If you and your child’s other parent each have one job and it is your sole source of income, figuring child support may not be complex. However, multiple sources of income can cloud the matter.
These are the types of funds that should be part of the calculation as you add up your total gross income, according to the Florida statutes.
Job earnings
People receive their job earnings in a number of different forms. Salaries, wages, bonuses, overtime and commissions all count for the purposes of calculating child support, as do tips, business income, rental income and income from royalties.
Benefits
If you or your spouse receives disability, Social Security, unemployment or workers’ compensation benefits or settlements, the income counts toward child support.
Spousal support
Child support from a previous relationship does not count as income in figuring child support for a child of this relationship, but spousal support does.
Retirement, annuity and trust payments
If your spouse receives retirement or pension benefits, income from investments or dividends, annuity payments or money from a trust, he or she must report those amounts to the court for child support purposes.
Imputed income
A spouse who could work in a career but voluntarily takes a much lower-paying job or chooses not to work at all may have to figure income based on what he or she should make. The court will not consider the unemployment or underemployment voluntary if there is evidence of a mental or physical issue that keeps the parent from working, or if it stems from some other situation beyond the parent’s control.
Factors such as tax deductions, health insurance payments, union dues and others may affect your net income results.
