Tag: child-support
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Financial Affidavits in Dissolution of Marriage Actions: Are They Really Mandatory?
The principle that financial affidavits are required in all divorce cases in Florida may not be as strict as it seems. While the rules say they are mandatory, the courts have made exceptions, like in simplified divorce cases and when no financial relief is requested. It’s unclear if settlement agreements or judgments are void without…
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QDROsA Powerful Tool for Child Support Enforcement
If you’re a family lawyer with clients who are owed a lot of overdue child support, it can be tough to collect that money. One option that’s often overlooked is using a QDRO to get the money from the ex-spouse’s retirement plan. This worked for a client named Mary who hadn’t received child support for…
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Family Law Economics, Child Support, and Alimony:Ruminations on Income, Part II
In the child support guidelines statute, there is a section about business income from “close corporations.” This likely refers to the income that shareholders of an S corporation receive. However, this can be unfair because it includes income that the shareholder may not actually receive. This is because S corporations are “pass-through” entities for tax…
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Family Law Economics, Child Support, and Alimony: Ruminations on Income, Part I
My economics of the family course covers the money and property aspects of family law, like who gets what and why. It’s really similar to tax law, because both deal with money and assets, and how to keep more of them. Just like tax lawyers and accountants try to minimize income and assets to save…
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Grandchild Support
In family law, the general rule is that only the married couple’s income and assets are considered for things like alimony and child support. But there’s a rare exception where the husband’s recurring gifts from his parents were counted as income for child support. This exception is not widely accepted and should be carefully reviewed…
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Raising Children on the Spectrum in Florida: Navigating Roads Less Traveled
When a child with autism joins a family, the family faces many challenges. Autism affects about 1 in every 150 American children and can cause communication, socialization, and behavior challenges. Some people say that the divorce rate for families with autism is very high, but others disagree. Regardless, parents considering divorce should make sure they…
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Florida’s Homestead Realty: Is it Exempt from Imposition of an Equitable Lien for Nonpayment of Alimony and Child Support?
Just tell me the important stuff in easy words, and leave out the fancy stuff and names of the legal stuff. When a parent or ex-spouse falls behind on alimony or child support, there are ways to collect the money they owe. This can include taking their income, revoking their driver’s license, and even putting…
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F.S. §39.0139: Protecting Children from Sexual Abuse by Those Entrusted with Their Care
The Florida Legislature passed a law called the Keeping Children Safe Act to protect kids from sexual abuse during visits with certain people. The law says that if a parent or caregiver has been accused of sexual abuse, found guilty of it, or classified as a sexual predator, they can’t visit or have contact with…
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Immigration, Domestic Violence, and What the Family Practitioner Should Know
Florida is a popular place for people from other countries to live because of the nice weather and beaches. Many noncitizens come to Florida looking for a better life and more freedom. Miami has the most noncitizens of any city in the world. Because of this, Florida lawyers often have to deal with immigration law…
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Title Procedure Before General Magistrates and Child Support Enforcement Hearing Officers
In Florida, the state pays general magistrates and hearing officers to help with family law cases. They are not in the state constitution or statutes, but they make it faster and cheaper to resolve family disputes. They are different from regular judges because they don’t have job security or salary protections. They are picked differently…
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The Uniform Premarital Agreement Act: Taking Casto to a New Level for Prenuptial Agreements
Premarital agreements were originally made to settle property rights, and in 1983 the Uniform Premarital Agreement Act (UPAA) was created to make the rules more consistent across states. Florida hasn’t adopted the UPAA yet, but it looks like they might soon. The Florida version of the UPAA is expected to be presented to the legislature…
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The Presumptions of Privette: Have They Perished with the Coming of Daniel and Disestablishment of Paternity
In Florida, the Supreme Court has ruled that once a child is born during a marriage, they have the right to be considered legitimate, even if they are not biologically related to the husband. This is to protect the best interests of the child. If someone wants to challenge this presumption, they must provide very…
