Don Hubin's Ohio Supreme Court Case
The Hubin case asked the Ohio Supreme Court to decide how presumptive (guideline) child support is to be calculated in a shared parenting case where both parents are custodial and residential parents. Hubin's trial court ingored his ex-wife's child support obligation entirely and presumptively subjected Hubin's entire child support obligation to a child support order despite having found that Hubin and his ex-wife have roughly equal expenses on the children. No basis was given for the asymmetry in handling the two parties' obligations. Why was Hubin's ex-wife's obligation ignored (or, as some have suggested, presumed to be spent directly on the children)? Why was Hubin's obligation presumed to be the correct amount for him to pay his ex-wife? (That is, why was none of his obligation presumed to be spent directly on the children?)
The Ohio Supreme Court has rendered its decision in the case of Hubin v. Hubin. It has declined to reconsider this decision. This means that this round is over in the courts.
However, you can appeal to your legislator to fix what the courts have declined to correct. Follow the link to Legislative Efforts and to 2005 Ohio CS Guidelines for more information.
Presumptive Child Support in Shared Parenting Situation
Whenever both parents have an income, each will have a presumptive child support obligation. In a sole custody situation, the child support obligation of the custodial parent is presumed to be spent directly on the children and is not made a part of a child support order. The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled (Pauly v. Pauly) that this presumption does not apply to custodial parents in a shared parenting situation. Therefore, the presumption should be that both parents' child support obligation shall be subjected to a child support order unless the court finds that doing so would be contrary to the best interest of the children. While several Ohio Appellate Districts (most clearly the First and the Eleventh) have recognized this, others have not. In particular, the Tenth Appellate Court in the Hubin case persisted in giving one parent this presumption without giving it to the other.
Detailed Information on Hubin v. Hubin