Review and Adjustment
Overview
The Allen County CSEA can assist individuals in requesting a modification or recalculation of their child support orders if the individual has applied and been approved for child support services. A review could result in an increase, decrease, or no change at all to the present child support order.
The requesting party must complete a Request for an Administrative Review of the Child Support Order and provide proof that it has been 3 years (36 months) since the support order amount was set OR if it has not been 3 years, that a qualifying circumstance exists by providing the appropriate documentation along with a completed Request for an Administrative Review of the Child Support Order. Failure to provide the required documentation will result in a denial of your request if it has not been 36 months since the last review.
The qualifying circumstances for review include but are not limited to:
- Either parent is unemployed or laid off beyond the parent’s control for thirty consecutive days. This does not include seasonal employment.
- A 30% change in income on the part of either parent that has lasted for a period of 6 months and is expected to continue.
- Voluntarily reducing hours is not an eligible circumstance.
- Either parent experiences an increase or decrease in child care or health insurance expenses.
- A change in the number of children on your case; e.g., a child has emancipated and the emancipation process is complete.
- Verified disability of either parent.
Requesting a Review
A review may be requested by either parent and must always be in writing. Within 15 days of the request, the Child Support Enforcement Agency will determine whether a review should be conducted. The parent requesting the review will be notified if the review will not be conducted and the reason why.
Determining Eligibility & Review Process
If you have requested a review and your case is eligible for review, both parties will be sent financial information packets. Both parties have 30 days to complete and mail their packets back to the Agency.
If the parent requesting the review fails to respond within the 30-day time frame, the review shall be canceled for non-cooperation. However, the review cannot be canceled by the requesting parent on or after the date the review was scheduled to occur. The revised order shall be included in an Administrative Adjustment Recommendation.
The support amount shall not be changed unless it varies more than 10% from the current order. The recommendation shall include a notice that either party may request an administrative hearing within 14 days of the date of the adjustment if they do not agree with the recommendation.
If an administrative hearing is requested, the hearing shall be scheduled within 15 days after receiving the request. The parties shall be mailed a notice of the hearing at least 10 days prior to the hearing. One good cause continuance may be granted to each party, provided the request is received prior to the hearing. However, the new hearing must be set within 15 days of the initially scheduled hearing.
The decision shall be issued within 10 days of the hearing. If either party disagrees with the result of an administrative hearing decision, they have the right to request a court hearing by submitting a written objection to the CSEA within 14 days of the issuance of the administrative hearing decision. If no hearing is requested, the revised amount of support will be submitted to the court.
Income Considerations
Ohio’s model utilizes gross income figures from both parents in its calculation process. Gross income is defined as all earned and unearned income from all sources during a calendar year. Examples of items included in gross income are salaries, wages, commissions, royalties, tips, overtime, bonuses, rental income, dividends, interest, trust income, annuities, unemployment benefits, workers’ compensation, disability income, military pay, self-generated income, earned income credits, and other income.
The CSEA can follow a support deviation that was previously ordered by the court if it is explicitly outlined in the court order. The Agency may be able to provide credit for parenting time orders that have been filed through the court.