Florida law requires Parenting Plans for all divorcing couples with children starting October 1, 2008. Florida law divides parenting issues into three categories: parental responsibility, time sharing and support. This article examines the support section of a parenting plan.
Both parents have a legal requirement to support their children, regardless of the parents’ marital status. Florida has a formula to calculate child support in Florida Statute 61.30. The calculation involves using the total of both parents’ net monthly incomes and the chart in Florida Statute 61.30, to find the “guideline amount” of child support. This is the amount the court will presume is correct. It is the total amount that will be apportioned between the parents based on their incomes.
Using the guidelines number, the percent each parent contributes toward the whole monthly amount is determined by dividing that parent’s net monthly income into the total income for both parents. Each parent is then responsible for his or her percentage share of the total monthly child support amount. If one parent is paying more than his or her share, the difference is eliminated with a cash payment from the parent paying less than his/her share.
Once the guideline amount and appropriate percentages are calculated, you will need to consider some other items.
First, you must add 75% of the cost of child care due to employment. Effective October 1, 2008, the child care percentage increases to 100%. You must also add the cost of health insurance actually being paid for the child and any on-going monthly medical care costs not covered by insurance. This is all done on page 2 of the child support guideline worksheet.
Next, is the guideline amount appropriate for your child? You can go up or down 5% from the guideline amount without court approval. If you want to change the amount more than 5%, the court must approve the change based on specific reasons that are in your child’s best interest.
The amount must be reduced if the child spends at least 3 nights per week with the other parent. The law has a formula for making that reduction. Recent changes to the law require child support be calculated according to the actual number of overnights the child has with each parent starting October 1, 2008. The new law specifically says that an order for 50/50 time sharing can include payment of child support.
Third, what events will end child support? The recent changes to the law added these termination-of-support events:
Child emancipation (turning 18, getting married or an order of emancipation)
Child dies
Child joins the military
If you want these, or any other events, to automatically terminate child support, you must include a provision for that in your parenting plan. Otherwise, the paying parent must return to court to obtain a reduction order.
If you have more than one child, what happens to support payments when the older child turns 18? Will you recalculate the amount or reduce the payment by a certain amount automatically?
Also remember that if you have a child with special needs who will remain dependent past the age of 18, the court can order continuing support be paid after the age of 18. The same is true if your child is still in high school, but expected to graduate by age 19.
If your child will attend college, what happens to the child support payment? Will cash support payments continue during college or will the parent pay college costs in lieu of cash payment to the other parent. Is there an agreement for both parents to contribute to a pre-paid tuition account? What is included in college costs, if the parents agree to pay them?
Fourth, how will other child-related expenses be split? Will the parents share the costs according to their income percentages or split evenly? Who will provide the children’s health insurance? How will the other parent be informed about these costs? How long will he or she have to pay his or her share? Will payment be waived if there is not timely notification? Is there any other agreement about costs contained in your parenting plan? For instance, if one parent has assumed all costs of religious school, does that parent receive any type of credit for paying those religious school costs?
Fifth, will there be an Income Deduction Order immediately? If not, under what situations will a delayed IDO become active? Because children and parents depend on child support, you may want a delayed order to become active if payments are more than 15 days late. Of course, you will have to return to court to activate the order unless there is language in the order itself that permits it to be sent to the other parent’s employer “without further order of court.”
Finally, will the parent making the cash payment be required to have life insurance to secure his or her child support obligation? The court can require life insurance if the cost of the insurance is reasonable. Of course, the chances of becoming disabled are much higher than for death. While disability insurance is not something a court can order, if there is an existing policy that is reasonably-priced, think about a requirement to maintain that policy as long as child support is being paid.
While both parents are legally required to support their children, there are other expenses you should consider for the benefit of your children. Think about the future and the possible events that will occur in your family. Calculating the basic child support obligation is only one part of child support. Include all the provisions you need to support your children in your new Florida parenting plan.
By: Pamela S. Wynn
Families are what make life great. While no family is perfect we all dream of having homes with both parents lovingly watching over us, or some couples dream of a house full of children and then find they can’t have one. Whatever the reason there are just times in which families need legal assistance. This is where a family attorney can step in and help make things better for you and your family.
Unfortunately, today’s society has seen more divorce in the past 50 years than anyone would have expected. A lot of times there are children involved. A family attorney can assist couples in settling child custody disputes. These disputes might be who will be the primary care giver of the child, how will visitation after the divorce is final go, and they can also handle visitation rights during the divorce proceedings.
A family attorney is not just about dishing out child custody in the midst of a breakup; they can also help bring the joy and laughter of a child into a home. There are hundreds of couples today that would love nothing more than to hear the sounds of children filling the house. They can’t have one on their own for a variety of reasons so they’ve tuned to adoption. A qualified lawyer can help you navigate these waters. Adopting a child can be a long and difficult process, with many forms to fill out and file and home visits to schedule and agencies to talk to. A good lawyer will help you ensure your forms are filled out and filed correctly. They can put you in contact with the right agencies and have the right visits scheduled and ensure they take place in a timely manner.
These attorneys can also set up financial agreements such as trusts. They can also handle your wills as well to ensure that your final wishes are carried out. For those that are considering marriage you might want a prenuptial agreement. These highly specialized attorneys can set these up for you as well.
Even if you aren’t interested in getting married, or aren’t allowed by law as is same-sex marriage in the majority of the United States, they can help you there too. They can help with any legal agreements between you and your loved one that will help cover both of you in the case of a break up. It will help ensure that your assets are divided and any children that you have during your tenure as a couple will be allowed visitation and support if necessary.
By: Andrew Stratton
Smoothing things over becomes an unpleasant task for many amateurs in divorce cases, a task that these people are not usually prepared to face. Bitter words and harsh times can create even more uncomfortable, awkward and very tense situations or environments for the parties involved and even for those around them. Having a professional who can help to fix these situations and draft and create fair, just settlements for divorced couples can be invaluable to these couples as they go through the divorce process.
Strangely, when one thinks of a family law attorney, they often think of those lawyers we have seen on television that have sinister ideas and intricate plots to destroy the lives of their opponents. What one will discover if they spend any time at all with any attorney is that this is simply not the case. The vast majority of attorneys are committed to discovering what is fair and implementing a settlement that reflects this. A family law attorney is not interested in taking a bad situation and making it worse. This does not benefit them at all and goes against the sense of fairness and equality that they fight to protect. A family should never go through a divorce alone, without the counsel of a professional to guide them through what can become ugly situations and hard times.
Especially if there are children involved in the divorce, these situations can become bitter messes from the very beginning. Former couples sometimes spend countless dollars and a great deal of time trying to decide who is going to have custody of their children after their divorce. What is often forgotten in situations such as these is: what is best for the children? A family law attorney will bring their expertise in these situations and past experiences in similar cases in helping the family decide what is best for the children. Many families face the unpleasant requirement of putting their children through a messy divorce when the parents cannot get along or stay married to each other any longer. When divorce seems inevitable, the parents will usually fight often, be miserable and create tense situations inside the home, which their children often pick up on. So, getting divorced may be the best thing for the children in some cases, as nobody wants their children to grow up in these circumstances. A messy divorce, however, will often create the very thing the parents were trying to avoid, a tense and uncomfortable situation for their children. Having a family law attorney to help the parents through these troubled times will help to smooth the situation and create a fair and calm environment for the children.
As everybody knows, divorce is not a fun experience for any party involved, and that includes the children. A family law attorney can help the situation by bringing information, experience and fairness to the situation. This will help the ex-husband and ex-wife sort out their divorce and make the decisions that are best for everybody involved.
By: Justin
