Category: Child Support

Timesharing & The Child Support Benchbook

Posted by admin on

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Child Support on Friday, August 5, 2016.

The Benchbook is important reading for judges, covering a variety of areas of law. My timesharing child support article is now cited as a resource in the Benchbook.

benchbook-thumb-450x216-74365

The Office of the State Courts Administrator serves under the Florida Supreme Court, and publishes Benchbooks for the judiciary. The Benchbook helps judges and magistrates apply federal and state law, Florida rules of court, and case law to their cases.

The Benchbook helps judges and magistrates hone courtroom practice and decision-making, by keeping them informed by state-of-the-art science, best practices used nationwide, and knowledge.

My article, To Catch a Time-sharing Deviation, which was published in the Florida Bar Journal, is now listed as a helpful resource in the Child Support Benchbook for judges and magistrates.

Florida policy is to see that children have frequent and continuing contact with both parents after they divorce or separate and that parents share in childrearing. Child Support Guidelines historically frustrated this policy and, in fact, discouraged time-sharing.

For example, they previously did not allow a child support adjustment unless a parent spent at least 40 percent of the overnights with his or her children. In Dept. of Rev. ex rel. Sherman v. Daly, the Department of Revenue appealed a child support order because it contained a child support deviation for a verbal time-sharing schedule.

In Daly, both parents testified they shared a roughly 60/40 time-sharing schedule. However, they never put their agreement into writing. The First District Court of Appeal held Florida law prohibited the deviation.

After the 2011 Daly decision, a number of parents had their time-sharing deviations taken because they lacked court-ordered parenting plans. During the recent 2014 regular legislative session, H.B. 75543 was passed and amended §61.30. The new bill revises the circumstances in which a court may deviate from the child support guidelines and adjust child support.

The bill became effective on May 12, 2014, and applies to all actions pending on May 2014 and thereafter. As amended, §61.30 now expressly allows a court to deviate from the child support guidelines based on time-sharing arrangement exercised by agreement of parents.

My Florida Bar Journal article is here.

Florida’s OSCA website with the Benchbook is here.

Hurt Locker: Private School & Support

Posted by admin on

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Child Support on Wednesday, July 27, 2016.

Can courts order payment of private school tuition as support? “Hurt Locker” star, Jeremy Renner, is finding out. His Ex says it’s mission impossible to get him to pay.

Renner’s ex-wife claims he is behind more than $48,000 in child support for the couple’s daughter Ava, according to court documents obtained by TMZ. The documents also allege the “Mission: Impossible” star refuses to pay Ava’s $1,600 per month preschool tuition, TMZ reports.

However, the actor adamantly denies the accusations, calling them “baseless and completely erroneous,” his rep told the Daily News.

Renner and Pacheco finalized their divorce in 2015 after eight months of marriage. In December, Renner was ordered by a judge to pay $13,000 per month in child support. The pair has joint custody of the little girl.

I’ve written about private school tuition and college expenses, as a form of support before. In Florida, an award of a child’s private school expenses is in the judge’s discretion, and has to be requested in pleadings.

Generally, a Florida court may order a parent to pay for private educational expenses if the court finds that the parent has the ability to pay for private school, the private school expenses are in accordance with the family’s customary standard of living, and it is in the child’s best interest.

If parents are unable to reach an agreement with respect to the payment of private school tuition, a judge will review the evidence you present, and make a decision.

If going to court becomes necessary, the judge will review all of the financial aspects of the case, including each parent’s income, the history of paying certain expenses and the schools themselves.

The New York Daily News article is available here.

Child Support for College Kids

Posted by admin on

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Child Support on Monday, May 9, 2016.

An Italian court ordered a father to support his 28-year-old son. The Italians call it “Bamboccioni” – spoilt big babies. Must Florida parents pay child support to a 28-year old “child”?

According to Britain’s Telegraph, the Italian father went to court protesting supporting his adult son. He was challenging a term of his divorce settlement, that said he must pay for tertiary education.

The son completed his degree in literature, taking several years longer than expected to finish the course, and enrolled in a post-graduate course in experimental cinema in Bologna.

The father argued that his son should get a part-time job and start paying his own way. But the civil court ruled that the cinema course is in keeping with the son’s “personal aspirations” and must be paid for by his father.

Around 65% of Italians aged 18 to 34 still live with their parents, the highest percentage of young stay-at-homes anywhere in Europe.

The problem of adult children taking their parents to court for money is so acute that the Italian Association of Matrimonial Lawyers has called for an age limit to be set by the Supreme Court in Rome.

