Florida courts use child support guidelines as the basis for calculating the appropriate amount of child support to be paid by a parent. In preparing the guideline calculation, the following information is needed:
The net monthly income of each party.
The number of children of the parties.
The monthly daycare costs of the children.
The monthly health insurance cost of the children.
Although the Florida Child Support Calculator provided on this site is for general information purposes, obtaining a printout of the underlying calculation may help with an understanding of the math behind the calculation.
It is very important to have a complete understanding of how net income is calculated. This means knowing what constitutes gross income and what deductions are allowed from gross income. Section 61.30 of the Florida Statutes provides a detailed list as to both.
It is important to also note that there may be reasons to deviate from the child support guidelines due to factors set forth in the Florida Statutes, so in some cases the guideline amount is not the final amount ordered by the Judge.
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