When a family goes through a divorce, there’s a difficult period of transition. Suddenly, your children are uprooted, and they must adjust to their parents making separate households. One parent may remain in the family home and the other parent may find another living situation. Alternatively, both parents may establish new living arrangements. Changing household situations creates financial stress on the kids and the parents because the total expenses are now greater than when all resided together.
We Help Parents Seeking Child Support Help Regardless of Custody
It’s easy to read online that fathers tend to pay child support more often than mothers in Florida. However, many divorcing couples in the Sunshine State now have time-sharing arrangements and shared custody, and, in these cases, the payment of support usually falls to the parent with higher income. Child support obligations do not always fall on the shoulders of the parent who has the child for less time each month. One parent could have the children more of the time each month, but, with a higher income, be required by the court to pay support to the other parent with lesser income.
Florida’s Children Need Economic Stability
We got into the business of family law because we believe in the legal system and that every parent has the right to be treated fairly under the law. Child support orders are not always fair, but they can also be revisited given changes in living situations, parental incomes, children’s expenses, and other factors. Before you decide that you can’t afford to go to court and have a child support order changed in your children’s case, we hope you will consider our services.
Many Factors Affect Child Support Calculations
Under Chapter 61 Section 30, the Florida Statutes require parents to report all types of income that they receive annually, including tips, wages, bonuses, disability payments, worker’s compensation payments, social security payments, retirement benefits, annuity payments, spousal support, and rental income. Both parents must submit financial information so child support guidelines can be calculated. Many cases are settled between the parents and approved by the court after they have considered those income statements. Calculating support is done by reviewing the combined income of both parents and basing the total need for child support on the number of children. A child support order may result from one parent paying a portion of the child’s total monthly support to the other parent.
Custody is Only One Factor
Children may temporarily or permanently reside with both parents through joint custody and a time-sharing agreement, or they may live with one parent more of the time than the other parent. Sometimes, one parent has the children all the time and the other parent has visitation rights, or one parent only gets the children during school vacations. Parents may share custody or one parent may have custody. With all the possibilities in Florida, parents should be aware the courts now favor children having equal access to both parents. This is the first thing that parents learn in the state’s parenting class.
We’re here to help Florida’s children get established in a new stable life by ensuring that the parent we represent gets fair treatment in court. As child support lawyers, we’re aware that the final ruling could impact you emotionally and financially, especially if the amount you must pay exceeds what you can afford. Long after your children adjust to the divorce and two households, parents will feel the effects of child support arrangements. We want you to get the best outcome possible in your case. For more information, please contact our office today.