DIY Divorce in Florida

Florida Financial Affidavit - To File or Not to File?

We get may questions about the Florida financial affidavit. The most popoulat question is whether you must file a Florida financial affidavit in  your divorce. Those divorcing couples who have made agreements as to the property and children often want to skip filing a Florida financial affdiavit because they "have an agreement," and well, frankly, doing the affidavit is pain in the neck sometimes.

Guess what? You have to file a Florida financial affidavit in your divorce or paternity case unless you are eligible to use the Simplified Petition for Dissolution of Marriage (no children and either no property or a property agreement). In all other Florida divorce and paternity cases both parties MUST file the financial affidavit.  I have even heard tell that some Clerks of Court will not accept your do it yourself paperwork without your affidavit. That's because the financial affidavit is required by Florida law.

Lawyers will tell you that the Florida financial affidavit is one of the most important documents in your divorce or paternity case. The Court will use the affidavits from both parties to divide property in a divorce and to set child support amounts in paternity and divorce cases. If, somewhere down the road, you discover that there was marital property which was not disclosed in the divorce, the financial affidavits will provide the basis to show that property was hidden and not disclosed to you.

Florida financial affidavits are a snapshot of your current financial condition. You may need to file different versions if your expenses or income will be changing with the divorce. For example, if you are leaving the marital home and setting up another home, you may file a Florida financial affidavit with your new expenses on it so that you can demonstrate the need for alimony (just an example). The bottom line is that yes, you must file a Florida financial affidavit with your case.

 

Imputed Income: 2 New Cases

I just posted this on my law office website and thought you'd like it too.

Two recent imputed income cases discuss the proper amount of imputed income to use when calculating alimony and child support. Both of these imputed income cases were released in June 2012 from the Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach.

Imputed Income Cases

In Vitro v Vitro,  the court imputed income of $30,000 to the former wife. That had been her started salary at a real estate firm in 2005. She was promoted and received raises and earned $60,000 in 2009 before her employment ended. After the trial ended, she got a job for $15/hour with no benefits or overtime. Mr. Vitro thought his former wife should have looked for management jobs in addition to administrative assistant jobs. The appeals court found that the trial court is in the best position to make the determination of what the proper amount of imputed income was for the wife. There is a good explanation of how the court has to determine imputed income in the decision.

In another Fourth District case on imputed income, Mr. Piedra was charged with imputed income in an amount equal to last year's gross business profit by the trial court.  After describing the process for imputing income, the court decided that it was an error to charge him with the gross profit amount. Any business income, including imputed income, has to be the NET income - income less legitimate business expenses.

The court also noted that the former husband had started a new business with his brother - and it had a similar name to the family business he closed just before the divorce. While claiming no income form the new business, Mr. Piedra took a job as a mechanic for $400/week - about 20% of his former income.

DIY Imputed Income

It can be difficult to present a case involving imputed income when you are representing yourself. This is one case where I definitely recommend having an attorney represent you or at least coach you through the imputed income process. You can see from these new cases that it is not easy, even for attorneys, to present the evidence for imputed income cases.

Child Support & the Cost of Raising Kids

You may have heard the news report that it costs $235,000 to raise a child born in 2011 to age 17. That's scary, isn't it? And it provides a new context for viewing child support payments. The whole report, released by the United States Department of Agriculture, is interesting for the differences it reveals. They keep track of the differences between single parent households and those with two parents.

I wrote more about the differenes over on my law office blog. You can get more of the details over there. Once you are there you can also receive more information about Florida child support.

Child Support & Alimony - A Bill to Watch in the 2012 Florida Legislature

 

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There is a big alimony reform bill pending in the 2012 Florida Legislature. This post is about a smaller bill which affects alimony and child support and motions for contempt that is aimed at the clerks of court. Senate Bill 1166 has a few interesting parts:

 

Requires the Lottery Commision to check to see if winners of more than $600 owe child support (and alimony if the child support is being collected by the Florida Department of Revenue. (page 5).

Waives the reopening fee paid to the clerk when a motion for contempt and enforcement or an uncontested child relocation case is filed (p. 16-17)

Requires court fees be paid when the case is filed (Does this mean  no more payment plans??)

It's always interesting to see the proposals made in the legislative season. Stay tuned to see what ends up being passed by our Florida legislature.

 

Florida Child Support: How Is the Money Spent?

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.

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