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If Your License is suspended for Child Support Obligations, What Can You Do?

Florida law allows one’s driver’s license to be suspended when they fail to meet their support obligation.  If your license is suspended as a result of child support obligations that are not satisfied, you should understand the law.  If one truly cannot pay their obligation because they simply do not have the financial resources to do so, your license cannot be suspended, but you must act promptly.

Your License Can Be Suspended for Child Support Failures

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Florida is an “at will” employment state. What that means is that an employee can quit at any time and an employer can fire an employee at any time for any reason as long as it is not an illegal reason. Some examples of illegal reasons would be discriminatory reasons (i.e., Race, sex, religion) other examples of illegal reasons are because an employee files a worker’s compensation claim, or because an employee reports illegal activity on the part of the employer. Employees who have contracts with their employers are governed under those contracts. There are also specific contracts known as Non-compete agreements that bind an employee during and after employment with an employer.

Florida has a Non-compete Statute which can be found at Florida Statute 542.335. This statute governs the enforceability of non-compete agreements. The basic premise of the statute is that the agreement must be reasonable. Reasonable as to time and reasonable as to geographic location. It also must be ”reasonably necessary to protect the legitimate business interest” of the employer. Florida courts have essentially decided these cases on a case-by-case basis look at each case and its specific facts to determine the reasonableness of a non-compete agreement. There is no “bright line” test as to what will be held to be a valid non-compete agreement. Your Jacksonville employment attorney can assist you in determining whether or not your non-compete agreement is valid or questionable. Case law has set some guidelines for the employee and employer to follow but the area of the law is still somewhat ambiguous. For example, case law has indicated that a two-year term following the employee’s termination from employment was a reasonable timeframe. In regard to geographic location, the courts have held in some cases that even a statewide provision was reasonable depending upon the whether the employer does business statewide and whether it has regional offices within the state. Most litigation regarding non-compete agreements hinge on what is a protectable legitimate business interest.

In a recent case, White vs Mederi Caretenders Visiting Servs. Of Southeast Florida LLC, 226 So.3d 774 (Fla. 2017), the Supreme Court of Florida held that a company’s referral source may be a protectable legitimate business interest. In making that ruling, the Court encouraged the active involvement of trial courts in assessing the enforceability of non-compete agreements. The Court emphasized that trial courts were best able to apply the statute to specific fact situations and that the Florida Non-compete Statute and the legislative intent behind the statute “grants trial courts fairly wide discretion to fashion the appropriate context-dependent remedy.” A Non-compete agreement can include an employee’s agreement not to work for the employer’s competitors, an agreement not to solicit the employer’s customers or other employees of the employer and a confidentiality clause. Florida’s Non-compete statute identifies five items that are considered legitimate business interests and they are: trade secrets; valuable confidential information; substantial relationships with customers, patients and clients; goodwill; and extraordinary or specialized training. If your employer is asking you to sign a non-compete agreement, you should take the agreement to a Jacksonville employment lawyer for review before signing it.

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How do you and your spouse share the finances?

Most married couples have their finances mixed together. For instance, it is not unusual for a married couple to share credit cards, savings and checking accounts, real estate, and other property.  When parties go through a dissolution, these finances must be untangled.  The process of distributing assets to each party is known as equitable distribution.  The process of exchanging financial information with the opposing party is known as mandatory disclosure.  The Family Law Rule of Procedure, Rule 12.285 details what information must be disclosed as well as the time periods for disclosure.

What forms do you need to complete?

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Florida Guardianship is a legal process used to protect individuals who are unable to care for their own wellbeing due to the fact that they are a minor, are incapacitated or developmentally disabled.  A Court will appoint a legal guardian to care for the individual, who needs special protection.  The individual is known as a Ward.  Legal guardians have the legal authority and fiduciary responsibility to make decisions for their Ward regarding personal and financial interests.

Florida is a state that regulates guardianships very strictly.  Regulations vary from state to state regarding guardianship law, but Florida has very stringent requirements of Guardians.  In fact, the basic premise in Florida regarding guardianships is that the Court is charged with making sure that the least restrictive means are utilized when dealing with an individual who is determined to be incapacitated or is developmentally disabled.  Florida has a large population of elderly people and the guardianship laws are purposely strict to protect those people who are most vulnerable such as elderly people, developmentally disabled persons and minors.

