Child Support Essentials: Understanding Your Rights and Responsibilities

There is an inherent irony in the public perception of child support.

On the one hand, payors (those who have to pay child support to the other parent) sometimes loathe paying child support. Many may see it as a sort of tax, or as “hidden alimony,” or even worse, a way for the other parent to pull money out of the payor parent.

On the other hand, nobody would argue with the fact that children need and deserve to be financially supported by both parents, that raising children is not an inexpensive thing to do, and most parents generally have a desire to support their kids. In fact, words like “deadbeat” and “irresponsible” are often thrown around at those who do not pay what is seen as a fair share of support.

Much of the (more extreme) beliefs on both sides comes from a fundamental misunderstanding about child support, and about the rights and responsibilities of both parents.

Your Responsibility to Manage the Money

While it may be hard to grasp, given that the child support money is being paid to the other parent, child support is not actually a payment to the other parent, even if it physically goes to him or her—it’s money for the children. 

Think of the parent receiving the child support as a trustee—someone who receives child support, but who distributes and manages it, to offset the expenses related to raising or housing the children.

The Right to Know How the Support Money is Being Used

If you’re the payor parent, you cannot use how child support is being used or not used by the receiving parent as an excuse to not pay the ordered child support amount.

Admittedly, there is no oversight mechanism—nobody audits how the receiving parent uses child support, or verifies that every dollar of child support is used towards the children’s expenses. The receiving parent has no responsibility to show anybody how the support dollars were used. 

The law just assumes that any parent who has the majority of timesharing with the children will have expenses related to those children, and assumes that the child support money, directly or indirectly, is going to help pay for or offset expenses related to the children.

The Right to See the Children 

Many parents believe that if the other parent does not abide by the time-sharing obligations, as set forth in a judgment or mediated time-sharing settlement agreement or in a parenting plan, they do not have to pay child support.

This is not true; child support is not a weapon that can be withheld to coerce the other parent into giving you time-sharing. If you do feel the other parent is depriving you of court-ordered or agreed-upon time-sharing, you can go to court to enforce your right to see the children—but you cannot just unilaterally withhold child support, or use it as punishment to get back at a parent who is preventing you from seeing the children.

The Right to Adequate Child Support

Many parents, when they think of child support, think of how much the children cost or how much the receiving parent will or does need to house, clothe, feed, and take care of the children.

But that’s only part of the equation. Often, children may need more than parents can financially give. That’s why child support is based on a legal formula. Essentially, the Florida legislature has already determined how much in total support children may need. That amount varies based on the combined income of the parents.

There is room for extra payments outside of the base child support—for example, having a parent pay for half, or even all, of medical expenses, or extra curricular activities, tutoring, or counseling, just to name some categories.

So, while you may be the parent with a right to receive child support from the other parent, the amount of that payment is largely predetermined, and based on both parents’ income, as much as it is based on how much your particular children need in your particular lifestyle.

You Have the Right to Agree on the Support Amount (Within Reason)

In divorce cases, you and the other spouse have a right to agree on almost anything that you want to agree on—one benefit of going to a mediation conference or using a collaborative divorce process.

However, when it comes to child support, although you and the other parent can agree on a lower or higher amount, ultimately, it is the judge’s decision to approve the child support. Many judges may be wary of approving agreements that short-charge the children, with a child support obligation that’s less than what the child support formula says it should be.

The Right to Support, Even if You are Not Married

Child support cares about who the biological parents of the children are—it does not care about marriage. 

That means that even if you were never married to the other parent, you can still receive child support.These are called paternity actions. In some cases, the father may admit paternity, and the only issues are child support and time-sharing. In other cases, the father may dispute that he is the parent, and that must be determined before child support and time-sharing are determined by the court.

The Right to Modification of Support

If circumstances change over time, you may have the right to alter your child support payment amount.

Often, a parent may make much more, or much less, money than he or she did when the original obligation was set or agreed to. Or a parent’s lifestyle or life circumstances may change. 

Parents can ask a court to alter their child support modification—but do not just start paying more, or less (or nothing at all) on your own. Even if a modification is warranted, you still need a court’s permission to change the support amount.

His offices are located at 2431 Aloma Ave. #124, Winter Park, FL. 32792 and 3270 Suntree Blvd. Suite 103G, Melbourne, FL. 32940

Contact us for help and to get information on what you can expect in your divorce or paternity case. 

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