Anyone have advice on a modification of child support in Fl. I am representing myself as all my retainer went to defend myself for emergency child custody hearing after I filed for modification. I have a final hearing, but have noticed in my last two hearings I was unable to speak, I guess because I am self-represented?

Xena knows more about Fl child support than Florida does. Just hang on and wait for her to answer. (didn't want youto think that you were being ignored.)

Anyone have advice on a modification of child support in Fl. I am representing myself as all my retainer went to defend myself for emergency child custody hearing after I filed for modification. I have a final hearing, but have noticed in my last two hearings I was unable to speak, I guess because I am self-represented?
In order to help you I'll need to know some things, so I hope you don't mind answering a few questions:

1. Are you the mother or the father?

2. Has the custody matter been closed, with a court order for permanent custody? If so, who has custody? Who originally had legal custody?

3.Was the modification you referred to a modification of CS, custody, or both?

4.What were the last 2 hearings concerning?

5. What is the final hearing set for- CS, custody, or both?

6. Is the Fl DOR CSE involved with you case?

There are some things I can help you with before you answer those questions, I am going to post the links to the sites for various Florida laws in case you don't have them already:

The Fl. statutes: www.flsenate.gov/STATUTES chapters 61, 88 and 409 are the relevant laws.

The Fl. Rules of Civil Procedure: http://phonl.com/fl_law/rules/frcp

The Fl Family Law Rules of Procedure: http://phonl.com/fl_law/rules/famlawrules

Family law forms and other info: www.flcourts.org

I look forward to your answers so that I can help you further.
Xena :)

BTW- thanks for the compliment mommyof4.

I will try to make this as short and sweet as possible. I am the custodial parent of my son. In the initial divorce I took a deviation (about $200.00 less) in cs because of the amount of equity in marital home. Father was to be visiting 3 times a month. That was in 2001. Father is a musician who works out of town due to tours and various gigs. Visitation became very sporadic when in town, as father used visitation as a punishment to child when they would disagree. By 2004 my obligation of equity had be payed. Not to mention my son would not see father for weeks sometimes months at a time. Summer of 2004 asked father about braces for child, father told child that he was not paying for braces because I'm the one with the "F'd" up teeth, not him, with that my son told him he was sick for saying that and that resulted in my ex turning the vehicle around, bringing him back home after 5 minutes and threw his bag in road. Last straw (as this is one of MANY emotional abuses my son has had to deal with. Called parent on that day was told by father that him and son would be taking a brake and he would be contacting a lawyer to severe his ties with child. I finally filed for a modification, asking for cs to go back to guidelines and for half of the braces for child. In the meantime, he convinced my son that he should live with father (not blaming child, as he is just normal in wanting approval from dad, very hurt but not blaming him). Then came the Emergency hearing for custody. It went before judge and was denied without any of my proof or witnesses needed. Thank God! Judge did recommend counsiling for entire family together or seperate. Father was to pick up child on hearing day. Father would not answer phone for son, son questioning why and starting to see light on his own. Two weeks later son goes for visit at 3:00p.m. At 6:00 get phone call from child in hysterics " Mom come get me my dad says he is going to call cops on me." I live 2 hours away. Dad gets on phone and proceeds to tell me he wants nothing to do with child so on and so-on. My child is 15, works in summer at fast food place ,on the honor roll all year long.
1st hearing was case managment this is where my attorney has withdrawn, because of money I already spent 3,000. (my retainer for modifacation went for defending myself against custody heaing.) was told to go to mediation and father had until mediation day to provide his financial info for discovery. Which was already 7 months after asked. Mediation went like this I in one room him in another, spoke with mediator she went to other side for 1 minute came back and said father left mad (no one knows why) his attorney came into my room to finish mediation I was told Father wants a reduction, me to pay his atty. bills and would not be paying for braces as he feels these are luxary and I am extorting money from him and there is no compromise to these statements. Also no discovery. I called magistrates office for another hearing regarding discovery was told by his atty it was in mail. 3 weeks later finally received it and this is what it said. My ex is a musician who has 10 albums out on 2 different recording labels, merchandise for each of these albums, tours for each of these albums U.S. and Europe. has a mortgage in his name alone for approx. 100,000. a 2005 truck that is free and clear, a motorcycle free and clear has maintained an attorney thru all this and makes 13,000 a year (Just the right amount to keep cs where it is.) Discovery is a legal tax return prepared by H&R but does not include any money from tours or merchandise or royalties from one of the record companies. My final hearing is in 3 weeks I have lots of computer printed quotes about money from him, tour info, merchandise info and company name. As if you type his name there are thousands of matches on-line. In his genre of music they are considered very famous. My final hearing is about cs and braces. I filed a motion to deviate (more this time, instead of less) due to age of child, amount of time with me and fathers potential of earning. ANY HELP would be greatly appreciated, as I see you have helped others before, I am new to this forum but you seem to have a loyal following (good for you!) people like me appreciate it.

