Quick answer: Ohio uses an income-shares model under R.C. Chapter 3119. Each parent’s adjusted annual gross income is gross income from all sources less a credit for other minor children, court-ordered spousal support paid and the children’s health insurance premiums. The incomes are added, and the Basic Child Support Schedule (JFS 07767, combined incomes from $8,400 to $336,000 in $600 steps) gives an obligation for the number of children. On JFS 07768, each parent’s obligation is the lower of his or her income share of the combined amount and the schedule amount on his or her own income, never below $960 a year. The schedule includes a self-sufficiency reserve (116% of the federal poverty level) for low incomes. A parent with a court-ordered parenting time of 90 or more overnights a year has a 10% reduction. Child care (capped by age) and a cash medical amount of $510.21 per child a year are shared by income, and the parent who pays the children’s health insurance deducts the premium from income. The guideline amount is presumed correct; a court may deviate on written findings.
How the Ohio worksheet works
- Income, shares and the lower-of rule. See how the Ohio worksheet works.
- The self-sufficiency reserve and the schedule. See the self-sufficiency reserve and the schedule.
- Parenting time, child care and cash medical. See parenting time, child care and cash medical.
What this calculator checks
The calculator follows the sole/shared parenting worksheet (JFS 07768) and the schedule (JFS 07767, revised 6/2023: 547 rows with the shaded reserve area read from the official pages), with the child care and cash medical tables of the April 2026 manual, and was checked against an independent re-implementation. Amounts between schedule rows are interpolated proportionally, as the manual allows. It does not compute split parenting (JFS 07769), derivative benefits, deviations or income above the schedule.
Child support across Ohio
The guidelines apply in every Ohio court of common pleas and county child support enforcement agency, from Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron or Dayton. A court that deviates must state the guideline amount and its reasons in the journal entry.
Frequently asked questions
How is child support calculated in Ohio?
Each parent's adjusted gross income is added, the schedule gives the obligation, and each parent's share is the lower of his or her income share of the combined amount and the schedule amount on his or her own income, with child care, cash medical and a parenting time adjustment.
What is the Ohio self-sufficiency reserve?
A built-in protection for low-income parents, based on 116% of the federal poverty level for one person, that lowers the schedule amounts at low incomes.
What is the Ohio parenting time adjustment?
A parent with a court-ordered parenting time of 90 or more overnights a year has his or her obligation reduced by 10%.
What is the highest income in the Ohio schedule?
$336,000 of combined annual income; above it the court sets support case by case.
What is the minimum child support in Ohio?
$960 a year, $80 a month, on the worksheet.