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The Application of Kinney System, Inc. v. Continental Ins. Co. to Modification of Child Custody Proceedings
When parents live in different states and want to change the custody arrangements for their child, they have to figure out which state’s court to go to. There are laws that help make this decision clearer, but sometimes it can still be confusing. When a court has the power to make a decision about something,…
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The Bursting Bubble Dealing with the Marital Home During a Real Estate Recession
Back in the day, divorcing couples could easily sell their house and split the money. But now, with the housing market in bad shape, it’s harder to sell a house for a good price. People are stuck with houses they can’t sell or afford to buy out their ex-spouse. So, one person often has to…
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Justice Delayed in Child Support Cases Involving Incarcerated Parents
The Florida Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Dept of Revenue v. Jackson has created a situation where incarcerated parents can’t get their child support payments reduced while they’re in prison. This is unfair to the children who are supposed to receive the support. This article talks about the debate over whether parents in…
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Winning the Race to the Courthouse: The Principle of Priority
Legal firm and attorney names have been replaced with placeholders. In this article, a famous celebrity is being sued for breach of contract by a music producer. The producer claims the celebrity didn’t fulfill their end of a deal to record an album. The lawsuit is ongoing, and both parties are trying to reach a…
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What Do I Do Now? All of the Children Are Not Exercising the Same Time-sharing Schedule
Child support guidelines were first introduced in 1987 to help determine the amount of child support that should be paid. In 2003, Florida adopted a second formula for cases where children spend a significant amount of time with both parents. The guidelines also allow for adjustments in certain circumstances, such as extraordinary expenses or the…
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Custody Determination: Who Gets the Dependency Exemption and Child Tax Credit?
A “custodial parent” for taxes is the parent the child lived with most of the time. If they spent an equal amount of time with each parent, the one with more money is the “custodial parent”. If a child of divorced parents spends more than half the year with one parent, that parent is considered…
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Dischargeable Debts in Divorce The Dissolution of Dischargeability
In 2005, a law called the BAPCPA was passed by Congress, which made almost all debts from a divorce non dischargeable in bankruptcy. This means that even debts like credit card bills and mortgage payments cannot be wiped out in bankruptcy. Before this law, there were some exceptions that allowed certain debts to be discharged,…
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Chapter 742 and the UCCJEA: Is Childbirth an Unbridled Key to Forum Shopping?
Dr. John and Helen met in Palm Beach and had a baby together. When their relationship didn’t work out, Dr. John filed a case to prove he was the baby’s father. Helen’s lawyer in Texas filed a motion to stop the case, saying the Florida court didn’t have the right to decide. The legal battle…
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The Progeny of Florida’s Reproductive Technology Statutes
In 1993, some new laws were passed about reproductive technology. One law said that if you donate eggs or sperm, you don’t have any legal rights or responsibilities to any kids that are born from it. But there are some exceptions, like if the donation is from a couple who wants to have a baby,…
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The Intersection of F.S. §55.03 and Florida Family Law: Statutory Interest Calculations for Past-due Support Payments
Before 2011, calculating interest on court judgments was simple – just use the daily rate for the days the judgment was owed. But a law change in 2011 made it way more complicated. Now, the interest rate is recalculated every quarter and adjusted annually. This change applies to most judgments, including overdue support payments. It…
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To Catch a Time-sharing Deviation
The popular child support deviation and adjustment in Florida disappeared one day, but investigators found it. The catch-all exception in the child support guidelines helped crack the case. Calculating child support used to be up to a judge, but in 1984, Congress made guidelines for all states to follow. Florida’s guidelines have some problems and…
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The Dependency Exemption for Minor Children: When Following the Rules Pays Off
In 2011, about 84 million people claimed tax deductions for their kids. These deductions can help lower your taxes and give you other tax benefits. The deduction amount changes each year based on inflation, and it gets smaller for high earners. When parents split up and argue over who gets to claim the deduction, it…