CHILD SUPPORT
The Shelby County Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) is dedicated to providing children with the opportunity for a better life by working with both parents to establish child support, cash medical support and health insurance orders for the children of Shelby County. The CSEA helps children receive the financial and medical support they deserve. Child support is key to the success of children in our community.
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WEB PORTAL
The Child Support Customer Service Web Portal will provide you with “real time” information as reflected by the agency’s records and is available to you seven days a week, 23 hours a day.
To access your child support case information go to www.jfs.ohio.gov/child-support
Register for a free account so you can:
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Gain INSTANT access to your child support case information
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View and print your payment history for housing verification, Job & Family Services benefits and more
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Receive information on how to change the way you receive payments
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Learn about various ways to make payments
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Verify your contact information is correct
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Message your case worker with updated information or to ask questions about your case
MOBILE APP
The Child Support App is free and provides information the same as the web-based Child Support Customer Service Web Portal with some additional expanded benefits. To use this application users must first download the app by clicking the icon from the App Store or Google Play. This mobile application supports all Android and Apple Mobile devices.
ESTABLISHING PATERNITY
Paternity establishment is the legal determination of fatherhood. The CSEA can assist with establishing paternity when there is not an existing final and enforceable determination of paternity. A final enforceable determination of paternity exists when a court or administrative order has been issued determining that a man is the father of a child or 60 days have passed since an Acknowledgement of Paternity Affidavit has been signed. A support order cannot be issued until paternity has been established.
Paternity can be established up to the child’s 23rd birthday.
If you are interested in requesting paternity establishment for your child, go to www.odjfs.state.oh.us, to complete an application to request our services.
BENEFITS OF ESTABLISHING PATERNITY
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Right to collect Social Security or Veteran’s Benefits
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Inheritance rights
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Access to medical history
WAYS TO ESTABLISH PATERNITY
Acknowledgment of Paternity Affidavit: This form is made available at the hospital to unwed mothers when the child is born. The mother must not have been married within 300 days of the date of birth to be able to complete this form. The biological father and mother must both complete the form and their signatures need to be notarized or witnessed by two or more witnesses. This form is a voluntary way for people to admit to being a child’s biological parents.
Genetic Testing: Genetic testing is conducted with buccal swabs. Skin cells are collected from the inside of the mouth with cotton swabs. When the resulting tests show that there is a 99% or greater probability that the man is the father, paternity will be established.
Marriage: A man is presumed to be the father of a child if the parties were married at the time of the child’s birth or if the child was born within 300 days after death, divorce or dissolution. The mother, the presumed father or another man alleging himself to be the father of the child may request genetic testing in this situation.
ESTABLISHING SUPPORT
Anyone with legal custody of a child can ask the CSEA to establish a support order. Ohio law provides that unwed mothers are the sole residential parent and legal custodian of a child unless a court awards custody to someone else.
Child Support orders are required to contain the amount of child support to be paid, a medical support amount, a provision for health insurance coverage, and a payment of uninsured medical expenses.
The CSEA cannot address custody or visitation issues.
Establishing a child support order requires both parents to provide verification of income, day care expenses and health insurance expenses. Failure of a non-requesting party, or person otherwise required to cooperate with the CSEA, to return income verification does not prevent the CSEA from calculating a support order.
If you are interested in establishing a child support order go to www.odjfs.state.oh.us to complete an application to request our services.
MEDICAL SUPPORT & HEALTH INSURANCE ORDERS
The child support order must contain a cash medical support obligation. Cash medical support is an amount, in addition to child support, that must be paid. Cash medical is a charging support obligation at all times.
An order for payment of uninsured medical expenses of the child(ren) will be ordered as well.
The Obligee is presumed to be the appropriate parent to provide health insurance for the child(ren) subject to
the support order, unless rebutted.
Fully subsidized coverage through Ohio Medicaid meets the requirement to provide private health insurance.
REASONABLE COST
When a parent has access to health insurance coverage for the child, the court or the CSEA cannot order the parent to obtain the insurance coverage unless it is reasonable in cost. The coverage is determined to be reasonable in cost if the cost of insurance to the employee is not greater than 5% of the parent’s annual income. A parent can agree to provide the coverage if it exceeds reasonable cost if they choose to do so.
