Child Support in Florida

Child support in Florida is a function of a statutory formula.  Basically, you need to determine the variables and plug them in to the formula.  The basic variables include:

1. Number of children;
2. Number of overnights the child will be with each parent during a calendar year;
3. Net monthly income for each parent.  If a parent is either unemployed or underemployed the court may impute income – use a phantom number reflecting what the parent should be earning each month.  This could be something that is litigated;
4. Monthly health insurance cost for the minor child and who is paying it; and
5. Monthly daycare cost for the minor child and who is paying it.  The daycare expense needs to relate to the parent’s earning money.

These variables get worked into the child support formula, which is presented to the court in the form of a Child Support Guidelines Worksheet and made part of the court record.  Child support is typically ordered to be paid monthly from one parent to the other.  It can be paid directly to the parent or via an income withholding order and routed from the employer of the payor spouse to Tallahassee and then to the payee spouse’s bank account.