Parents have a legal obligation to support their children, whether or not the parents are married (or were ever married). When parents divorce in Florida, the noncustodial parent typically pays child support to the other parent.
You and your spouse can work out an amount yourself or go to court and get a support order from the judge as part of your divorce case. It’s always better to come to an agreement yourselves—you’ll save a lot of money and hassle, and it will avoid raising tensions further. There’s rarely much to be gained from arguing about child support, anyway; it’s largely just a matter of plugging in some numbers to a formula derived from state law.
Calculating Florida child support
To determine how much you will receive or pay in child support under Florida law, you can consult a local divorce lawyer or start with an online child support calculator for Florida residents. This calculator is only a guide, however, and a court can order a different amount of support based on facts the calculator does not take into consideration. You can find a calculator at www.myflorida.com/dor/childsupport.
The calculator is based on child support guidelines in the Florida statutes, which the state’s courts use as the starting point when calculating child support. The guidelines take into account these factors:
- Net income of both the custodial and noncustodial parent
- How many children are involved
- The ages of the children
- The custody split, or how much time each parent spends with the child, and
- The cost of childcare, medical, dental and vision insurance for the child or children and who pays for such expenses.
In general, the paying parent’s living expenses are not considered except in extreme circumstances.
If one parent does not report all income or is not earning as much as he or she could, a court may also take that into account. The court does this by “imputing” income to that spouse. What that means is that if the recipient spouse can show that the other spouse is capable of earning more money, the court will calculate the child support as if the paying parent in fact made the higher amount.
Courts rarely deviate more than five percent, up or down, from the guidelines. If they do, they must offer a legally sufficient reason—for example, where a child needs costly medication or when the noncustodial parent spends a significant period of time with the children.
In general, child support is paid until the child reaches age 18 (age 19 if the child will graduate from high school by his or her 19th birthday). Child support can also be terminated if the child marries or becomes legally emancipated. Courts cannot order a parent to pay for a child's college expenses, but if the parents agree that one of them is to pay for college, then the court can enforce the agreement.
Courts will change child support agreements if either parent’s financial circumstances change significantly and a parent comes back to court with proof. For example, if you lose your job and just can’t pay as much support as you have been paying, you could get a temporary reduction in the amount you are required to pay. Or if a child became seriously ill, the amount of child support might be increased.
Enforcing child support orders
If a parent does not pay court-ordered child support, there are steps the other parent can take. For example, the other parent can enforce a court-ordered support payment by having the delinquent parent’s wages garnished—which means that the parent’s employer will deduct support payments from the parent’s paychecks and sent to the recipient parent. And every state has an agency that will help parents enforce child support orders. These agencies can help with wage garnishment, intercept tax refunds, and take other measures to pressure the parent who isn’t meeting his or her responsibilities.
