Wells v. Whitfield

Wells v Whitfield In Wells vs. Whitfield, the 1st DCA reversed a child support award for lack of statutory findings regarding income. The amended final judgment did not include any findings specifying what portion of the retained earnings of the Husband’s solely-owned corporation were included by the court in determining the father’s gross income. Absent […]

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Lopez v. Department of Revenue

Lopez v Department of Revenue Lopez vs. DOR involves a situation where section 57.105 attorney’s fees and costs are awarded as a sanction against the Department of Revenue in a misidentified paternity case. The case has a very wild factual scenario, which I commend everyone to read in its entirety. The bottom line is that […]

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Timesharing and Custody Factors

When Florida courts fashion timesharing plans, there are multiple factors which the Court must consider to determine the plan that is in the best interest of the children. The factors considered by the Court can be found in Florida Statute 61.13(3). It is important to understand each factor and to do your best to follow […]

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Garcia v. Garcia

Garcia v. Garcia was a case involving a request by the former husband for a downward modification of child support. The case was tried by the general magistrate, who denied the petition, and the trial judge adopted the recommendations after the former husband filed exceptions. This was error, because the record provided to the judge […]

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Boyd v. Boyd

In Boyd v. Boyd, the trial court erred in not calculating an amount of arrearages. Where a party concedes that not all court-ordered child support was paid, the trial court errs in failing to resolve the amount of arrearages. It was a stipulated fact that there was an accumulated arrearage but the amount was not […]

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Arquette v. Rutter

The followingis a child support modification case under UIFSA. The Florida court never obtained subject matter jurisdiction allowing it to modify the foreign court’s child support order, so the modification was void. UIFSA has specific requirements to grant a state the jurisdiction to modify a foreign court’s child support order, none of which was satisfied […]

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Child Support

As attorneys, we are often asked when a client should begin to pay child support, or if they should pay at all. The Court has the ability to order child support retroactively to the date of filing, the date of separation, or up to two years prior to the start of the case in a […]

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Caution Re: Retroactive Child Support

Parties should be aware that the obligation to pay child support begins immediately upon the separation of the parties. F.S. 61.30(17) states: “In an initial determination of child support, whether in a paternity action, dissolution of marriage action, or petition for support during the marriage, the court has discretion to award child support retroactive to […]

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