Child Support Attorney in Tallahassee, FL

How the guideline calculation works

Florida uses an income shares model. The premise is that a child should receive roughly the same proportion of parental income they would have received if the household had stayed intact.

The calculation runs in a fixed order:

• Determine each parent’s gross income from essentially all sources: wages, self-employment, bonuses, commissions, rental income, disability and retirement benefits.
• Subtract the allowable deductions the statute lists to reach net income: taxes, mandatory retirement, health insurance for the parent, and court-ordered support actually paid for other children.
• Combine both net incomes and read the statutory table for the base obligation at that income level and number of children.
• Add the child’s health insurance premium and work-related child care.
• Apportion the total between the parents in proportion to their share of combined income.
• Adjust for the number of overnights each parent exercises.

Why overnights change the number

When a parent has the child for at least 20 percent of the overnights in a year, which is 73 nights, the calculation switches to a gross-up formula that accounts for the duplicated cost of maintaining two homes. Crossing that threshold can move the support figure substantially.

This creates an unfortunate incentive to bargain over the schedule for financial reasons. Judges see it, and a time-sharing position that is transparently about the support number rather than the child rarely lands well.

Imputed income

A parent who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed does not escape support. The court can impute income, treating that parent as earning what they could reasonably earn based on work history, qualifications, and prevailing local wages. Support is then calculated on the imputed figure rather than the actual one.

The flip side matters too: if you genuinely lost a job or became unable to work, that is a defense, but you need to document the job search and the circumstances rather than simply asserting it.

Deviating from the guidelines

The guideline amount is presumptively correct. A judge may order more or less, but a deviation of more than five percent requires written findings explaining why. Recognized reasons include extraordinary medical or educational needs, a child’s independent income, seasonal or irregular earnings, and particular travel costs built into the time-sharing schedule.

Enforcement and modification

Unpaid support accrues as a judgment and does not simply go away. Enforcement tools include income deduction orders, interception of tax refunds, suspension of driver’s and professional licenses, liens, and contempt proceedings that can carry a purge amount.

If your income or the schedule has changed substantially, the route is a petition for modification rather than a unilateral change in what gets paid. Support is modifiable only back to the date the petition was filed, so a delay in filing costs money that cannot be recovered.

One point that catches people out: child support and time-sharing are legally separate. A parent who is behind on support does not lose the right to see the child, and a parent being denied time-sharing may not stop paying. Each is enforced on its own track.