The CSEA is required to enforce health insurance orders. The CSEA will issue a National Medical Support Notice (NMSN) to any employer of a person who is ordered to provide health insurance coverage for their child. The NMSN orders the employer to enroll the child in the health insurance plan available to the parent ordered to provide the coverage. The employer is required to comply with the NMSN and must enroll the child, if the insurance coverage is determined to be reasonable in cost, and does not need the consent of the parent to enroll the child in the coverage even if the employer's open enrollment period is not active.
COLLECTION &DISBURSEMENT
OPTIONS TO PAY CHILD SUPPORT
All payments are processed by Ohio Child Support Payment Central. Under Ohio law, direct payments to the custodial parent are considered a gift and will not be credited to your child support case.
Online: http://oh.smartchildsupport.com
There is no charge for making online payments. Online payments can be scheduled as one-time only (non-recurring) or recurring. Funds will be withdrawn on the scheduled payment date. If the date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or bank holiday the funds will be withdrawn the next business day.
Your first payment date must be at least five (5) business days from the date you register your account. This will allow sufficient time for your bank account information to be verified (prenote). If your account has been previously verified the payment must be scheduled at least three (3) business days prior to its payment date.
Mail Check or Money Order to:
Ohio Child Support Payment Central
PO Box 182372
Columbus, OH 43218-2372
Please be sure to include your SETS case number (10 digit case number beginning with a “7”) and your social security number to ensure proper posting of your payment.
Phone: Credit card payments can be made over the phone by calling 937-498-4981 Option 4
In Person: Check or Money Order payments can be made at our office M-F 7:30 – 4:00
227 S. Ohio Ave
Sidney, OH 45365
After hours payments may be left in the locked drop box in front of the building.
OPTIONS TO RECEIVE CHILD SUPPORT
Effective October 1, 2005, Ohio implemented a law (HB66) requiring a mandatory electronic disbursement program for support payments providing you a faster, simpler, safer way to receive your support payments.
Direct Deposit
With direct deposit, your support payments are deposited into your account at your financial institution. Your payment should be deposited within three business days from the date your payment was posted to your case.
Platinum SMIOne Visa Prepaid Card:
The Ohio Child Support debit card program offers this choice to receive and use your support payments. Payments are credited to your smiONE card within one business day of the date your payments are posted to your case.
ENFORCING A CHILD SUPPORT ORDER
In Ohio, approximately 75% of child support payments are collected through income withholding. Payments can be withheld from many sources via income withholding including:
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Wages/earnings
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Unemployment Compensation
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Certain Social Security benefits
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Disability pay
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Worker’s Compensation
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Pensions
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Bank accounts
A large majority of parents pay their child support as required. For instances where child support is not being paid, penalties can be severe. There are multiple tools available to the CSEA to enforce collection of child support payments.
ENFORCEMENT TOOLS INCLUDE,
BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO THE FOLLOWING:
Tax Offset - Federal and state laws allow Ohio to intercept state and federal tax refunds if the person receiving the refund is in arrears in their child support obligation. When certain criteria are met, eligible cases will be automatically submitted for tax offset.
License Suspension - The CSEA may suspend the driver’s license, recreational license, and/or professional license of a parent who is behind on their child support obligation. The individual must have paid less than 50% of their obligation for 90 consecutive days. The CSEA must issue a pre-suspension notice to the last known address of the individual and provide the individual 10 days to contact the CSEA to make payment arrangements to avoid suspension. If the individual does not contact the CSEA or make payment arrangements, the CSEA will then suspend the license. Once suspended, the individual must meet criteria governed by Ohio law for reinstatement.
Reinstatement fees may be paid:
Online: https://bmvonline.dps.ohio.gov/
By Phone: 1-866-OPLATES
In-person: at one of these locations https://publicsafety.ohio.gov/local-office
Financial Institution Data Match (FIDM) - The CSEA can freeze and seize assets held in a financial institution to be applied to the child support obligation.
Lump Sum Payments - Employers are required to notify the CSEA if they will be paying a lump sum payment over $150 to an individual who owes child support. The CSEA can intercept the lump sum payment, up to the amount of arrears of the child support obligation.
