In the state of Florida as of January 2011, the laws have changed in regards to child support and time sharing. Let's start with the past and what happened to explain what is currently going on and how it can affect the decisions you make today.
In the past there was a primary residential parent and a secondary residential parent. The normal time sharing schedule was split 62% and 38%. Child support was calculated based on the parent's income and the time sharing. The majority of the time, the mother was the primary and the father was the secondary parent in the parenting plan. Dad got 10 days a month and mom had the rest. Dad paid child support and mom heavily relied on the support even though it was only supplemental and definitely not anywhere close to what it actually costs to raise children on a daily basis. There was a threshold for equalizing out time sharing and that was 40% and could minimize the child support as both parents would be spending closer to equal time with the children and pay closer to the actual costs for daily expenses.
This format existed for quite some time up until a few years ago when the trend took a huge swing in the opposite direction and moms started to surrender primary care to the fathers so that they could attempt to get work outside of the home, go back to school or work more hours at their existing jobs. Dad now got to feel what moms have known for many years with the daily responsibility of raising kids as a single parent. The downside was that moms were not paying child support and the percentage of deadbeat dads was around 37% and the percentage of deadbeat moms rose to 74%. The court system realized something was not right and that brings us to where we are today.
As of January 1, 2011, the new time sharing schedule is 50/50 not 62/38 and the threshold that I mentioned previously dropped from 40% to 20%.
So where's the problem? A lot of parents that come to me try to use old time sharing schedules where the time is split 62/38, but have to adhere to new child support calculations and the child support simply is not there. Why? The reason is simple. If both parents are spending the same amount of time with the children, then there is little need for measly child support because now mom and dad are both paying the ACTUAL costs of raising the kids only 50% of the time and the playing field is leveled.
Now in mediation lately, most moms do not want to give up time and share 50/50, so please be advised that the child support is not going to be there like in the past. In the end, for you mothers out there, if you want more time with your kids and do not wish to share according to the new guidelines, be advised that there will not be more child support waiting for you like it was in the past.
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This is amazing, there is one major flaw in this, is anybody thinking about the CHILDREN. Trying being a child shuffled back and forth with this mess this is crazy. Each case should be decided on a separate basis. Every family is different, it should be base on not mom and dad but wants to spend more time or who makes enough money to support. If dads are primary caregivers mom should pay. Because 50\50 does nothing to benefit children it just make it look fair for mom and dad.
ReplyDeleteThe 50/50 gives both parents equal time with the children and also allows each parent to have the same freedoms as well. Freedom to date, travel, go back to school, work, get a promotion, relax etc.... It also makes both parents responsible for the day to day care of the children and not just 1 day a week and a a few weekends a month. As for the kids, the kids will appreciate the parents more when they are away from the other parent and kids need both mom and dad in their daily lives. As for the financial, this is much better than child support. Anyone who has ever received support knows that it is only supplemental and never enough. It is not a real world number and is not on a sliding scale as kids get older and need more. Now with both mom and dad splitting the time evenly, both pay the ACTUAL costs. Mom's costs will go down and Dad's will go up (based on a previous visitation schedule of mom primary and dad secondary). In theory this entire change doesn't look like it would work, but in the real world application, parents find that it works and is much more fair to everyone involved.
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