I’ve written about parents having to support their children into adulthood before. In Florida, the duty to provide support for a child is based upon the child’s incapacity and the child’s need of protection and care.

A parent’s legal duty to support his child usually ends at the age of majority – 18. But, a parent will still owe a duty of support to an adult child in extraordinary circumstances, such as when the child suffers severe physical or mental incapacitation.

Recently, Florida’s child support statute was changed to require all judgments awarding child support to include a provisions stating that child support will terminate on the child’s 18th birthday unless the court finds otherwise, or it is otherwise agreed to.

To extend support beyond age 18, there must be a child who is dependent due to mental or physical incapacity that began prior to age 18; or the child has reached 18, is still living at home, attending high school, and reasonably expects to graduate high school before age 19.

The difficult question is what kind of mental or physical incapacity justifies an extension of child support. If a child lives at home and is suffering from a mild physical disability or a moderate psychological disorder, would that be severe enough? Obviously, Bamboccionis are not going to justify the award.

The Telegraph article is here.

SHAME! Using Facebook to Enforce Support

Posted by admin on

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Child Support on Friday, January 22, 2016.

Arizona’s “Hashtag Governor” announced that his state will start using social media to publicly shame deadbeat parents who refuse to pay their child support.

In Florida every child has the right to financial support from both parents. The Department of Revenue is the state agency responsible for Florida’s Child Support Enforcement Program. In Miami-Dade County, the Office of the State Attorney handles the program.

The Department of Revenue locates parents, establishes paternity, gets support orders and enforces them. Florida wants parents, not the state, to take care of their children. And, if the parents are not paying, we all are paying.

Florida has a number of ways to enforce child support orders:

– contempt of court,

– suspension of driver’s license,|

– property liens,

– Passport suspension, and

– Bank account seizure

There is no statute of limitations on the enforcement of child support and child support arrears. Child support can be enforced after the children are over 18, and even against the estate of a parent after a parent’s death.

Arizona announced a new way to enforce child support orders. Governor Doug Ducey launched a campaign to crack down on “the worst of the worst” parents by posting their names and photos to Twitter and Facebook.

“For too long, you’ve been able to remain anonymous – able to skirt your financial and legal responsibilities with no shame. Not anymore,” the governor proclaimed. Effective immediately, he said, the state would begin posting the photos, names and money owed by “these losers” to social media, with the hashtag #deadbeat.

It’s simple. If you’re old enough to father a child, then you’re old enough to accept financial responsibility for that child. If you don’t want you’re embarrassing – unlawful – and irresponsible behavior going viral: Man up, and pay up,” the Republican governor said.

The governor said the shaming campaign is targeting 421 deadbeats in the state (34 of whom are women) who collectively owe $20 million. “These deadbeats are the worst of the worst,” he tweeted on Wednesday.

I’ve written about child support related issues before, as well as written an article on social media and family law. The collection and enforcement of unpaid child support is a big issue in Florida, and impacts us all.

The Business Insider article on Arizona is available here.

Divorce and Private School

Posted by admin on

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Child Support on Monday, August 31, 2015.

You want public school for the children. She wants them in a private school. Can you be forced to pay for your child’s private school tuition in a divorce?

This is a topic which comes up around this time of the year as we get ready for the start of the new school semester. I’ve written about being forced to pay for college tuition before.

Last year a New Jersey judge ordered the divorced couple to pay $16,000 every year the 21-year-old is enrolled in classes. The judge relied on a landmark New Jersey Supreme Court case that ruled divorced parents may be responsible for providing for their child’s “necessary education.”

Florida law does not follow New Jersey’s “necessary education” concept. In Florida, a parent’s duty to pay an adult child’s college expenses is moral rather than legal.

But what about regular elementary and high school tuition? Often times the tuition is greater than college. In Florida, a private school obligation increases a parent’s total child support obligation.

Pursuant to Florida Statutes, a trial court cannot order a parent to contribute to private school expenses unless it first finds that:

(1) the parties have the ability to pay such expenses

(2) the expenses are in accordance with the customary standard of living of the parties, and

(3) attendance at private school is in the child’s best interest.

If parents are unable to reach an agreement with respect to the payment of tuition, a judge will review the evidence you present and make a decision. If this becomes necessary, the judge will review all of the financial aspects of the case, including each parent’s income, the history of paying certain expenses and the schools themselves.

Statutory Rape & Child Support

Posted by admin on

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Child Support on Monday, January 12, 2015.

