Florida Divorce Law...

Florida Law - What Are The Child Support Guidelines?

Under federal law each state has established a mathematical formula for calculating child support. (Click here to read why and here for an overview of these formulas.)

The courts tend to follow these formulas pretty closely. (Click here for more on this.)

This screen gives a brief overview of Florida's child support guidelines.

Florida figures the parents' combined net incomes and multiplies by a percent. (The percent varies by income and number of children.) This gives the child's "basic support level" from both parents.

The custodial parent gives his (or her) share of this support in the payment of day-to-day expenses. The non-custodial parent gives his (or her) share by making cash payments to the custodial parent in an amount proportional to his (or her) share of the combined incomes.

Net income is, generally speaking, gross income after taxes, union dues, health insurance for the parents, mandatory retirement payments, and payments to support children or spouses of prior marriages.

If the parties' combined annual net income is $60,000, and there were one child, the parents would together pay about 20% of their incomes in child support. With two children, it would be about 31%. For a combined annual net income of $30,000, these figures would be about 21% and 34%. For $120,000 they would be about 14% and 22%.

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