Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce

When a parent from whom child support is sought in Florida pays court-ordered child support for another child, the support paid for the other child must be deducted from the parent’s income in calculating support for the current child. This is because that income is not available to the parent if he or she is paying it for another child. Whether or not a court will consider support paid for another child depends on if the payments are actually being made. This was an issue in the case Dep't of Revenue v. McMullen, 1D20-6 (Fla. 1st DCA February 12, 2021).

At a hearing on child support, the father testified he was ordered to pay support for two older children, but that he stopped paying because he was not sure he could afford to pay support for the child in this case and support himself. Despite this testimony, the trial court deducted the amounts the father was ordered to pay for his older children from his net income in calculating child support for the child in this case. The father promised the court he would become current on his support obligation for his older children. The Department of Revenue appealed.

The appellate court reversed the trial court’s order, holding “This Court has previously said that until and unless a party pays the court-ordered child support for another child, he is not allowed to receive a deduction from his net income in accordance with section 61.30(3)(f). Robbins v. Kerns, 45 Fla. L. Weekly D2763a (Fla. 1st DCA Dec. 10, 2020) (holding child support not actually paid cannot be deducted from gross income in calculating child support for a different child or children, and noting that an equitable adjustment can be made in the tribunal's discretion). The father unequivocally stated that he stopped paying his child support because he was concerned about his current support obligation. Even though the father promised the ALJ that he would restart his child support payments, section 61.30(3)(f) does not contemplate a deduction for prospective support payments.”

Calculating child support in Florida requires consideration of statutory factors. Schedule a consultation to have estimated child support calculated in your case.