Ohio: modifying child support and spousal support

Sources last checked: 3 November 2026. Information only, not legal advice. The Cusp is not a law firm.

Ohio divorce kit How child support is calculated Alimony in Ohio Legal aid in Ohio

The short version

In Ohio, child support and spousal support are changed by different tests and, in practice, different routes. Child support can be changed by a motion in court, for which the Supreme Court of Ohio publishes Uniform Domestic Relations Form 28, the Motion for Change of Child Support, Medical Support, Tax Exemption, or Other Child-related Expenses (footer: “Amended: September 21, 2020”). It can also be reviewed by your county Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA), which uses the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services form JFS 01849. Spousal support is changed only by a court, and only if the original decree or separation agreement reserved the power to modify it (for orders covered by section 3105.18(E)). We did not find a statewide standardized form for a motion to modify spousal support (see “What we could not confirm” below).

What the motion can ask for

Child support: the court recalculates support under the guideline schedule. If the new figure is “more than ten per cent greater than or more than ten per cent less” the current amount, the deviation counts as a substantial change (details below).
Child-related terms: Form 28 lets the movant check boxes for the amount of child support or cash medical support, who provides health insurance, the division of non-insured health care expenses, who claims the children for tax purposes, and other child-related expenses.
Spousal support: the court may change the amount or terms only if it finds the circumstances of either party have changed and the decree or separation agreement authorizes modification (details below). Property division is different: it cannot be reopened without both spouses’ written consent.

What else you file

The list below is the Supreme Court of Ohio’s own list for changes in child support, medical support, tax exemption, or other child-related expenses. It covers child-related changes only, not spousal support.

Uniform Domestic Relations Form 28 / Uniform Juvenile Form 7, the motion itself.
Uniform Domestic Relations Form 31 / Uniform Juvenile Form 10, Request for Service. The Form 28 instructions say it “must be filed with this Motion”, together with the Affidavit of Basic Information, Income, and Expenses.
Affidavit 1, Affidavit of Basic Information, Income, and Expenses (listed on the Supreme Court page as Form 1).
Affidavit 4, Health Insurance Affidavit (listed as Form 4).
Local forms: the Supreme Court page says the “local court may have additional forms that must be filed”, and Form 28 tells you to check the county’s requirements. Counties publish their own checklists. As one example, Clermont County Domestic Relations Court has a Checklist 7 for a post-decree motion to modify spousal support that lists a county Motion and Supporting Memorandum (form 305), notification forms, a Title IV-D application (JFS7076), a CSE account information sheet and a waiver of counsel form for self-represented parties. Other counties may differ.

What the statutes say

Wording below is a plain-language summary of the Ohio Revised Code as we read it on 3 November 2026, with short quotations.

Child support, section 3119.79(A): when a parent asks the court to modify support, the court recalculates it under the schedule and worksheet. If the result is “more than ten per cent greater than or more than ten per cent less” the existing amount, the deviation is “a change of circumstance substantial enough to require a modification”. The ten per cent figure is therefore a trigger the statute treats as substantial, not an automatic change.
Child support, section 3119.79(B): if the court finds “medical needs of the child are not being met” because of inadequate health insurance, that is also a substantial change of circumstance.
Child support, section 3119.79(C): the court sets the amount under the schedule and worksheet when a substantial change was “not contemplated at the time of the issuance” of the original order or last modification. It may depart from the guideline amount only if it finds that amount unjust or inappropriate and records the findings required by section 3119.22.
Spousal support, section 3105.18(E): for orders entered in a divorce or dissolution decided on or after 1 January 1991, the court “does not have jurisdiction to modify the amount or terms” unless it finds that “the circumstances of either party have changed” and the decree or incorporated separation agreement has a provision “specifically authorizing the court to modify the amount or terms”. Without that provision, the statute gives the court no power to modify.
Spousal support, what counts as changed circumstances, section 3105.18(F)(1): the change can include “any increase or involuntary decrease in the party’s wages”, salary, bonuses, living expenses or medical expenses. Both of two conditions must hold: the change is “substantial and makes the existing award no longer reasonable and appropriate”, and it was “not taken into account by the parties or the court” when the award was set or last modified, whether or not it was foreseeable.
Spousal support, section 3105.18(F)(2): in deciding whether to modify, the court “shall consider any purpose expressed in the initial order” and must “enforce any voluntary agreement of the parties”.
Spousal support, section 3105.18(B): an award ends on death unless the order says otherwise: it shall “terminate upon the death of either party”, unless the order “expressly provides otherwise”.
Legal separation, section 3105.18(D): a continuing support order in a legal separation action is “subject to further order of the court upon changed circumstances” of either party.
Dissolution, section 3105.65(B): the court “may modify the amount or terms of spousal support” only in accordance with section 3105.18(E)(2). The same subsection says the court keeps jurisdiction over child support.
Property, sections 3105.171(A)(1) and (I): a distributive award does not count as spousal support, and a property division or distributive award is “not subject to future modification by the court” unless both spouses consent in writing.

