The intent behind creating the statutory guidelines is to establish statewide uniformity when it comes to the payment of child support.  Therefore, all divorced parents similarly situated pay similar support.  It is impermissible for a judge to deviate from these established guidelines without specific findings of fact to support the deviation.

The first step in calculating child support in the State of Florida is to determine combined net (after taxes, etc.) monthly income and the percentage of contribution by each parent.  For example, if the father has net monthly income of $2,500 and the mother has net monthly income of $2,700, the combined net monthly income is $5,200, with the father’s contribution at about 48% and the mother’s contribution at 52%.

The next step is finding the corresponding combined net monthly income on the child support guidelines.  The guidelines are found at Florida Statutes § 61.30.  In this example, assuming there are 2 kids, the combined base support would be $1,590, with the father contributing $763.20 and the mother contributing $826.80.  If the mother is the primary residential custodian, the father would pay $763.20 to the mother.

If a parent is found to be unemployed or under-employed, the court can actually impute or “assign” that parent a higher net income than he or she is actually earning.  This is typically the only disputed issue when calculating child support.

Whichever parent is carrying the child(ren)’s health insurance, that parent will receive contribution from the other parent at the same percentage as child support.  So, in the example, if the father pays $100 per month for the kids’ health insurance, his child support will be lowered by the wife’s required reimbursement of $52.

If the primary residential custodian has daycare expense, the secondary residential custodian must contribute to that expense, but not at the same percentage as child support or health insurance.  The reimbursement equally 75% x monthly daycare expense x  secondary residential custodian’s percentage of child support.  So, in this example, if daycare costs the mother $450 per month, the father would pay 75% x $450 x 48% which equals $162.  That amount becomes part of the court ordered child support figure.  When daycare stops, the father would have the right to seek a modification of child support.