AGI Is Your Gross Income Minus Certain Adjustments
Video Transcribed: What is adjusted gross income for child support in Oklahoma? I’m Oklahoma attorney James Wirth, and that’s the question before us today. We’re doing a series on child support, and this one deals with one of the terms.
We’ve got a definition of that term, and it’s a statutory definition. So you can look it up. You can find it online. It is from title 43, section one, 18 A, and then it is subsection one. And that deals with the definition of adjusted gross income.
So for adjusted gross income, you have your gross income, and then you adjust it for certain factors that the law finds relevant to determining child support. So you take your regular gross income, and then you add to that, any Social Security benefits that the child receives through you as a parent.
So if you have a child that qualifies for Social Security based on, you qualifying for Social Security, the amount the child receives is added to your gross income to determine your adjusted gross income.
But you also get the benefit of reducing the amount that the child receives from the child support obligation. So it works out in your favor, although at this step, it seems like it doesn’t, but in the next step, it will.
So you add in the Social Security benefits to your gross income, to determine adjusted gross income, those benefits the child’s receiving. Next, deduct from gross income, reduce gross income, by any amount of support alimony that you have been ordered to receive and are actually being paid.
So that, that part that you’re receiving for alimony, does not create an increased child support obligation. So you deduct that from your gross income. And then you also deduct from gross income, any amounts that you’re getting credit for under the child support guidelines, based on prior born children that you’re caring for or after born children that you’re legally responsible for. So amounts that are being paid for that. Those factors are determined a later part of the guidelines, whatever that number is. Based on that, you deduct that from your gross income.
And then, you also deduct from gross income, any reasonable expenses for debt servicing, if that is ordered as part of a divorce decree. So if it’s ordered as part of a divorce decree that you pay on certain debts, the court can also order that, that reduce the amount of your gross income, to determine your adjusted income for determining child support.
So if you’ve got any questions about gross income, adjusted gross income, or generally, child support in Oklahoma, you’re going to want to talk to an attorney about that. This video only covers this small area of the definition under the statute for adjusted gross income. But if you want to know more than that, talk to an attorney. To get that scheduled with somebody at my office, you go online to makelaweasy.com.
