Over the years, we’ve received countless requests for a spousal support
calculator like our popular child support calculator. Our Revised Ohio Child Support
Guidelines program is the de-facto standard for performing child
support calculations and is used by over 106 Ohio Courts and Agencies
including Domestic Relations Courts, Juvenile Courts, Probate Courts,
Child Support Enforcement Agencies, Departments of Human Services,
Departments of Job & Family Services, Prosecutor’s Offices, Appellate
Courts, Law Libraries, Law Schools, Paralegal Schools and Universities.What Does It Do?
Ohio Spousal Support Calculator is an essential tool for calculating child support and
spousal support in Ohio. The child support software that is incorporated in
Ohio Spousal Support Calculator is the same as in our long-standing Revised Ohio Child
Support Guidelines (WROCSG) which has been the unchallenged child
support calculator of choice since 1994. But the big change incorporated into
Ohio Spousal Support Calculator is not about child support or taxes—it’s about spousal
support.
Spousal Support/Alimony
Ohio Revised Code 3105.18(B) lists eleven factors a trial court must consider
in determining the amount of spousal support. Following these guidelines,
Ohio Spousal Support Calculator suggests a range of spousal support amounts that is not simply
the result of a tax analysis or income equalization formula. Ohio Spousal
Support Calculator
makes its "suggestions" via a set of form that are discussed below. If you'd like to see
Ohio Spousal Support Calculator for yourself,
download the free demo on our
Demos & Downloads page.
1. Income, Taxes, Support & Expenses
This form contains a side-by-side summary of the parties’ taxable and
nontaxable income along with personal and living expenses that are subdivided
into essential and nonessential expenses. Both before-tax and after-tax
information is provided consistent with the currently-set amount of spousal
support. We think you’ll find the side-by-side format of this form
well-organized and quite easy to understand. The manual which is included as a
PDF file on our Demos & Downloads page has a facsimile of this form.
2. Support v. Lifestyle
This form is essentially a table that summarizes the information
contained in the Income, Taxes, Support & Expenses form through a range of 28
different values of spousal support. We call it the Lifestyle form because it provides
an excellent and instructive comparison of the parties’ ability to
meet essential and non-essential living expenses at different levels of spousal
support. Whether you accept the premise that a person’s lifestyle is defined, to a
great extent, by their spending habits, you’ll find this form to be one of
Ohio Spousal Support Calculator’s most telling reports. The manual which is included
as a PDF file on our Demos & Downloads page has a facsimile of this form.
3. Report—Statutory Considerations
This report imust be seen to be appreciated. Unfortunately, it’s too long to be duplicated on this brief web page. Composed
in a style that is more akin to a well-reasoned legal brief than an accounting
spreadsheet, it begins by calculating the difference between the parties'
respective total incomes. These income figures are then adjusted for
payment of federal, state and local income taxes so that a more realistic
starting point is achieved for evaluating and comparing after-tax income and
each party’s ability to meet their personal and living expenses.
Using income equalization as a starting point, Ohio Spousal Support
Calculator tests
each party’s income against their essential and nonessential expenses. The
obvious purpose being to determine the extent to which a
party can meet living expenses at various levels of spousal support. While
distinguishing between essential and nonessential living expenses may seem
arbitrary or artificial, in cases where spendable income doesn’t meet living
expenses, it’s helpful to know which expenses are nonessential. Because division
of the family unit necessarily involves supporting two households on the same
income that previously supported one, categorizing expenses as essential or
nonessential takes on increased importance.
Ohio Spousal Support Calculator doesn’t stop there, however. It makes additional
observations about many of the Revised Code’s eleven statutory considerations.
It even compares each party’s total income to the per capita income for that
party’s county of residence based on information compiled by the U.S. Bureau of
Economic Analysis from 2002 census information.
If you’d like to see a sample of this form, you can visit the Demos &
Downloads page of our web site, scroll to Spousal Support Calculator
and click on the PDF link captioned "Sample Report."
4. Set Spousal Support
Once Ohio Spousal Support Calculator evaluates the ability of the parties to pay their
expenses, it suggests a spousal support amount that resembles after-tax
equality. In any real life situation, however, there are a potential range of
acceptable spousal support amounts and this form lets you deviate from any
formulas or algorithms and set your own amount to be used in the tax
calculations and expense comparisons. In the final analysis it’s not the program
in control, but rather you in control of the program.
Child Support
Until now, we’ve been focusing on spousal support, but don’t forget,
Ohio Spousal Support Calculator includes complete child support guidelines software. A separate
program is not needed.
Tax Issues
All of the calculations performed by Ohio Spousal Support Calculator
are after-tax figures. That means the tax consequences involved in the
exchange of spousal support are already incorporated into forms such as the
Lifestyle form. Ohio Spousal Support Calculator
does more than just give you the after-tax figures
however. From the Tax Issues section of Ohio Spousal Support Calculator
you can view or
print a breakdown of tax information related to who should take the dependency
exemptions and how it affects both parties. When it’s best to split the
dependency exemptions, Ohio Spousal Support Calculator lets you know in this section.
Finally, Ohio Spousal Support Calculator prints side-by-side tax returns for both
parties so you don’t need to blindly accept figures but can review the
calculations every step of the way. We think it’s awesome and you will too.
In Conclusion
Each of the forms and reports contained in Ohio Spousal Support
Calculator is capable
of being exported to your word processor for quick and easy inclusion pleadings,
briefs and the like. And we're only touching the tip of the iceberg. There's a
whole lot more that Ohio Spousal Support Calculator can do, but ...
Don’t Take Our Word For It—See Is Believing
You'll be denying yourself an excellent tool for saving time and increasing
the quality of your work product if you don't try our
free demo. Your clients
will thank you for it. |
