FIGHTING CHILD SUPPORT IN FLORIDA and not getting to see your
child?
If a parent is having to
spend money to reunify with their child because a parent interfered with
their time can that parent increase the child support responsibility on
that offending parent?
In the state of Florida,
the child support statutes do have a provision that allows you to
calculate the expense that you incur in losing time with your child if
you prove that the other parent interfered.
The court can order that
the offending parent interfering with your parenting time be responsible
for the expenses you incur for reunification, for pursuing the
enforcement of your time, etc. Ask your attorney to ask the court to
make a finding that the other parent is interfering and is an
“offending parent” and award you make-up time with your
child as well as prevent any increase in child support!*
Look at statute Florida
Family Code Statute section 61.13 (c) When a parent refuses to honor the
time-sharing schedule in the parenting plan without proper cause, the
court:
1. Shall, after
calculating the amount of time-sharing improperly denied, award the
parent denied time a sufficient amount of extra time-sharing to
compensate for the time-sharing missed, and such time-sharing shall be
ordered as expeditiously as possible in a manner consistent with the
best interests of the child and scheduled in a manner that is convenient
for the parent deprived of time-sharing. In ordering any makeup
time-sharing, the court shall schedule such time-sharing in a manner
that is consistent with the best interests of the child or children and
that is convenient for the nonoffending parent and at the expense of the
noncompliant parent.
The Florida child support guidelines allow for calculating the time that you have your
child so if the parent is ordered to provide make up time then you ask your attorney
to also request that the child support reflect the additional possession time that
you are awarded.
Make sure you also use protection of your fundamental rights if the court is trying to
justify taking away your possession time with your child. There is a lot of mention
of best interest in the Florida statute so you want to make sure that you preserve
your right to challenge any statute that is allowing them to justify the other
parent’s infringement of your possession of your child as well.
You can find more information on your fundamental parental rights and how to protect
them in our book, “NOT in the Child’s Best Interest”, our online course,
“Protecting Family Rights”, and the declaratory judgement relief sample motions that we have under the store tab of
this website. Contact us here if you have questions or need help with any of this.
Don’t wait for the courts to take advantage of you or make you broke leading
you down failed paths that provide you with false hope and broken parent-child
relationships. Click here to Contact Us to help you and your attorney develop a more effective
plan!
*We are not attorneys and
do not practice law. Make sure that you seek the advice of an attorney
regarding how to apply your rights and any information that we post
here.
