Video answers from Jacksonville family law attorney A. James Mullaney about child support calculator issues in Florida family law.
Explanation of a Florida Child Support Guidelines Worksheet
Transcript
I'm going to walk through what all these numbers mean in a Child Support Guidelines Worksheet. Hopefully so you can better understand what is going on here. There are a lot of numbers. Only a very few are actually input into the system. This is a sample worksheet, not an actual client's worksheet. But this is more in line with what you will see at a court hearing, rather than the Child Support Guidelines Worksheet that the Supreme Court of Florida puts on their website. The first thing to notice is the number of children. The combined number of children. Here we have two (2) children. And they are living primarily with the Wife. Zero of the children living with the Husband. The next data that is input in the first section up here is in the income section. It shows a Wife with $3109 of monthly income, and a Husband with $5400 of monthly income. It totals these numbers up to $8509. These other lines here are for other ways you can make money. Basically they are all treated the same except for non-taxable income - which generally only comes up in a military context (but there are others). So the difference between the $8509 and the $7285 are the various deductions and this is what the rest of this side of the worksheet is talking about. It lists the various deductions - alimony payments, taxes, and other main ones union - dues, mandatory retirement plans, parent's health insurance cost (but not the children's, that is treated somewhere else). But the parent's health insurance cost as well as child support that is ordered and paid in other cases - not this case, but is ordered and paid in other cases. Each parent's net income is calculated and then it's added up to the $7285 - and that's the number that is reflected on the next screen with the minimum child support need of $1921. OK, so to review, the only numbers input on the left side of the screen were the number of children, the income of the Wife, the income of the Husband - nothing was input as any alimony payment made by either party. The taxes are calculated automatically, and there are no other deductions used. The numbers here at the bottom are all automatically calculated. And that gets us to the other side where we initially see the minimum child support need of $1921. So starting on this side, the numbers that are input are simply .... the number of overnights that the children are going to have with the Husband. Based on the minimum child support need of $1921, the two (2) next numbers get divided up based on the percentages of income. So, in this situation, the Husband would typically pay $1108 a month in child support. That's not going to be the case here because of the number of nights [with the children]. The law requires a reduction in his child support if he spends more than 20% of the nights with the children. Here is shows you his percentage - 27.4%. So that will provide, due to some interesting math provided by the statute, a pre-adjustment transfer - so that's his base child support amount based on his number of nights and his income - of $873. Next we go down to a couple of expenses that are counted in a child support calculation. First, this hypothetical couple pays $450 a month in day care costs and $350 a month in medical. And here you can see that the Wife pays the child care and the Husband pays the medical . Each is responsible for only a portion of those numbers even though they pay the entire amount of each one. The Wife is responsible for 42.3% of both costs. And the Husband is responsible for 57.7% of both costs. So instead of the having the Wife pay some money to the Husband and the Husband paying some money to the Wife, there's only one transfer and that's the $111.68 that the Husband pay in additional child support due to these expenses. We add that to the pre-adjustment transfer and you have him final child support amount of $985.06.
What determines how much child support I have to pay in Florida?
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In Florida, child support is calculated according to the Florida Child Support Guidelines. The guidelines use only a few factors to determine child support. The major factors are gross income, allowable deductions from income, day care cost, and the cost of the child's medical insurance. The most common allowable deductions are taxes, what you pay for your own health insurance, alimony you pay, and other child support that is court ordered and paid. It is also important to note that rent, mortgage, car payments, car insurance, gas credit cars and other debts, food, and clothing are not considered when determining a child support obligation.
Is there a minimum child support amount in Florida?
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Not really. The Florida Statutes do not contain a provision that calls for a minimum child support amount. However, this does not allow someone to avoid paying child support by not working or working at a job that pays far less than they could be earning. The court will impute an amount of income to someone who is not working if the judge thinks that a parent is voluntarily limiting their income. Often, in this situation, minimum wage is imputed, but a different amount can be imputed if there is evidence that the parent could earn more based on their education, experience, and earning history.
What factors does the Judge consider when calculating child support in Florida?
