Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce

Alimony and child support can be awarded on a temporary basis while a Florida family law case is pending. It is important that an order awarding temporary support specifies how much of the payment is for alimony and how much of it is for child support. This was an issue in the case Shaw v. Shaw, 4D21-2556 (Fla. 4th DCA April 6, 2022).

As part of the parties’ divorce proceeding, the wife requested temporary alimony and child support from the husband. After a hearing, the wife was awarded $10,000 per month in undifferentiated support, meaning the court did not specify how much of this amount was for child support and how much was for alimony. The husband appealed.

The appellate court agreed with the husband that it was error for the court to order undifferentiated support. It held “We have held it error for a trial court to award undifferentiated spousal and child support rather than calculating the amounts separately. Blum v. Blum, 769 So. 2d 1142, 1143 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000). There, the trial court ‘failed to identify which share of the award was for child support and which was intended to be alimony. Thus, we [could not] determine whether the temporary child support portion of the award is appropriate in relation to the child support guidelines.’ Id.”

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