Avera Law Firm

The Avera Law Firm Blog is designed to update clients, vendors, and other interested persons regarding law firm news, personnel, legal issues, and legislative issues. The firm management welcomes posts and questions to the blog as an interactive means to provide information to the public.

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Did you know...?

We often receive calls from people who are contemplating a divorce but are really unsure of what the financial obligations are and how they come into play.

Many of you are aware that Florida has child support guidelines to assist parents, attorneys, and the court system in determining the amount of child support owed by an obligating party. In our years of handling family law matters, we are reminded in most cases that guidelines are just that, guidelines. Given the same set of facts and two attorneys making calculations, often times the results can be very different. There are many reasons for this. The child support guidelines are calculated based upon net income, or a net income earning capacity. Generally, overtime is included in income. However, if the overtime is unusual, it should not be to be included in income. Income from second jobs may also be included. However, there are exceptions to this also.

Deductions from gross income to determine net income is also subjective. Net income is loosely defined as mandatory deductions from income (such as income taxes) and an accommodation for health insurance premiums actually paid by the parent.

Parties are required to complete financial affidavits so that child support can be calculated. Unfortunately, many times we see financial affidavits that are inaccurate or incomplete. We prefer to use actual financial records. The financial records speak for themselves and lend themselves to accurate financial affidavits.

While the child support guidelines is formula based, the resulting calculation is only as accurate as the information applied. We recommend you speak to an attorney who handles family law cases before a child support order is finalized by the court. Alternatively, please check our website at www.avera.com or call to schedule a conference with our family law attorney.

posted by Mark Avera at 3/06/2007 11:17:00 AM

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home