Types of Family Law Cases We Handle
Focus on helping people navigate their divorce or child custody issues with confidence and care.
When a child’s parents no longer live together, one parent will often pay child support or child maintenance payments. These payments help support the child, maintain the child’s quality of life, and ensure that the child has whatever they need.
A Miami child support lawyer can help you determine and pursue fair child support for a minor child. Our team can also ensure you are not overcharged for child support.
Child Support Laws in Florida
Child support guidelines are taken very seriously in Miami. Florida child support law mandates that every parent is responsible for paying for the child’s needs. Parents have a moral and legal duty to support and aid their underage children, including through child support.
A child support order can cover the following:
- Home (roof over the child’s head)
- Food
- Clothing
- Medical needs
- Education
- Hobbies and entertainment for the child
Child support attorneys will tell you: it is the responsibility of both parents, regardless of whether they are married, divorced, or single. According to the state’s child support laws, parents cannot opt out of paying child support.
A parent who fails to make child support payments may be considered to have abandoned the child and could face legal consequences— including wage garnishment—for failing to take care of legal obligations. You should contact a Miami child support attorney if you haven’t been keeping up with your payments.
Who Will Be Required to Pay Child Support After a Divorce?
We understand that many parents fight over child support issues during a divorce. In many parenting plans following divorce, one parent will have majority timesharing, while the other has minority time sharing.
Generally, the parent with less parenting time and who will have fewer child-related expenses to cover will make child support payments to the other parent. Even in child support cases where both parents have equal parenting time, a higher-earning parent may have to issue a child support payment to the other parent each month to help maintain the child’s overall quality of life.
While divorce is the setting in which parents most often consider child support, parents who have never been married and do not live together may also need to work out child support calculations. A parent may owe child support even if they do not regularly see the child by their choice. If the child is adopted by someone else, including a stepparent, it can remove child support obligations.
Ask Miami Child Support Lawyers About Child Support Modification
The Florida court system will examine several factors to evaluate who has to make child support payments and how much child support is owed or make orders pertaining to child support modification.
Those factors may include the following:
- Both parents’ income. The higher earner may end up paying more in child support.
- The child’s specific needs. In addition to general needs, the court may consider any particular needs or difficulties the child may face.
- Parenting time for each parent.
- The number of children in the family.
- Any of the child’s outstanding healthcare needs that will require additional care.
- The cost of childcare, if needed.
- The cost of health insurance, if reasonably available.
In some child support cases, you may find that you have unique financial needs—often based on the child’s need—that can increase the required child support. A Miami family law attorney can help you take a closer look at your specific case and the factors you may need to consider.
Our Miami, FL Child Support Lawyers Can Help With Child Support Enforcement
Ideally, you should contact Miami child support lawyers to get a better idea of your legal rights and how to ensure that your child’s needs are considered throughout the divorce process.
You may need a Miami child support attorney if:
- You are divorcing or preparing for divorce
- You have a child out of wedlock
- You need to file a divorce modification that includes a change in child support
- You have a question about circumstances that might change child support amounts
- You have not received the child support mandated by the court
At Vasquez de Lara Law Group, we strive to be the best family law firm in Miami and have been recognized by reputable organizations, like Expertise, Super Lawyers, and Justia, as a trusted and respected presence in our community. Our Miami child support lawyers can help ensure you and your child’s other parent understand Florida law regarding child support and child support enforcement. If you have questions or want to fight for the support your child deserves, contact our Miami child support attorney and ask about child support enforcement or child support modification.
Need a Divorce or Child Support Lawyer in Miami?
Handling your family law, child support, divorce case, or custody dispute alone is difficult. Family court is very procedural. You may have all it takes to win your child support case, but filing something wrong can cause massive delays and increase the chances of losing your child support case in court. Review your case for free today.
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