OKLAHOMA Part 52

What is child support?

Parents have a legal and moral duty to maintain, protect and educate their children. When parents live apart, the state has an interest in seeing to it that parents, not the public, provide for their children. This obligation continues for as long as the child is a minor. Parents may not waive their obligation to pay child support as a matter of public policy.

Courts have a duty to set child support amounts. Since 1987, Oklahoma has had child support guidelines. The statutory guidelines determine the amount of support that parents at particular income levels are presumed to spend on their children. Child support calculated under the guidelines is presumed by law to be the correct amount of child support.