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 can be adjusted if needed. Florida also wants kids to spend time with both parents after a divorce. The guidelines used to make this hard, but they were changed in 2008 to allow for more time-sharing arrangements. When parents share time with their kids, they also share child rearing expenses. In a 2011 case, Florida’s court said that there can’t be a deviation for time-sharing without a written plan approved by a court. The court in the Daly case said that a parenting plan is needed for time-sharing arrangements between parents. They didn’t allow a deviation from the plan because there was no court-ordered parenting plan in place. They also didn’t consider the catch-all exception, which allows for any other adjustments needed for a fair result, because they thought it would conflict with another part of the law. The catch-all exception in child support cases is supposed to only apply when a deviation factor is not already stated in the law. However, there have been cases where the exception was used in different ways, leading to confusion. For example, in the Smith case, a father who was already married and had children from that marriage was able to deduct support for his other children from his child support obligation, even though there was no court order for this support. This creates a conflict because it goes against the policy of preserving families. The court said that even though a dad doesn’t officially pay support for his other kids, he can still get credit for it when calculating child support. They said it wouldn’t be fair to only allow credit if he got divorced. In another case, a dad was allowed to deduct the money he was spending on his other kids from his child support. And in a third case, a mom was also allowed to deduct the money she was spending on her older kids from her child support, even though there wasn’t a court order for it. In Hutslar, the court said that a parent’s support obligation for their child can be adjusted based on their obligation to support other children. But this conflicted with a previous decision in Daly. After Daly, some parents lost their adjustments for time spent with their child because they didn’t have a court-ordered plan. The chief judge tried to change the law, but the bills didn’t pass. In 2014, a new law was passed to change the circumstances in which a court can adjust child support. This applies to all cases from May 2014 onwards. Basically, a new law allows courts to change child support amounts based on how much time a child spends with each parent. This is meant to make sure child support is fair, but it could lead to different amounts in different courts. It’s important for parents to have a written plan for sharing time with their kids to make sure child support is calculated correctly. ALJs in Florida can’t make parenting plans or change child support without a court-approved plan. This led to inconsistent child support rulings and some parents struggling to afford time with their kids. It took a long time for the law to change, but eventually, things improved. Basically, child support guidelines are rules for how much money a parent should pay to support their child. The guidelines are based on how much money each parent makes. There are some criticisms of the guidelines, like not being clear about when they can be changed, and how they might not be fair for parents with very low or very high incomes. In Florida, there have been some studies to try to figure out if the guidelines are fair, and they found that the amount of child support can change a lot depending on how much money a parent makes. This article talks about how Florida decides how much child support a parent has to pay. The rules were made a long time ago based on families where both parents worked. But now, the rules are being updated to consider things like how much time the child spends with each parent. The goal is to make sure the child is taken care of and both parents are treated fairly. The amount of time a parent spends with their child can affect child support. Research shows that parents who spend more time with their child are more likely to pay child support. There are laws in Florida that take this into account when deciding child support amounts. There is also a process for handling child support cases in Florida, but it has been criticized for taking longer and costing more than expected. Florida Statute §61.30(11)(a)(11) allows for adjustments to child support payments to achieve a fair result. This can include expenses or debts that were incurred jointly during the marriage. The statute is interpreted in various court cases, and there have been proposed changes to the law in the Florida State Senate. This is a discussion of changes to Florida family law, specifically regarding child support. It talks about a new bill and the changes it makes to the law. It also mentions specific sections of the Florida Statutes that are being amended. The author is a lawyer who specializes in family law, and the article was submitted by the Family Law Section.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/to-catch-a-time-sharing-deviation/