Child Support in Florida
 Child support consists of financial assistance in order to support a child until the age of majority (18). It is required by law and cannot be waived. Child support should usually start when the spouses separate and even before a divorce action is filed with the court. In the case where child support is not being paid but has already been established, a court can order back-pay of the support.
Determing Child Support Amount
Child support is determined by using the statutory guidelines. These guidelines are in place to ensure that parents across the state are paying the same amount. In the past, there were vast differences in the amount ordered to be paid depending on which judge and county the divorce was brought. However, the guidelines to provide a way for judges to deviate from the amount.
In order to determine the amount of child support using the guildelines, the court begins by determine what is the net combined monthly income of the parents and their contribution to that net income. Net income is the income a person "takes home" after deductions and taxes. As an example, if the father has a net monthly income of $2,000 and the mother has a net monthly income of $2,500, the combined net monthly income is $4,500. The father's percentage contribution to the net monthly income is about 45%. The mother's contribution to the net monthly income is about 55%.
Once the net monthly income has been determined the contribution of each parent to the net monthly income, the child support guidelines can be used to determine the total amount of child support due. Using our example, if there are 2 children, the amount of child support due would be $1,423 a month. The father would have to contribute $640.35 and the mother could have to contribute $782.65. If the father had primary residential custody, then the mother would pay that money to the father.
Child Support is often collected by way of a central depository. The courts charge a small fee for this service.
The "Unemployed" Spouse
Simply because a spouse is unemployed does not mean that they do not have to pay child support. Many of our clients come to us complaining that the other parent has stopped working and they probably won't be able to get child support. This is not always true.
A court can impute income to an unemployed spouse. Imputation of income basically makes the unemployed spouse have some sort of income on paper even if they have no income in real life. A spouse can also impute income to an under-employed spouse, namely someone who is making less than they should.
Imputing income is very important in child support cases. The policy is simple: a parent should not get away without having to pay child support if they can make more money than they do but refuse to do so.
Health Insurance
The parent that provides the child's health insurance will receive contribution from the other parents at the same percentage as child support as determined by the child support guidelines. In the above example, if the mother pays $200 a month for the children's health insurance, her child support will be increased by $55 per month to cover health insurance.
Daycare
There are many cases where the parent that has primary residential custody has to pay daycare expenses. It is only fair that the non-custodial parent help with these expenses. However, although health insurance contribution is determined using the share of net income, daycare expenses are not.
The formula for daycare expenses is somewhat difference. It is equal to 75% of the monthly daycare expense multiplied by the non-custodial parent's percentage share of child support.
If a daycare is terminated, we can file a petition to modify child support to stop daycare payments.
| 
