In Florida what if I need child support now and can’t wait until a Final Hearing?
Sometimes one parent will leave a household and they will stop their financial support of their child. In these situations, there is a problem with waiting for a final hearing in a divorce or paternity case because that could take many months, if not a year.
The Florida statutes do allow you to file a Motion for Temporary Needs in order to get some amount of child support for the time period shortly after the start of the case until the final hearing. These temporary needs hearing can usually be scheduled before a magistrate within a few weeks of the start of your case.
At the hearing the magistrate will apply the Florida child support guidelines in order to calculate a child support amount.