Child Support Attorney in Miami & Fort lauderdale

Miami Child Support Attorney Helena Y. Farber

South Florida family law attorney Helena Y. Farber has the knowledge and experience required to represent her clients through the challenging and emotionally charged process associated with child support cases. Ms. Farber understands that child support can be a sensitive issue that requires a delicate approach. At Farber Law, P.A., we provide committed and thoughtful advocacy to help you in your child support case.

What is child support?

Child support is the financial assistance provided to the child when the parents of the child no longer reside together. Since the child is a minor the support is paid from one parent to the other. The parent who is receiving the child support is accepting it on behalf of the child and is obligated to use the funds for the child’s needs.

Any divorce or paternity determination case will also have a child support component, where the case cannot be concluded without an establishment of child support amount. Both parents have a duty to provide for the financial needs of the child. Therefore, child support is the right of the child, and cannot be waived by the parents.

How is child support established?

In the state of Florida child support is established based on child support guidelines contained in the Florida Statute. These guidelines use a formula that considers several factors, including net income of each parents, number of children in need of child support, cost of necessary day care, cost of health insurance premium for the child, and number of overnights the child spends with each parents.

If the child is not covered by state subsidized health and dental insurance, the parents are required to provide insurance through their employer or purchase a policy on the open market. The parents either split the costs of the health and dental insurance or the parent paying for the premiums gets a credit for it in the child support calculations.

In some cases, the parent paying child support might be required to purchase a life insurance policy to secure payment of child support in case something were to happened to the parent.

What about other child related expenses?

Unless the child has a serious medical condition that requires expenditures of significant funds on consistent bases, the court will not take into account any other expenses in calculating child support. Usually, any other child related expenses like extra-curricular activities or uncovered medical expenses are evenly split between the parties. If the parties have a serious disparity in their income, the child related expenses will be split based on the share of each party’s income. An experienced attorney will prepare the necessary documents to make sure that all the nuances of child support and child related expenses are included in the final child support order.