Child Support Law in Florida
Child support is a court-ordered obligation that parents who are divorcing need to commit to. No matter how many children you have had with people that you are no longer married to, you will be required to contribute to their care.
If you have been involved in a divorce or you have been informed that you are required to begin making child support payments, you can trust the St. Petersburg family law lawyers at Lopez Law. We can offer you the legal support that you need to be able to secure a child support arrangement that you can afford and that takes care of the needs of your kids.
How Much Child Support Will I Owe Each Month?
Child support varies depending on the amount of money that you make as well as the custodial arrangement that you have in place with your former spouse or partner. The Florida Child Support Guidelines determine how much parents will pay in child support each month. These payment amounts are strictly enforced, but judges can sometimes opt to deviate from the standard amounts laid out in the guidelines.
In many cases, one parent handles the finances when a couple is still living together. This person might also be the breadwinner for the family. This can work well while couples are together, but it can make divorce and child support considerations more complex.
Child support law 39.01 dictates that it is the responsibility of every parent, whether they are married or not, divorced or single, to provide for their children’s care, maintenance, training, and education.
Florida uses the “income shares model” to determine how much child support you owe. This model combines the two incomes that were formerly used to support the household when it was whole and splits the cost of caring for and supporting the children in half. This means that you will continue to be expected to pay about half of the cost of maintaining a single household while having to manage to support yourself in a separate household.
Understandably, this amount of monthly support can sometimes be impossible for divorcing parents to afford. Judges do try to take unique considerations related to job situation, living situation, and the number of children involved in a divorce into account. This still often results in steep child support payments that might be very hard to afford.
Often, these payments are withheld from your salary at your job and paid to the receiving parent on a monthly basis. This ensures that the payments will arrive on a regular basis and that the receiving spouse can count on you adhering to the child support order.
When you secure the support of a skilled legal professional, you will be much more likely to be offered a child support agreement that you can actually afford. The team at Lopez Law will work hard to make sure that you are not asked to pay child support each month that you cannot afford. This is not a common outcome, but it is possible for judges to award without being aware of the conditions that might prevent you from paying the amount that you are required to offer each month.
Additionally, if your job changes or other circumstances in your life change that might prevent you from paying child support, we can help you to get your child support modified. This requires that the case be reopened and that the judge look at your new income amount and life circumstances to alter your monthly payment amount.
The Four Step Analysis
Each parent’s share will be determined following the income-sharing guidelines. Next, the court will determine how much support should be paid based on the number of days that the child is with each former spouse. This is done as a percentage, so in 50/50 custody, the split would be even. In other custodial arrangements, the percentage might be more like 80/20.
The last step is to use these calculations to come up with a proportionate support amount that must be paid each month. As an example, per the guidelines of the law, if you and your spouse make in excess of $10,000 a month when your incomes are combined, there are additional considerations that are used to create an award amount. Another factor that can change the amount paid out each month is the number of children that you share.
If the child or children involved in the divorce have special needs or health issues that can cause great financial strain for the primary parent, these factors will be considered as well. Support agreements have to be created to cover most of the proper care and maintenance of the child, or they cannot be offered to the parents involved in the divorce.
Obviously, there are going to be instances where the demands of the primary parent’s legal team and the law are not reasonable and could create a financial burden that a single person on a single income cannot afford. In these instances, you can work with an experienced lawyer to help you avoid being asked to make child support payments that you cannot afford.
What Does Child Support Cover?
Child support payments are intended to be used for the following:
- Food and clothing
- Groceries
- Educational expenses
- Books, supplies, tutoring, and other additional education costs
- Medical costs
- Hobbies
- Activities for enrichment
- Entertainment
You cannot dictate what the receiving parent does with the money that you send to them each month to help them support the child that you share. Many people mistake child support for an amount that must be used in exactly the ways that they want it to be used. This is not part of the child support law, and the judge will not be able to compel the receiving parent to use your child support payments in the way that you want.
However, if you can prove that your child is being neglected or that the money that you have sent each month is not being used to maintain their health and safety, then you might be able to petition the court to have your child support and child custody agreement re-examined. There are instances where child custody might be awarded to the parent who was not originally granted primary custody. This can also alter the child support arrangements so that you no longer pay support since the child is in your care full-time.
These kinds of situations require that you work with a skilled and experienced legal professional. The team at Lopez Law Group can help you to seek modified custodial arrangements and child support payment arrangements when the circumstances of your child’s life change. We want your child to be safe and healthy, and we work hard to ensure that this is the outcome of any custodial or child support case.
Can Child Support Payments Be Determined by Divorcing Spouses?
In some cases, divorcing spouses can still communicate in a positive way about the child support that will be paid following a divorce. The judge might still defer to the guidelines of Florida law when setting child support payments, but you might be able to request that the judge look at the child support payment structure that you and your spouse have determined is fair and agreeable to you both.
This would be a unique situation, but it can be possible to set up a very unique child support arrangement if you have specific circumstances that make this a better option than the traditional child support payment method. A skilled lawyer will be essential to this kind of demand, and the judge will want to know exactly what the details of your situation are related to this request. Lopez Law can work with you on your unique child support arrangement requests so that you can offer the judge all the necessary information to be willing to approve a custom agreement.
Back Owed Child Support Laws in the State of Florida
Florida law provides parents the right to seek back owed child support payments. The retroactive child support will date back to the time that the parents ceased to live together and share custodial care of the child under one roof. The period of retroactive child support cannot exceed 24 months, however.
In the past, retroactive child support could be dated back to the child’s birth. This is no longer the case, and you should not be asked to pay child support from that long ago that the other parent indicates was not paid. If the child in question was born before 1998, however, and the retroactive support was never sought during the time that the child was a minor living at home, then this amount can still be sought with the help of a lawyer.
Retroactive child support is paid based on Florida state guidelines. This is to standardize payment amounts without having to consider inflation, changes to the income of the parent who did not pay support for an extended period of time and other alterations in situations that could cause varying amounts of support to be due.
If the income of the person who owes the support varied significantly during the period that support was not paid, the court will make individual determinations based on each week during the 24-month period in question. This is not very common but can crop up from time to time. An experienced legal team will be able to help you to correctly demonstrate your income during the period that retroactive support is being sought so that you do not have to pay money that you do not owe.
Retroactive support will usually be added to the future monthly payments that are left to be paid for the support of the child in question. However, if the child is no longer a minor, other arrangements can be made to pay the child directly on a payment plan for the amount of child support that their primary parent never received.
Child Support For Parents Living in Different States
This law allows the Florida Department of Revenue to assist in collecting child support in these cases. Wage garnishment is the most common way that this obligation to pay is met. The enforcement can still take place if the child is over 18 as well.
Working With a Skilled Child Support Lawyer is Key
If you have a child support case that needs to be reopened, or you are just going through a divorce and need advice and guidance for your child support negotiations in court, you can count on the team at Lopez Law. We have years of experience in these cases and can ensure that your case is attended to with attention to detail and mindfulness of your child’s needs. We take the process of securing support for children involved in divorce very seriously and will work hard for you on your child support case.
Contact us today and schedule a consultation. We are eager to offer guidance for your child support case that you can trust.