Written by: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney
In Jacksonville, Florida family law matters, such as divorce, paternity actions, timesharing, and child support must go to mediation before a trial can be conducted. Mediation is a court ordered process that allows parties to reach an agreement, with the help of a neutral third party, without having all issues decided by a judge.
Written by: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney
Florida child support that has been ordered but gone unpaid may be collected through a Motion for Contempt or by the Department of Revenue’s Child Support Enforcement. A court order is enforceable, so if you have not received child support payments, you may want to look into both a private action of a Motion for Contempt and the State’s assistant with enforcement.
Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney
Florida child support is calculated using child support guidelines established in Florida Statute 61.30. If child support is not being determined until after the parties have separated, or later in the child’s life if the parents were not together, then there may be back child support owed. In accordance with Florida Statute 61.30(17), the court cannot order child support going back further than two (2) years from the date of filing a petition for support. The reason for this provision is to protect a parent from child support going back to the birth of the child, if the child is now much older. It also helps in determining the past support owed because a determination of the income of the parents would have to be made back to the birth of the child(ren) if the provision were not in place, since most individuals are not making the same today as they were 5 years ago.
How is child support determined in Florida? Florida child support is based on Florida Statutes 61.29 and 61.30 , which provides the breakdown for calculating child support. The calculation is designed to put the child in the same position s/he would be if mom and dad lived in the same home. The idea is that mom’s income plus dad’s income equals the child’s net household income, so the calculation determines what percentage of the household each parent is contributing. Also, it gives consideration for the parent paying for daycare and the parent paying for the child’s health insurance.
Child support used to end on the child’s 18th birthday or upon his/her graduation from high school if the child would be 19 at expected date of graduation. It was recently changed and the law now requires that a real date be placed in the child support order so that it self terminates at that time.
Child support previously only provided compensation for time spent with each parent, if the non-primary parent spent over 146 overnights with the child(ren). The law recently changed to give compensation and credit to the non-primary timesharing parent, if that parent 73 overnights with the child, then that is considered “Substantial Time Sharing” and child support is calculated based on the amount of time the child(ren) spends with each parent.
Alimony or spousal support, in Florida, is determined by the set of facts surrounding the divorce, not a calculation like you have in Florida child support cases. Unlike Child Support, the determination is not based on a statutory guidelines that says x +y = z, instead factors of the marriage are used to determine what “z” will be. Some factors used to determine whether there is alimony to be awarded and how much that alimony will be are as follows:
How long was the marriage? If the marriage was 0 – 7 years, then that is considered a short-term marriage, 7 – 16 years that is a moderate-term marriage and 17 or more is a long-term marriage.
What was the standard of living during the marriage? If both parties worked and made relatively equal money, then there will be no alimony. If one spouse worked and the other did not, then alimony will most likely be awarded.
When couples with children divorce in Florida, the court endeavors to establish child support so the well being of the children does not suffer just because they are no longer living in a two-income household.
In Florida, child support is calculated based on the incomes of both spouses and credits are given based on who is paying for childcare costs (the custodial parent) and health insurance.
Florida child support is based on both spouses’ monthly income and is paid monthly. It is designed to cover a portion of the children’s expenses, including housing, food, clothing, school supplies, etc., and to provide the children with the same standard of living they enjoyed prior to the divorce – or as closely as possible.
A man who is being called the “biggest deadbeat dad in America” was sentenced to 23-48 months in jail for failure to pay child support to the mother of two of his 23 children.
According to court records, the Michigan man was in debt for more than half a million dollars owed in back child support. Howard Veal, 44, has admitted to fathering 23 children by 14 different women. He is currently unemployed, and had been ordered to pay 10 to 100 percent of the $63,000 in back child support owed to Sherri Black, the mother of two of his children, to avoid charges. He told the court he was unable to pay because he could not find a job.
However, Kent County Judge Dennis Leiber called Veal “the poster child for irresponsibility” and sentenced him to more jail time than Michigan sentencing guidelines provided for, saying that Veal is “an insult to every responsible father who sacrifices to provide for their children.”
According to an article at WomensENews.org, advocates for women’s financial security say that the new financial overhaul legislation passed last month did nothing to reform a 2005 bankruptcy law they say benefits credit card companies and harms single mothers.
The advocates say that most divorced men who file Chapter 13 bankruptcy are required to repay a portion of their credit card debt, and that this debt is usually prioritized over payments for child support and alimony.
The article said that many divorced women find themselves competing with credit card companies for support payments, and that since those companies have many more collection resources, women often lose.
The two adult children of billionaire developer Donald Bren, who is currently ranked #16 on the Forbes list of wealthy Americans with an estimated fortune of $12 billion, are suing their father for not being a part of their lives.
They are asking for retroactive child support in the amount of $400,000 per month for a period of 14 years, for a total of just over $67 million each.
Christie Bren, 22, and David Bren, 18, say that while they did not suffer any economic hardships while growing up, they were emotionally damaged because of the absence of their father, Donald Bren.
Effective January 1, 2011, any and all child support orders entered into on or after October 1, 2010 must provide:
1. The termination of the child support shall end on the child’s eighteenth birthday, unless otherwise agreed to by the parties.
2. A child support schedule. This schedule shall state the amount of the monthly child support obligation for all the minor children at the time the order is entered. The schedule shall also provide the amount of child support that will be owed for any children remaining after one or more children in the order are no longer entitled to receive child support.
3. The month, day and year that the reduction or termination of child support becomes effective.
The recent changes also provide the Child Support Guidelines and Principles that will be follow by the Florida family courts.
1. Each parent has a legal obligation to support his or her minor or legally dependent child.
2. The guideline schedule is based upon the parents’ combined net income that the child would be receiving if the parents were still living in the same household.
3. The goal of the guidelines is to encourage fair and efficient settlement of child support issues between parents, as well as minimize the need for litigation.
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