Child Support changes allocation of payments for noncustodial parents with more than one case

OKLAHOMA CITY – Beginning Sept. 6, new computer programming at Oklahoma Child Support Services (OCSS) will change the way child support is allocated among cases when a noncustodial parent (NCP) has more than one child support order. The change impacts approximately 16,000 of Oklahoma’s 205,000 child support recipients.

When an NCP has multiple obligations --meaning that he or she is ordered to pay child support on more than one child support case -- allocation is the way payments are applied to those cases. Before the programming change, an NCP or employer would specify which case or cases child support payments were credited to, potentially paying some while neglecting others.

Now, according to OCSS spokesperson Jeff Wagner, child support payments will be fairly shared by all of that parent’s cases.  “An increasing number of child support cases involve NCPs with more than one family,” said Wagner. “Before we implemented this change to allocation programming, a parent or employer could choose to support some of the parent’s children while neglecting others, intentionally or not. This compelled OCSS to make changes ensuring fairness to all families.”

The new allocation programming does not change the total amount of support an NCP owes. It may change the amount of monthly support a child support recipient receives, however, if the NCP owes on multiple cases and pays less than the full court-ordered amounts. This is because OCSS will now allocate payment across all of the NCP’s cases, some of which may not have been included before.

Noncustodial parents and child support recipients potentially impacted by this change were sent letters in August detailing the changes.
“NCPs can rest assured that their child support payments are going towards the support of all of their children,” Wagner said.

For more information about Oklahoma Child Support Services, call 1-800-522-2922, Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or visit www.okdhs.org and select “Child Support."

Oklahoma Child Support Services is a division of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. To promote healthy families, OCSS establishes, monitors and enforces reliable support while encouraging self-sufficiency and strengthening relationships. The division is responsible for more than 203,000 active child support cases, collecting more than $359 million in the last year on behalf of children and families.

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