Try to leave the state to avoid paying child support. When you owe child support, Florida takes this failure to comply with a court-issued child support order very seriously. The legal term for disobeying court orders is known as “contempt of court.” When child support is not paid, the custodial parent or the Florida Child Support Compliance Program may request a hearing before a Florida family court judge, requesting that the non-custodial parent be found in contempt of court. Aren't you paying court-ordered child support in Florida? Bad play.
Failure to pay child support can have very serious consequences. If a parent can pay child support and simply doesn't pay it on purpose, they can be found to be in contempt of court. This is a serious offense and can involve jail time. Failure to pay child support can also negatively affect a person's credit score and can result in liens being imposed on their property.
If you and the other parent disagree, the judge will decide the amount of child support and include it in the order. Hearings are heard in front of hearing officers, who are not judges, but who can make recommendations to the judge on how they should decide on the child support case. Unfortunately, many people report less than their income to avoid or reduce paying child support. Therefore, a Florida court can establish a child support case, regardless of whether the parent seeking payment resides outside of Florida.
When parents divorce or separate, usually the parent who does not live with the child (the non-custodial parent) will pay money to the custodial parent to help support the child. If the parent who owes child support does not appear in court, the court can issue an arrest warrant (also called a Body Garnishment Order) and the parent can be arrested and imprisoned. The first step is to calculate the total amount of child support payments required by reviewing the Guidelines. A parent can seek help from the Florida Department of Revenue or a private child support law firm.
Under Florida statutes regarding child support law, adjustments to the Guidelines may be based on the parent's reasonable and necessary expenses. In either case, child support should be reasonable and not require the other parent to pay more than they can afford. If a parent is ordered to pay child support, this can affect the amount of support required for subsequent children. To enforce child support, you must have a child support order signed by a judge and filed with the court clerk's office.
Child support is a court-ordered obligation of financial responsibilities for the care, maintenance, training and education of a child. Under this law, if a parent has moved out of the state in which the child support order was first entered, no other state can change the order if either parent or child for whom the child support was to benefit is still living in that state. Once your child's other parent has been found guilty of contempt of the child support order, the judge can order several different remedies to help you collect past due and future support. In addition, a parent can sue for retroactive child support even after the child turns 18.
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