Paying child support in Florida has become increasingly difficult as the economic downturn continues. Florida is among the hardest-hit states in the economic crisis. Continuing unemployment and huge foreclosure rates mean many families are strapped for cash to pay for the basics like food and rent.
As bottom lines become tighter, parents who receive child support have become more and more dependent on those payments to make ends meet each month. On the other hand, the parents who pay child support are finding it increasingly difficult to afford the payments. Sometimes this even turns into resentment about the way the money is being spent and demands for an accounting of how child support payments are spent.
What Is Florida Child Support Supposed to Cover?
Basic child support is meant to cover living expenses, including food, shelter, and clothing for the child. So the costs of rent, mortgage, utility bills and other seemingly general household expenses can be justified as helping to provide for the basic care of the child.
The amount of basic Florida child support is calculated with a complex formula that uses both parent's net monthly incomes and the number of overnights that each parent has with the children. Also factored in are health insurance and child-care costs.
Can You Get a Child Support Accounting?
Paying parents often ask how much say they get in how the child support payments are spent. Florida, like the majority of states does not require the parent receiving child support to give an accounting of how the money is spent. That means almost anything needed for the children's care and well-being can be paid from child support payments in Florida. And sorry but you do not get a say in how child support payments are used in Florida.
If you would like my free report on the top 10 child support questions, provide your email below and I'll send it right to you.
