father of the child. An absent parent may also request paternity services.
  • Collection and Disbursement of Payments, and send you a check for the amount of payments received.
  • Interstate Collection of Support, can assist you if the payor is living in another state or in some foreign countries.

Review and Adjustment of Child Support Orders

Each party to the support order has a right to request a review for adjustment of the order thirty-six (36) months from the establishment of the order or from the date of the most recent review, or sooner if certain circumstances are met. Contact the CSEA for further details.

Payment Information

Making Credit/Debit Card Payments is Simple!

There are many options to pay child support with a credit or debit card:

Credit or debit card payments can be made in person at Allen County’s Child Support Office, 200 W. Market Street, Lima, Ohio 45801. Payments can be made through our Customer Call Center Line at 419 224-7133 Option #6 .

Payments can also be made online at https://oh.smartchildsupport.com or by phone at 1-888-965-2676 and select option 5.

Payments can be made online through the Office of Child Support Customer Service Web Portal click here http://jfs.ohio.gov/Ocs/index.stm

You may use Discover, MasterCard, Visa, American Express, China UnionPay, Diners Club International, or JCB to make your payment.

There are no fees for credit/debit card payments.

Venmo is now available as an e-wallet payment option. It is only available on mobile devices.

Skip to content