CORONAVIRUS WILL AFFECT CHILD SUPPORT IN FLORIDA
CORONAVIRUS WILL AFFECT CHILD SUPPORT IN FLORIDA
The coronavirus has caused Hospitality and tourism industry closures, major job losses and shutdowns which will trigger reductions in child support in Florida and across the United States.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has warned that the US unemployment rate may jump to 20% due to the coronavirus. Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Executive Director Ken Lawson said Wednesday that unemployment claims are already spiking.
“Since last Thursday, we have seen over a 100% increase in unemployment claims,” Lawson said.
For individuals paying (or receiving) child support or alimony, a parent becoming unemployed represents a huge financial blow. Unfortunately, with the coronavirus causing shutdowns, social distancing and stay in place orders across the country, a massive jump in unemployment appears inevitable. With the massive layoffs and job loss comes an increasing demand for reductions in child support orders across the country.
When A Parent Paying Child Support or Alimony is Laid Off or Loses His or Her Job
In normal times, the child support paying parent who experiences a substantial loss in income will file a Modification for Child Support in Family Court, often in conjunction with a Motion for Temporary Order seeking an immediate reduction in support. However, the coronavirus crisis has effectively closed Family Courthouses to routine motions in Florida. The Florida Supreme Court’s Standing Order AOSC20-15 provides that most non-essential motions and hearings have been suspended through March 27, 2020. This is a fluid situation and can change.
Florida is an on-line e-filing state. This means all case pleadings and motions are filed online. The Florida e-filing portal is still open and active. Although, immediate court access for relief is affected motions for modification and other pleadings can still be filed. This lack of immediate access to the courts should not discourage child-support paying parents from taking some action following job loss.
If you are the child payor best practices suggest that a child-support paying parent who is laid off should file a Motion for Modification of Child Support as soon as possible.
Addressing Layoffs and Job Loss with the Recipient Parent
As I have noted elsewhere in my blogs, litigants should always be careful about what they state in text messages, emails, co-parenting apps, and social media. In the context of a Motion for Modification to reduce child support, any statements made to the opposing party may be used as evidence in an upcoming hearing. Nevertheless, there may be a greater price to pay for support payors who fail to offer respectful, accurate information to the support recipient following a job loss. To the extent that the loss of child support could be financially catastrophic to the recipient, many judges expect support paying parties to act with decency, compassion, and clarity by informing the recipient of the job loss and the impending financial difficulty.
The appropriate level of detail to share with a support recipient will vary from case to case. However, what almost never varies is the need for support-paying parents and former spouses to share this kind of difficult information with respect and compassion, even if the parties have had strained relations over the years. With the coronavirus crisis leaving Family Court judges uniquely powerless to influence most cases, it is likely that judges will pay close attention to how parents and former spouses behaved during the crisis, once regular hearings resume. A party who acts with decency and sensitivity towards the extremely difficult circumstances faced by the other party is far more likely to receive the benefit of the doubt from a judge in a future hearing.
In many instances, it will make sense for support-paying parents to inform recipients that they have to file a Modification for Child Support because of the job loss. Remember the recipient parent is counting on support for the child and the child still has needs and expenses. Moreover, the recipient parent may be suffering a job reduction or job loss too.
What Happens if Child Support Was Deducted from the Payor’s Paycheck?
In Florida, many parents pay child support through “income wage deduction” administered through the Florida Department of Revenue (“DOR”). If the support-paying parent is laid off or otherwise loses his or her job, DOR-collected child support payments are likely to stop immediately. However, it is important for child support-paying parents to recognize that their child support obligation does not go away just because DOR no longer has a paycheck to draw from. Child support arrears will continue to accrue for the parent – with continued exposure for a Motion for Contempt – until and unless a court orders a reduction.
In Florida, child support paying parents can generally only obtain a retroactive reduction in child support going back to the date the party served his or her Motion for Modification on the recipient. This is why it is so important for child support paying parents to file a Motion for Modification immediately after losing their job. Although retroactive relief from child support is not automatically available going back to the date of the modification, the lack of immediate access to courthouses during the coronavirus crisis is likely to result in more judges ordering retroactive relief once courts re-open. Perhaps more importantly, parents who fail to file a Motion for Modification may lose the opportunity to seek retroactive relief at all.
Are Unemployment Benefits Subject to Child Support?
The Florida Child Support Guidelines Florida Statute Section 61.30 include unemployment benefits as a source of income from which child support can be paid. Indeed, in many cases in which a parent becomes unemployed, child support is simply re-calculated under the Guidelines based on the amount of weekly unemployment the paying parent receives.
It is important to note that the federal government, as well as individual states, appear to be reacting quickly to the impending employment crisis by beefing up unemployment benefits in a variety of ways. This might mean larger unemployment checks or faster processing time. As noted above, it is important for support paying parents to remember that their child support obligation is not automatically reduced because they begin receiving unemployment.
Don’t Pay Nothing: Avoiding Pitfalls and Traps After Job Loss
Litigants often ask attorneys, “how much support should I pay?” after experiencing a decrease in income. The right answer to this question varies from case to case. If a parent truly has no income or cash resources, then paying any amount of child support may be impossible following a job loss. If a parent is receiving unemployment, continuing to pay the prior child support order may be impossible, but voluntarily paying an appropriate amount of his or her unemployment benefits as child support based on the Guidelines formula is often advisable.
What is almost never advisable for parents who have lost a job is to pay nothing to the other parent (unless the paying party can demonstrate through financial records that he or she is truly broke). Even a small weekly or monthly payment is almost always better than paying no child support at all when it comes to gaining the favor of your judge. Moreover, a child support recipient is much more likely cooperate if he or she feels that the paying party acted fairly following his or her job loss.
It is impossible to speak in absolutes when it comes to what steps support paying parties should take following a job loss. Every case has its own history, unique personalities, and judge. In many cases, it will make sense for a parent who experiences job loss to be transparent with the recipient about when the employment ended, when unemployment is likely to start, and how much of the unemployment benefit the recipient will receive as child support. In other cases, parties will need to be cautious about over-sharing detailed information.
In this time of a crisis that has never been seen before try to be kind and mindful of what people are experiencing.
To discuss child support or other family law issues contact Debora A. Diaz, Esq., at 727-846-1802. Attorney Diaz concentrates only on Divorce and Family Law matters. She is also a Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator.
Written by Debora A. Diaz, Esq.