Everyone knows a mother can sue the father of her child for child support. But did you know she can also sue him if she raped the father to get pregnant. It just happened to an Arizona high school student.

Nick became a father at 14, a fact he wouldn’t learn for eight years. While in high school, Nick had sex with a 20-year-old woman. As he sees it now, she took advantage of a lonely kid going through a rough patch at home.

Arizona law says a child younger than 15 cannot consent to sex with an adult under any circumstance, making Nick a rape victim. Nick didn’t press charges and didn’t realize he could.

Now Nick’s a 24-year-old medical assistant, and Arizona seized money from his bank account and garnished his wages. Nick says he owes about $15,000 in back child support and medical bills, along with interest.

Before a custodial parent may seek public assistance through Arizona’s welfare program, they are required to pursue child support to help reimburse the state for assistance payments, which the mother did.

Arizona doesn’t seek child support when the parent seeking the money has been convicted of sexual assault with a minor or sexual assault, the Arizona Republic says. But its policy is to seek child support from those in Nicks’ situation.

Florida law is consistent with Arizona’s and other states which have addressed the issue. The issue of consent is important to the crime of statutory rape, but is largely irrelevant in a civil action to determine paternity and child support.

As the Colorado Supreme Court noted in a similar case:

Certain it is that his assent to the illicit act does not exclude commission of the statutory crime, but it has nothing to do with assent as relating to progeny. His youth is basic to the crime; it is not a factor in the question of whether he is the father.

Nick tells the Arizona Republic he’s willing to pay future child support, but he doesn’t think the state should be able to charge him child support for the years he was a juvenile or when he didn’t know he was a father. And he would like to see his daughter.

The USA Today article is here.

Why Would Halle Berry Want to Reduce Her Support?

Posted by admin on

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Child Support on Friday, January 9, 2015.

A parent wants to reduce the child-support paid to the other parent. Sound familiar, but there’s a twist. The paying parent is the mother, and the collecting parent is the father. Welcome to the gender equality frontlines.

As the Los Angeles Times reports, actress Halle Berry has asked a Los Angeles judge in the couple’s custody case to reduce her monthly child-support payments to $3,000 a month from $16,000 a month.

Halle Berry, 48, and Gabriel Aubry, 39, dated for two years before separating in 2010. A court awarded joint custody of their daughter, and they have been embroiled in bitter court – and even physical – battles ever since.

Berry reportedly moved to reduce her child-support payments to the unemployed model to motivate him to get a job. Halle alleges that Aubry is refusing to get a job, driving up his need for support.

Is there a double standard when it comes to a perception of men “living off” women? Think of it in reverse, would a woman collecting a lot of child support from her wealthy celebrity ex-husband be called lazy?

Currently, about 40% of mothers in the United States are their family’s primary earners. This includes nearly a quarter of married mothers – and nearly a third of Americans agree that it is best when the man provides for his family.

How does Halle Berry reduce her support payments when the father is unemployed? If his income is zero, wouldn’t the father have a better chance of increasing the amount of support he pay? The answer is ‘imputation of income.’

A court in Florida may “impute” income to an unemployed or underemployed parent if their unemployment or underemployment is found to be voluntary on that parent’s part. However, the statute has restraints on imputation.

Besides imputation, and gender equality, Halle Berry’s case raises other matters. For instance, paying the ex-boyfriend $16,000 a month is a lot of money to spend on a 6-year-old who only spends half her time with her dad.

Court records show some extravagant lifestyles for the children of the wealthy. For example, actress Kirstie Alley’s ex-husband argued he and Alley provided their children with a $10,000 rocking horse and threw annual Halloween parties costing between $20,000-25,000.

I recently published an article in the Florida Bar Journal on Florida’s child support guidelines. Calculating support for wealthy parents is an area that the child support guidelines don’t handle very well.

Halle Berry’s cases raises interesting issues: the right amount of child support, is child support a subsidy for parents who can work and gender equality.

The Los Angeles Times article can be read here.

My New Article on Florida’s Child Support Change

Posted by admin on

By The Law Offices of Ronald H. Kauffman of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Child Support on Wednesday, December 10, 2014.

Parents agree to share their children all the time, which is to be encouraged. In 2011, child support deviations based on verbal agreements were prohibited. My new article investigates how and why. Here is an abstract:

flabj-2014-thumb-275x364-46453

Florida policy is to see that children have frequent and continuing contact with both parents after they divorce or separate and that parents share in childrearing.

