Going through a divorce is an emotionally charged event. Some studies show that it is only second to grieving the loss of a parent or spouse in terms of the impact it has on you. One element of a divorce that may make it difficult is the children you have in common. Trying to decide how to share them and make decisions with them in mind can be challenging, especially if you and your spouse do not see eye-to-eye. Child support can also create a significant strain on both parties. The payer may feel unfairly treated while the payee may feel like a burden to financially provide for the children is falling almost entirely on them. Florida guidelines for calculating child support provide a guideline on how to best divvy up the costs of raising children in the Sunshine State.
Basic Calculations Under Florida Law
Florida law considers several factors when trying to come to a fair way to establish child support payments from one party to another. The goal of child support is to keep the children in the same lifestyle they were accustomed to during the marriage. It stops one party from having to live in menial conditions while the other gets to live in a far superior situation. The basic chart takes into account the number of children and the income of the parties. The person with the higher number gets assigned more than 50% of the child support obligation to equalize the situation. This then gives an amount of child support that gets split between the parties.
Parenting Time and Child Support Calculation
Income is not the only way to calculate child support, but it is where the process starts. When going through a divorce, you and your spouse will have to come to terms on a visitation schedule. The schedule will split the physical time the children spend with each parent. If one parent has the children more than half of the time, that person gets that much more in child support. Even if the parents split time equally, one may earn more money than the other. In this instance, even with equal time parenting time, the higher earner may have to pay the other some form of child support.
Making a smooth transition from a family unit to two separate households may not be ideal, but it may be the best for your children. When trying to reach agreements on parenting time and child support, your divorce lawyer, like a family lawyer in Lake Forest, IL from Hurst, Robin & Kay, LLC, can guide you through to a mutually beneficial conclusion.