There are essentially four types of Florida guardianships, they are Plenary, Limited, Advocacy and Guardianship for Minors.  The Plenary guardianship is a guardianship over the person and their assets.  It is a two-step process that starts with the person being determined to be incompetent or incapacitated.  Once the person is determined to be incapacitated, the Court must then determine what specific rights must be removed and what rights will be retained.  The specific rights that the Court addresses and determines whether the alleged incapacitated person is capable of exercising are:  1) Right to marry; 2) Right to vote; 3) Right to contract; 4) Right to travel; 5) Right to sue and defend lawsuits; 6) Right to have a driver’s license; 7) Right to determine his/her residency; 8) Right to seek or retain employment; 9) Right to consent to medical treatment; 10) Right to personally apply for government benefits; 11) Right to manage property or to make any gift or disposition of property; and finally 12) Right to make decisions about his/her social environment or other social aspects of his/her life.  The guiding principle in determining what rights to take away from the incapacitated person is utilizing the least restrictive means necessary.  The Limited Guardianship limits the guardian’s authority to certain areas regarding the Ward’s life such as limiting the guardian to authority over the Ward’s finances.  The guardian advocacy is a guardianship that is established when a person is born developmentally disabled such as a person born with mental retardation, Autism or some other mental disease that prevents them from growing mentally.  The Guardianship of a Minor is generally established when the minor receives a money settlement or has lost both parents and needs someone to look out for their health, welfare, maintenance and assets.

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For some, child support is an ongoing obligation that holds no light at the end of a long tunnel that can extend over 18 years.  Every situation is different and the answer as to when child support will end depends on your individual situation.  An experienced North Florida Family Law Attorney can review your circumstances and help you obtain the best result for you under the law.  

The answer to when child support ends is far from a black and white question in Florida.  Conceptually, child support is the right of each child.  Therefore, courts are reluctant to enter an order that does not provide for child support.  As a practicing Family Law Attorney, I have encountered many individuals that believe that parents can simply agree that child support will not be provided for in a final judgment of dissolution or paternity.  In Florida, a statutory guideline exists to determine what is presumptively reasonable for a parent to pay for child support.  The court can depart from the statutory amount by up to 5%, but there must be specific findings of fact enumerated in the order to justify any departure beyond the 5%, up or down.  

Under current law, when two or more children are provided for in a support order, that order must include provisions detailing when the support obligation terminates for each child.  There should be a modification of the income deduction order to reflect the changes.  There are circumstances that allow child support to continue past the age of 18.  If a child is still in high school at age 18 with a reasonable chance of graduating before age 19, child support may continue through graduation.  Where a child graduates high school prior to his or her 19th birthday, support ends at age 18.  If a child becoming an adult has a disability that would result in the child continuing to be a dependent, child support could continue indefinitely.  There are other less conventional reasons that child support might end, the death of a child, the emancipation of a child, or a situation where a child is earning enough money that no support is required (this would be a rare occasion, but there are numerous child stars that have earned more than their parents).  Under Florida Law, the only circumstance where one would be obligated to support a healthy adult child beyond the age of 19, would be where an Obligor agrees to such a duty in a contract (i.e. marital settlement agreement). 

There are cases where a non-custodial parent is unemployed and has little or no income.  Even a person with little or no income can still have an obligation to pay child support.  This is because a parent’s child support obligation can be calculated based upon his or her imputed income, as opposed to actual income.  Imputed income is income that the court determines an individual should be making with a reasonable effort.

When child support is calculated a number of factors are used to determine each party’s obligation.  The parents’ income, the number of children, and insurance expenses are the major elements in determining one’s obligation.   It is not infrequent that a parent will manipulate the system in an attempt to lower his or her income which is aimed at reducing that parent’s child support obligation.  This is accomplished in a number of ways.  People that own their own business have found numerous ways to receive what would otherwise be income through creative accounting.  One way that the court system counter’s this is through the use of imputed income.  Sometimes this involves imputing minimum wage.  Other times, it is much more complicated and a vocational evaluator may be used.  

Although unemployment can no doubt affect one’s income adversely, it may not necessarily affect his or her child support obligation.  The courts do not always use imputed income to determine one’s child support obligation.  Most situations where it is used involve a parent that is unemployed or underemployed voluntarily.  In my practice, I have primarily seen imputed income used where a parent is unemployed and the court will impute minimum wage.  There are situations in which much higher income has been attempted to be imputed.  In one divorce case with no children that I handled, a Wife of an attorney, requested a vocational evaluation to determine the attorney’s true earning capabilities.  A court will usually inquire as to why a parent is unemployed or underemployed and whether or not there is justification for it.  A case in which unemployment is caused by an accidental injury would be a likely example of one that may be justifiable.  A layoff or company downsizing could also account for why an Obligor is unemployed.  Trying to prove that someone is underemployed can be difficult and expensive.  One has to prove that there is work available and that the Obligor turned it down.  Most of the cases I have handled involving the Dept. of Revenue are examples of situations where it is impractical or not economically feasible for the Dept. of Revenue to pay to have a vocational evaluation.  One example of a recent case I came across where there is little doubt that a father has a legitimate excuse (arguably) for not working is where a father must stay home to care for a young child with Cerebral Palsy. 

Family law clients always ask me, “What is a QDRO?”  (pronounced informally “Quad-Row”) QDRO is an acronym for Qualified Domestic Relations Order, which is a court order that grants a party a right to a portion of the retirement benefits his or her former spouse has earned through participation in an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Federal law states that a retirement benefit can only be divided between former spouses if there is a QDRO.  Retirement plans can be a huge asset in a marriage that may be forgotten in a divorce, so its key for clients to educate themselves on division of this marital asset.