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The first factors is simple: How many children are involved in the case where the child support calculation is being made. The second factor is both parent’s gross incomes - in other words, your income before you pay your taxes. This includes income from any source - wages, salary, commissions, overtime, bonuses, workers comp, disability benefits, social security, investment income, rental income, etc. About the only way that I see clients receive money that is not included in their income when calculating child support is when they receive child support for a child that is not involved in the current case. It is very important to understand that just because you may be unemployed, the court is not required to use zero as your income. The court may impute an amount of income to you if it thinks that your unemployment or underemployment is voluntary. The amount imputed is based on your experience and education. The third factor to consider are the allowable deductions from income. These deductions lower your income that is used to calculate child support. The main allowable deductions include state and federal income taxes, child support that you are paying for another child that is court ordered, the cost of your own medical insurance ** not including the amount paid for the children involved in the current case **, mandatory union dues, mandatory retirement contributions, and alimony paid by you in this case or another case. The fourth factor is the number of nights that each parent will spend with the child over the course of a year. The Florida Statutes provide for a reduction in child support if a parent spends more than 73 nights per year with the child. Every night in addition to 73 will result in an increased reduction. The fifth factor is how much is paid for child care and the child’s medical insurance. For example, let’s assume that a Husband makes 60% of the money between him and his Wife and the Wife makes 40% and pays $500 per month for the child’s day care. In this scenario, the Husband would be responsible for 60% - his percentage of income - of the cost of the day care. So he is responsible for $300. Since the Wife pays all $500, the Husband would pay his share to the Wife as an additional $300 of child support. When a child no longer has a day care expense, the parent paying child support very often has sufficient grounds to have the child support amount reduced. So, these are the factors that the court will use to calculate child support. It's also important to note that the judge will not consider your rent, mortgage, car payment, car insurance, gas, food, and other expenses that I did not previously mention.
What are the allowable deductions from income in a Florida child support calculation?
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Child support is based on your net income. The difference between your net and gross incomes are the allowable deductions. This is not necessarily your take home pay. The main allowable deduction from your gross income is taxes. If you work in Florida, that means your Federal taxes. However, if you live or work in another state you are allowed to deduct your state and local taxes. Judges use a program that estimates your taxes in order to eliminate the possibility that your withholding is too high or too low. For example, let's assume that you make $50,000 per year and have $12,000 in taxes withheld from your pay. In that situation, your net income would be $38,000. However, if you received a $4,000 tax refund, then your actual net income would be $42,000 rather than $38,000. So, a judge would use $42,000 as your net income for the child support calculation. Another potential deduction is for child support that you pay as the result of another case. The key to being eligible for this deduction is that what you pay for the other child is actually court ordered. Voluntary payments to the other child's parent do not count. Similarly, you can't deduct payments that you are not making even though you have been ordered to do so. Another court ordered payment that you are allowed to deduct is alimony - whether it is from your current case or an older case - as long as you actually make the payment. You are also allowed to deduct what you pay for your own health insurance. Very often only one amount is deducted from your paycheck for health insurance that covers you, your children and potentially your spouse. In that situation, I advise clients to ask their HR department for a breakdown of the cost. What you pay for your own health insurance is deductible, while what you pay for the children is treated differently in the child support calculator. Lastly, and far less common, are the deductions allowed for mandatory union dues and mandatory retirement plan contributions. The important word here is "mandatory." In my experience, many union dues and most retirement plan contributions are not mandatory.
Does overtime pay count as income for calculating child support in Florida?
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Overtime can be - and usually is - included as income when determining someone's income in order to make a child support calculation. When including overtime pay in a child support calculation, you need to pay special attention to the amount of overtime pay that is added to your base pay. For example, in the most basic situation, if you consistently work 20 hours of overtime per month, then 20 hours of overtime pay should be added to your normal monthly pay. If however, the 20 hours of overtime only exists around the holidays - say November and December, then that 40 hours of overtime pay needs to be spread out over the year. This way in January through October, your child support will be a little higher than it should be based on your actual pay, but you make up the difference in November and December when your child support is lower than it should be if based on your actual earnings in those months.