Credit Bureau Reporting - Delinquent parents are reported to credit bureaus.
Passport Denial - If the past due child support is over $2,500, the delinquent parent is submitted to the U.S. State Department. They will refuse to issue the delinquent parent a passport until the CSEA notifies them that the past-due amount has been paid.
Legal Action - If the person repeatedly fails to meet their child support obligation, the CSEA may also take judicial action through civil contempt charges or criminal non-support.
If you are having trouble paying your child support obligation, please contact the CSEA as soon as possible. Your case manager can offer solutions based on your circumstances. The most important thing you can do is stay in contact with the CSEA to keep us informed as to what your situation is.
Your case manager can be reached through our Child Support Customer Service line at: 937-498-4981 – Option 4.
REVIEW & ADJUSTMENT
OF SUPPORT ORDERS
A child support order can be reviewed every 36 months. The order can be reviewed sooner than 36 months if certain conditions are met. These conditions are usually related to changes in your financial situation that are beyond your control.
Either parent can ask for a review of their child support order. Requesting a review may cause the monthly obligation to increase, decrease, or remain unchanged.
The review also could result in a change in the person responsible for providing health insurance coverage for the child. Common reasons to qualify for a review include being unemployed or laid off (through no fault of your own) or experiencing a 30% increase or decrease in gross income from the amount you were earning when the child support obligation was last calculated for at least six months. Please be aware that if you are fired from a job, generally you will not qualify for a review unless your order is over 36 months old.
If the CSEA determines you are eligible for a review, you will receive an administrative Adjustment Review Notification, which must be fully completed and returned to the CSEA on or before the scheduled date of your review.
How to Request a Review:
A Request for Administrative Review of the Child Support Order must be completed for the CSEA to consider your request.
Please go to www.odjfs.state.oh.us to complete the request form. Please know that the CSEA has authority to set income for you even if you are currently unemployed. Also know that your request for a review is likely to be denied if you do not provide documentation showing that you are eligible for a review prior to 36 months.
INTERSTATE SERVICES
Interstate child support cases are governed by the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA). Interstate actions may be necessary when either parent lives in another state. Your local CSEA can request the assistance of a CSEA in another state to establish paternity, establish a child support order, enforce a child support order or modify an existing child support order.
The process generally takes 6 months to a year, but can take longer depending on a variety of issues. The CSEA monitors the progress of the case and maintains contact with the other state to keep up to date on the status of the case.
TERMINATION OF THE SUPPORT ORDER
The CSEA is authorized to terminate a child support order in specific circumstances. These circumstances include:
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Child reaches the age of 18 and no longer attends an accredited high school
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Child reaches the age of 19
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Marriage of the child
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Adoption of the child
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Death of the child or death of the person ordered to pay child support
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Child’s enlistment in the armed services (and no longer attends school)
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A change in legal custody of the child
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Marriage or re-marriage of the parties and no other person has legal custody of the child.
Reasons for termination other than those listed above cannot be accomplished through the Administrative Termination process and must be pursued privately through the courts.
The CSEA cannot assist with terminating a child support order if only physical custody of the child has changed. Legal custody of the child (meaning a court order changing custody of the child) must exist before the CSEA can assist in terminating the child support order.
WHAT WE CAN DO
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Establish Paternity
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Establish Child Support, Cash Medical Support and Health Insurance Orders
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Enforce Child Support, Cash Medical Support and Health Insurance Orders
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Locate Non-Custodial Parents
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Review and Adjust Support Orders
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Terminate Support Orders
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Provide Interstate Services
WHAT WE CAN'T DO
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Assist with issues regarding visitation and/or custody
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Offer legal advice
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Provide legal representation for either party at court hearings. The CSEA attorney represents the interest of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
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Give credit for direct payments made to the custodial parent that are not made through the CSEA. By law, direct payments are considered a gift.
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Verify how child support payments are spent by the custodial parent
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Use current income of a spouse or live-in boyfriend/girlfriend to calculate a child support obligation
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Discuss a case with a person other than the custodial or non-custodial parent without a written consent to release case-specific information to another party