How to Calculate Retroactive Payments for Child Support in Florida
- 1). Identify the date on which you and the child's other parent stopped residing in the same household with your child. Count the months between that date and the date that you filed the paperwork asking for child support---even if the relevant period lasted longer than the 24 months for which a Florida court can award retroactive support.
- 2). Gather any information you can find about the other parent's actual income during the retroactive support period, such as his place of employment, wages and benefits. Write down the amounts of any payments voluntarily given to you by the other parent during that period of time. Identify any child-related expenses paid by the other parent, such as health care or child care costs, before you filed a request for child support.
- 3). Gather your own financial information from the retroactive support period, including your income and child-related expenses---under Florida child support guidelines, the state will look at both parents' incomes and expenses. Enter both parents' financial information into an online Florida child support calculator to estimate the amount of child support that a court might order from the retroactive support period.
- 4). Familiarize yourself with the Florida child support guidelines and note any reasons why you might ask the court to make an exception to the guidelines, such as your child's particular needs or special expenses, your child's age, your child's accustomed standard of living or the financial abilities of yourself and the other parent. Prepare to discuss these reasons, if relevant, at your child support hearing.
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