Asking the CSEA to review child support

Who may ask: the ODJFS page says the order can be “reviewed every 36 months from when it was first made or last reviewed”. The administrative rule says any party may start a review “every thirty-six months from the date of the most recent support order” by submitting form JFS 01849 to the CSEA.
Earlier review: Ohio Administrative Code rule 5101:12-60-05.1(E) lists circumstances that allow a request sooner than 36 months. They include a parent unemployed through no fault of their own for “thirty consecutive days”, an incarceration of “more than one hundred eighty calendar days”, and a “thirty per cent decrease that is beyond the parent’s control” or an increase in gross income lasting at least six months. The rule lists other circumstances, and the form lists the qualifying changes.
What the CSEA does first: under section 3119.60, when it plans a review the agency must send each parent notice by ordinary mail “at least thirty days before formally beginning the review” and ask for tax returns, pay stubs and insurance information.
If the order is a court order: section 3119.63 requires the agency to calculate a revised amount and notify both parents. Unless a parent asks for a hearing “within fourteen days after the notice” is issued, the agency submits the revised amount to the court for inclusion in a revised order. A parent who asks for a court hearing under section 3119.66 gets one: the court “shall schedule and conduct a hearing”, with “at least thirty days’ notice” under section 3119.67.
Court or agency, not both: the rule says the CSEA is not to review or adjust an order when any party “elects to proceed through court”. The ODJFS page says the CSEA decides whether your case can have a review and tells you if it is approved or denied, and that it may deny a request if you do not provide required evidence.

Where to file in court

Which court: Ohio Legal Help, a legal aid self-help site linked from the Supreme Court page, says the forms should be “filed in the court where the existing child support order was made”. For divorced parents that is typically the domestic relations court. If a CSEA issued the order and you want the court to modify it, it says to file in juvenile court.
Local rules: the Supreme Court page says forms go to the “local county court”. Check your county’s procedures before you file. Some counties, such as Clermont, say self-represented parties’ papers “must be reviewed by our Compliance Officer before they can be filed”.

Before you file

Court staff cannot give legal advice, and Form 28 itself warns it “is not a substitute” for a lawyer. See legal aid in Ohio for free or low-cost help, or the Ohio divorce kit for the wider process.
This page does not state a filing fee, because we did not find an official source that states one. Ask the clerk of courts in the county where you file.
Child support amounts follow the state guidelines. See how child support is calculated in Ohio and alimony in Ohio.
Form 28 carries an “Amended: September 21, 2020” footer, while the Supreme Court page says the most recent amendments to the form set took effect in June 2021. Check that you have the current version before you file.

What we could not confirm

A statewide form for modifying spousal support. The Supreme Court of Ohio’s list of standardized domestic relations forms has none. We saw one county’s checklist (Clermont) and did not search other counties, so ask your clerk what your court requires.
Filing fees and service fees. No official source we read states an amount.
Revision date of form JFS 01849. The rule says its date is set in rule 5101:12-60-99, which we did not read. We did not open the form itself.
The CSEA’s collapsed answers. The ODJFS review and adjustment FAQ shows its questions but we did not expand the answers, so we do not state timelines for approval or completion.
Which spousal support orders have no power to modify. Section 3105.18(E) also covers alimony orders from 1986 to 1990, and we did not work out how it applies to orders outside that range or to older ones. We did not read Ohio court decisions interpreting the section, and we cite no cases.
From what date a change applies. We did not find the Revised Code text saying whether a modified amount reaches back to the date of the motion, so we do not state it.
Other child support rules. We did not read the guideline sections, the deviation rules in sections 3119.22 to 3119.24, parenting time adjustments, or the termination investigation sections (3119.89 and 3119.90).
Court-specific local rules. We checked no county’s local rules, and a court may require more than the standard forms.

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