Child Support Florida
If you are a parent who will get divorced or a single parent, you might be wondering about child support. However, some aspects of child support laws can be practiced differently in different states of the US. Especially the way child support is calculated changes a lot from state to state. In this article, we will take a look at the child support guidelines in the state of Florida. Here, you can read about how calculations are being done for Child Support Florida.
In Florida, the amount of child support payments is calculated according to the state’s related guidelines. And, these guidelines are based on the “Income Shares Model”. The court will this model to calculate how much the child support payments will be. According to this model, the total amount of the child’s usual expenses is calculated and both parents contribute to this total amount. But the amount that each parent will cover will be determined by the ratio of their incomes. This is common in most states in the US. Let’s get into the details of Child Support Florida.
Details of Child Support Florida
First of all, if the child in the case was born while the parents were not married, the case will require a paternity determination. Normally the marriage between the parents, or the legal acknowledgment of both parents is enough. But if it comes to it, genetic paternity tests and a legitimacy order by the court might be necessary as well.
As we said, the state of Florida adopts Income Shares Model for its child support guidelines. Although according to this model, child support payments are determined by considering the incomes of both parents, payments are done by one of these parents. After the court order, the parent who is not living with the child pays the child support to the parent who is living with the child.
In Child support Florida cases, the law requires parents to support their children until they become adults. So, the courts in the state order these child support payments to continue until the child reaches the age of maturity in the state which is 18. However, support can extend in some cases. For example, if the child is in high school after the age of 18, the court can order the parents to continue support payments. Similarly, if the child in question has a particular disability, child support may end with their maturity age.
If prior to the child support case, the court gives the custody of the child solely to one parent, let’s say the mother, the father still has a right to visit his child on a basis. Although the court may decide differently according to the case, this right typically allows the non-custody holder parent for 73 overnight visits. If the parenting agreement between parents makes so that the child spends an equal amount of time with both parents, this also affects the calculations of the child support.
Calculating Child Support Florida
To determines child support payments, the child support Florida courts first calculate both parents’ net incomes. This is done by deducting the taxes and similar payments from their gross incomes. Then their possible extra incomes, any alimony from previous partners, investments, pensions, and other similar factors are also get included in the calculations. The child support attorneys can help the court by providing the details during this process.
When it comes to calculating the financial needs of the child, the child support Florida courts sum the child’s education costs, health care fees, food, accommodation, as well as the expenses of all the additional things that any child should have access to are considered. After the net incomes of the parents are calculated, the court allocates these expenses of the child to be covered by both parents in the ratio between these incomes.
For example, let’s say the mother has a $1000 net income while the father has a $2000 monthly net income. And let the calculated expenses of the child be $600 per month. The total net income of the parent would be $3000, with a 1:2 ratio between the mother and the father. So, the child’s total expenses would be shared as $200 for the mother and $400 for the father. If the child will live with the mother, then it means the father will be ordered to pay $400 to the mother every month. Of course, these are rough examples. According to the child support Florida guidelines, there are more factors to determine both the child’s support needs and the parent’s responsibilities.
Other Factors
In addition to their income ratio, the amount of time that the child stays with both parents also affects the calculation. If the child lives with the payor parent as much as the other parent, they would cover the child’s expenses near equally. So, their child support responsibilities would also reflect this.
Also as we said earlier, any number of children that parents have unrelated to the case, such as previous marriages, are also considered as a factor that lowers the support payment. If a parent has the responsibility of supporting multiple children, and they are ordered to pay child support in the current case too, the court reduces their support payments by a small margin so they can handle the payments. To give some examples, a separate child unrelated to the case would reduce a parent’s payment responsibility by 5%. For two children this reduction would be 7.5%. Three children would make it 9.5%. And so on…
As we said there are so many factories that will change the final order in child support Florida. You can predict the amount that the court will, best with the help of a child support lawyer. They will know all the small details that you don’t need to know and they can calculate the numbers for you.
If you are into such laws yourself, you can also check the legal sources and websites provided by the state government. The official description of Florida Child Support Guidelines, which is used by the courts, can be found at the web site of Florida Statute – 61.30. You can check such sources if you want to be extra prepared. Of course, usually, it is your lawyer’s job to know these laws.
For More:
We summarized such information for you so you can handle child support Florida cases with ease. This article is only a part of our archive. If you are interested in learning more about child support and custody-related cases, you can check our other articles. You can also check the links on this page for professional help on the subject. For more articles like this, keep following our website.
If you need more help for divorce and child support, you can read other articles we have related to these topics. You can find them from the updated links here. Also, we recommend reading about the professionals in this subject from the company links given on this page. For more help in both divorce and your relation with child support Florida, keep following our website. And, good luck.
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