Child Support Guidelines historically frustrated this policy and, in fact, discouraged time-sharing. For example, they previously did not allow a child support adjustment unless a parent spent at least 40 percent of the overnights with his or her children.

In Dept. of Rev. ex rel. Sherman v. Daly, 74 So. 3d 165 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011), the Department of Revenue appealed a child support order because it contained a child support deviation for a verbal time-sharing schedule.

In Daly, both parents testified they shared a roughly 60/40 time-sharing schedule. However, they never put their agreement into writing. The First District Court of Appeal held Florida law prohibited the deviation.

After the 2011 Daly decision, a number of parents had their time-sharing deviations taken because they lacked court-ordered parenting plans.

During the recent 2014 regular legislative session, H.B. 75543 was passed and amended §61.30. The new bill revises the circumstances in which a court may deviate from the child support guidelines and adjust child support.

The bill became effective on May 12, 2014, and applies to all actions pending on May 2014 and thereafter.

As amended, §61.30 now expressly allows a court to deviate from the child support guidelines based on time-sharing arrangement exercised by agreement of parents.

The article is available here.

Taxing Parents Who Won’t Agree to a Child Support Amount

Posted by admin on

On behalf of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Child Support on Sunday, June 1, 2014.

If parents can’t agree to a divorce figure in Britain, the paying parent will have a 20% fee added to their child support and the payee will pay 4%. Oh, and it costs about $35 up front to register. What is happening in the UK?

As the BBC reports, thousands of letters are to be sent to single parents in Britain informing them of changes to their child support. The government wants parents to agree on child support “amicably” or pay the state.

Under the old British system, many single parents used the Child Support Agency (CSA) to sort out maintenance payments but it will soon be abolished.

A government spokesman said the old CSA was using an IT system that was “totally inadequate and notoriously riddled with defects”, and as such it was costing £74 million per annum to run in operating costs alone.

The CSA “took responsibility away from parents, encouraging conflict and hostility at huge expense to the taxpayer“.

So, the British are trying to improve service by encouraging people to come to voluntary arrangements, and if that is not possible – and the new statutory service is used – then both parents will have to pay.

The problems with the new system are easy to see. Most parents are able to agree in private to a child support calculation. However many other parents can’t unless a state agency steps in to find and use coercive methods to get parents to pay.

“We’re very concerned that closing CSA cases and bringing in charges may deter some parents from making new child maintenance agreements or pressure single parents into unstable arrangements, and children will lose out on vital support.”

There is no question that our state child support enforcement agencies do a tremendous job of getting parents to support their children. Is shifting some of the costs of enforcement on to both parents the wave of the future? We former colonists will have to keep watching the motherland to see.

The BBC article on the new child support system is available here.

Big Change to the Child Support Guidelines

Posted by admin on

On behalf of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Child Support on Wednesday, May 14, 2014.

Florida’s divorce guidelines were just changed. The latest amendment allows parents to deviate from the guidelines because of their verbal timesharing schedule. Before they couldn’t. Effective July 1st, now they can.

We’ve been doing child support all wrong. The basic way to run child support is to calculate the combined monthly net income of both parents, the number of children and establish the minimum amount of support. The amount increases for child care and health insurance expenses.

The guidelines are the presumptive award, and courts can only deviate if certain factors in the law are met. One of these factors is the timesharing schedule – if a child spends a significant amount of time with one parent, or a parent refuses to be involved in a child’s activities.

About two years ago, a couple verbally agreed to a 50-50 timesharing schedule and tried to reduce child support based on their agreed schedule. The First District Court of Appeal reviewed the child support order granting their request and reversed!

The parents did not have a court-ordered parenting plan, they just decided it themselves. You know, like adults do. The appellate court reversed their order because the old statute did not authorize deviations based on verbal agreed timesharing schedules.

The First District then reversed around a dozen more such child support cases over the next year. Sadly for the parents who wisely chose to agree to timesharing schedules, they were being told they must go to court, spend money, and litigate the issue when they had agreements.

This latest amendment to the child support guidelines revises the circumstances in which a court may deviate from the guidelines.

After the amendment, a court can deviate from the child support guidelines based on a child’s visitation with a parent as provided in a court-ordered time-sharing schedule OR the time-sharing schedule exercised by the parents.

The bill, CS/SB 104, was just passed by Governor Scott on Monday of this week, and becomes law effective July 1, 2014. The new law will resolve a big problem that has plagued a lot of Florida families, and one that just didn’t make sense.

The details of CS/SB 104 can be read here.