Boca Raton Child Support Lawyer

Boca Raton Child Support Attorney

Ensuring the health and safety of children is a top priority for the state of Florida. While divorces are difficult for everyone, children can be hit especially hard. This makes taking proactive steps crucial in protecting their well-being as your life changes. Child support helps parents care for the needs of their children while ensuring both parents are held responsible. To ensure your child support order is created fairly, you should work with a Boca Raton child support lawyer.

As your dedicated Boca Raton family firm, Benzion Law is ready to provide legal guidance that is both compassionate and comprehensive. Florida’s child support laws can be challenging to understand, but with representation and advocacy from Matt Benzion, skilled child support attorney, you can trust that your and your children’s needs will be advocated for.

Understanding Child Support in Florida

Child support refers to the legal obligation that parents have to contribute financially to their children after a separation. In practice, this involves a judge ordering one parent to make regular payments to the other. Sometimes, the party receiving the payments is the parent with a greater amount of time with the child. Even when each parent has equal time-sharing with the child(ren), the higher-earning party may be ordered to pay the lower-earning parent child support.

For the most part, each state has adopted its own unique framework for calculating child support payments. In Florida, the state uses a mathematical formula to calculate child support based on the parent’s incomes. Below are the basic steps used to calculate payments with this method:

1. The court identifies a basic “minimum child support need” based on the parent’s combined income. Florida statutes section 61.30 contains a chart of pre-determined “minimum child support needs”.
2. Then each parent’s income will be compared to determine what percentage of the minimum child support need each parent will be responsible for.
3. If one parent does not have substantial timesharing, less than 20% of the time with the child, that parent will be ordered to their obligation to the other parent.
4. If each parent has substantial time with the child or equal time with the child, the child support formula takes this into account and the child support obligation is adjusted.

Additionally, the parent’s obligation to share in certain child related expenses must be determined. The cost of health insurance incurred for the child, the cost of child-care utilized by the parents to allow them to work, and the cost of regular recurring medical expenses that are not covered by health insurance will be assigned to each parent based on their respective incomes. For example, a parent who makes $5,000 per month might be expected to cover twice as many expenses as the other parent who makes $2,500 per month, even if they have a 50/50 co-parenting arrangement. Sometimes the parents’ share of these expenses are included in the monthly child support number, and sometimes they are left out and the parents are ordered to pay their share of these expenses separate and in addition to child support.

Factors that Impact Child Support in Florida

Depending on the circumstances of your case, there are a variety of other variables that can potentially factor into the final amount of child support that is ordered. These include:

• Each Parent’s Income – As mentioned previously, the single largest factor in child support calculations is the income of each parent. Income is essentially used as the starting point in Florida child support calculations.
• Each Parent’s Earning Potential – Often, a complete understanding of a parent’s financial situation lies beyond merely looking at their current income. The parent’s ability to earn when using their best efforts is also an important factor. This can be quantified through things like college degrees, past training, and work history.
• Custody – To determine what money needs to go where in order to support a child whose parents no longer live together, custody plays a big role. For example, child support payments are often made to the lesser-earning parent, but in a scenario where the spouse with the higher earnings also has full custody of the children, this would not make any sense.
• Special Needs – In some cases, special needs, such as ongoing medical treatments or around-the-clock care, will also factor into child support orders. Between the two parents, the child must have sufficient financial backing to continue any important treatments or therapies.

Every family is different, so your own child support case may be subject to unique factors that weren’t discussed above. While calculations are made in a formulaic way per an established set of rules, judges in Florida also have a authority to adjust these orders to meet the specific circumstances of a case. Your family law attorney from Benzion Law can help ensure calculations are made fairly and accurately, no matter how complicated your case is.

Of course, calculating the correct amount is only the beginning. Matt Benzion, Boca Raton child support attorney, is also standing by to assist with child support mediation and child support enforcement issues or even help you petition the court to modify an existing child support order if your circumstances change.

Do You Need a Lawyer to File for Child Support in Florida?

No, legal representation is not mandatory for navigating child support issues in Florida. However, it can be extremely helpful for protecting your rights, securing fair treatment, and ensuring the well-being of your children. Having a skilled child support attorney on your side can significantly benefit your case, especially if complexities or disputes arise.

Some of the ways a Boca Raton child custody lawyer can be helpful to you include:

• Top Notch Family Law Guidance – Not only does Matt possess an intimate understanding of Florida child custody and divorce cases, but he is also highly adept in the many other areas of family law that overlap with child support matters. The Firm can offer powerful, effective advice throughout the process, from end to end.
• Powerful Advocacy for Your Rights – You have rights as a parent, even if you’ve made mistakes in the past. A criminal past or a history of violence can make it more challenging to assert these rights effectively in court, calling for the intervention of a talented Boca Raton child support lawyer. We’re here to ensure the client’s rights are respected throughout all proceedings, no matter what their unique circumstances and backgrounds happen to be.
• Comprehensive Legal Toolkit – Whether your situation calls for swift paternity testing, testimony from expert witnesses, or a thorough review of evidence to build a compelling case, Benzion Law of Boca Raton has the skills and connections you need to move your case toward a positive resolution.

If you’re still unsure whether you need legal representation to get through your child support case, please feel free to contact the office to set up a confidential consultation. We’d be happy to take the time to listen to the details of your case and provide some preliminary insights as to how the Firm may be able to help you.

How Much Is Child Support for One Child in Florida?

This question represents a common misunderstanding of the legal framework used to calculate child support payments. There is no standard per-child rate for child support payments in the State of Florida. Instead, the amount of child support payments is informed by the unique details of each individual case. The child support attorney at Benzion Law can help you confirm these calculations are being done fairly and in accordance with the law.

How Do I Fight a Child Support Order in Florida?

If you believe you have been erroneously ordered to pay child support payments in a Boca Raton divorce or custody case, do not panic. You may have a variety of avenues available for pushing back against this decision. A lawyer from Benzion Law can help you petition the court to modify or rescind the child support order. You may also be able to obtain a paternity test to prove that the child in question is not, in fact, your legal responsibility.

If you need help fighting back against a wrongful child support order, if your child support payments are too high, or if you aren’t receiving your child support, please reach out to Benzion Law office for a consultation. Once Matt is equipped with the details of your case, he can begin to formulate the strongest possible legal strategy for moving forward.

Benzion Law: Your Trusted Boca Raton Child Support Lawyer

If you need help with a child support case in Boca Raton or the surrounding areas, don’t hesitate to reach out to the offices of Benzion Law. Matt is here to provide cost-effective representation and staunch advocacy for Floridian parents dealing with complex child support issues.