QDRO divorceIn a divorce, a family law attorney needs to determine what retirement plan each party owns through mandatory disclosure by the formal, legal plan name.  It is important to know the value of each plan, the valuation date used to value the plan, what ancillary benefits are associated with the plan (for example, market fluctuations, survivor benefits, subsidies/supplements, and interest credits), the correct method of division for the plan, and will the retirement plan accept a QDRO.  Disclosure is important in obtaining this information and the plan’s summary description. It is also important to obtain the plan’s divorce transfer and QDRO guidelines, if available.  Obtaining a statement for the plan as of your desired valuation date will assist you in a smooth QDRO process.  For federal government employees, retirement plans are divided by a COAP, which stands for Court Order Acceptable for Processing.

Your divorce decree will not be enough to divide a retirement benefit in most cases.  A QDRO is a separate document from the divorce decree. It is always better to file a QDRO with the retirement plan as soon as possible.  If the former spouse retires after the divorce is final, and the QDRO has not been filed with the plan, the plan will begin paying out the benefit to the former spouse and only future payments will be affected.

That dreaded word in a divorce:  Alimony. Alimony is determined by the court after looking at one party’s actual need versus one party’s ability to pay. After equitable distribution is determined, the court reviews what money is left over, if anything, and considers the parties’ circumstances to come up with a fair award.  Some questions to answer:

  • Length of the marriage
  • Standard of living the parties are accustomed to

When parties come to family court in Florida for paternity, dissolution of marriage, or child support proceedings, income of the parties can become very important in calculations and is examined closely. There may be certain situations where one parent is working overtime to make additional money, whether it be to pay support or to supplement income because of a lack of support being received. Can working overtime be a Child supportproblem in your family court case?

Florida Statute § 61.30(2)(a) indicates that gross income shall include, among other things, bonuses, commissions, allowances, overtime, tips, and other similar payments.  Child support will be calculated from net income, so it is important to get all allowable deductions as accurate as possible.  For purposes of child support, the court must impute income to a voluntarily unemployed or underemployed parent unless the lack of employment is the result of the parent’s physical incapacity or other circumstances beyond the parent’s control.  The court has to state the exact amount of gross income it is imputing to a parent. See Shrove v. Shrove, 724 So.2d 679 (Fla. 4thDCA 1999). Regular overtime or second-job income is included unless the court specifically finds that the opportunity to earn overtime will not be available as an income source in the future.  See Butler v. Brewster, 629 So.2d 1092 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994).

Therefore, it can be possible that overtime and second-job income can be used to calculate child support and the court won’t make a finding that the income source will not be available as an income source in the future, making child support higher or lower depending on the circumstances. Contact an experienced Jacksonville Family Law Attorney with the Law Office of David M. Goldman, PLLC for a consultation.

In Florida, the enhancement of value of a nonmarital asset could be declared by a divorce court to be a marital asset.  Most of the time you see this when one spouse’s nonmarital asset is alleged by the other spouse to be a marital asset.  If it cannot be declared a marital asset any other way, the court may look at enhancement of value of the nonmarital asset and award the other spouse an interest of that enhancement of value.  The Mitchell case illustrates this concept.

divorceIn Mitchell v. Mitchell, 841 So.2d 564 (Fla. 2ndDCA 2003), the husband owned a Tampa Carrollwood home prior to the marriage and kept it titled in his name so it was nonmarital property.  The trial court found that the home had been enhanced due to marital funds and efforts. Typically, the enhancement in value of a nonmarital asset resulting from either party’s nonpassive efforts or the expenditure of marital funds is a marital asset.  The appellate court found that such enhancement in the Mitchell case was negligible.  They performed primarily cosmetic or maintenance-related improvements, such as wallpapering.  The most important factor in the increase in the value of the property was passive market appreciation, about 5 to 6 % annually.  This produced a market value of $185,000.  The appellate court found that where the increase in market value is attributable to inflation or “fortuitous market forces,” the expenditure of marital funds on the nonmarital asset does not transform the appreciated asset into marital property.  However, an increase in equity due to the use of marital funds to pay down a mortgage balance is a marital asset subject to equitable distribution.  The appellate court found that the wife’s interest in the home was limited to her one-half share of the amount by which the mortgage was reduced with marital payments.

The husband in Mitchell also had 41 acres of unimproved land in North Carolina that was solely titled in his name alone throughout the marriage.  The circuit court characterized the entire appreciation in the value of the nonmarital North Carolina property as a marital asset subject to equitable distribution despite the fact that the appreciation was entirely attributable to passive inflation.  As in the case of the Carrollwood home, this was error according to the appellate court.  It was undisputed that the property was unimproved.  It had no sewer, septic, electric, or water connections.  The record showed that the parties used marital funds to pay mortgage payments, taxes, and a road assessment fee. The increase in the husband’s equity due to the use of marital funds to pay down the mortgage was a marital asset to be divided between the parties. Otherwise, the North Carolina property was found to be husband’s nonmarital asset.

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