I will try to make this as short and sweet as possible. I am the custodial parent of my son. In the initial divorce I took a deviation (about $200.00 less) in cs because of the amount of equity in marital home. Father was to be visiting 3 times a month. That was in 2001. Father is a musician who works out of town due to tours and various gigs. Visitation became very sporadic when in town, as father used visitation as a punishment to child when they would disagree. By 2004 my obligation of equity had be payed. Not to mention my son would not see father for weeks sometimes months at a time. Summer of 2004 asked father about braces for child, father told child that he was not paying for braces because I'm the one with the "F'd" up teeth, not him, with that my son told him he was sick for saying that and that resulted in my ex turning the vehicle around, bringing him back home after 5 minutes and threw his bag in road. Last straw (as this is one of MANY emotional abuses my son has had to deal with. Called parent on that day was told by father that him and son would be taking a brake and he would be contacting a lawyer to severe his ties with child. I finally filed for a modification, asking for cs to go back to guidelines and for half of the braces for child. In the meantime, he convinced my son that he should live with father (not blaming child, as he is just normal in wanting approval from dad, very hurt but not blaming him). Then came the Emergency hearing for custody. It went before judge and was denied without any of my proof or witnesses needed. Thank God! Judge did recommend counsiling for entire family together or seperate. Father was to pick up child on hearing day. Father would not answer phone for son, son questioning why and starting to see light on his own. Two weeks later son goes for visit at 3:00p.m. At 6:00 get phone call from child in hysterics " Mom come get me my dad says he is going to call cops on me." I live 2 hours away. Dad gets on phone and proceeds to tell me he wants nothing to do with child so on and so-on. My child is 15, works in summer at fast food place ,on the honor roll all year long.
1st hearing was case managment this is where my attorney has withdrawn, because of money I already spent 3,000. (my retainer for modifacation went for defending myself against custody heaing.) was told to go to mediation and father had until mediation day to provide his financial info for discovery. Which was already 7 months after asked. Mediation went like this I in one room him in another, spoke with mediator she went to other side for 1 minute came back and said father left mad (no one knows why) his attorney came into my room to finish mediation I was told Father wants a reduction, me to pay his atty. bills and would not be paying for braces as he feels these are luxary and I am extorting money from him and there is no compromise to these statements. Also no discovery. I called magistrates office for another hearing regarding discovery was told by his atty it was in mail. 3 weeks later finally received it and this is what it said. My ex is a musician who has 10 albums out on 2 different recording labels, merchandise for each of these albums, tours for each of these albums U.S. and Europe. has a mortgage in his name alone for approx. 100,000. a 2005 truck that is free and clear, a motorcycle free and clear has maintained an attorney thru all this and makes 13,000 a year (Just the right amount to keep cs where it is.) Discovery is a legal tax return prepared by H&R but does not include any money from tours or merchandise or royalties from one of the record companies. My final hearing is in 3 weeks I have lots of computer printed quotes about money from him, tour info, merchandise info and company name. As if you type his name there are thousands of matches on-line. In his genre of music they are considered very famous. My final hearing is about cs and braces. I filed a motion to deviate (more this time, instead of less) due to age of child, amount of time with me and fathers potential of earning. ANY HELP would be greatly appreciated, as I see you have helped others before, I am new to this forum but you seem to have a loyal following (good for you!) people like me appreciate it.
Read Florida family Law Rule 12.285 for all the info on what is required to be disclosed. Has your ex served you with copies of ALL the required documents? (also, if you request more, you'll need to make sure that you have served him with ALL the required documents).

Unfortunately, the computer quotes, tour info, merchandise info, and company name isn't going to be enough to prove undisclosed income. Basically he'll be able to claim that all those things aren't actually bringing in any profits (after the costs associated with all of those). You will need to find a way to PROVE, with documentation that he has income that he hasn't claimed on his taxes. That's not an easy thing to do, and it might take a long time to prove. Unfortunately, the fact that you can get thousands of matches by typing his name isn't going to mean anything either. To give an example- I typed in my name and got back over 100 thousand results, I did find out tho that a woman with the same name as me is a multi-millionaire, so someone could look at that and make the claim that I'm wealthy when I'm not. (wish I was tho).

Do you have any kind of journal or proof of how often ex gets visits? That will go a long way in proving that your child spends more time with you than with Dad.

The best advise I can give you right now is to read up on the laws, hire a court reporter (they cost about $50.00 for a 30 minute hearing) and go into court totally prepared.

Get a 3 ring binder with pockets, label each pocket with the issues you want to present, then arrange your documentation accordingly. It helps alot if in the front you type out an outline of what you want to say because it's very easy to get sidetracked and nervous in court.

I hope this helps, and good luck.
Xena :)

In your opinion, would I maybe be better off with a trial instead of final hearing? As I at least would be able to speak at a trial. I also filed a motion to deviate I did not put an amount of money that I wanted more then guideline should I have?

In your opinion, would I maybe be better off with a trial instead of final hearing? As I at least would be able to speak at a trial. I also filed a motion to deviate I did not put an amount of money that I wanted more then guideline should I have?
I'm not quite sure what you are referring to when you say "trial". In Florida there aren't any "trials" as such in family law matters. The hearings are always held only in front of a Judge, or a hearing officer (magistrate) in closed chambers, and never with a jury.

You will be able to speak at any hearing that you are a pro-se litigant in. If you feel like you aren't being allowed to say anything you'll need to speak up in the hearing, for instance- "your honor, I am a pro-se litigant and I'd like to speak also please" and then BRIEFLY tell what is the MOST important facts firsdt. I know it's hard to do because you feel so overwhelmed, but it's something you need to learn to do without an attorney.

The motion to deviate doesn't have a space on there for a specific amount to be requested. The statutes state that the court can deviate from the guidelines (up or down) by up to 5% without a written finding, and up to 10% with a written finding. Usually the court cannot deviate more than 10% unless it is a VERY unusual case.

I hope evrything goes well for you. If you have any more questions I'll be glad to help, but my husband, who's a long distance truck driver is home now until Saturday evening, so I won't be posting again until then.
Xena :)

thanks so much for your help. I am in process of writing a statement that I will read at hearing to avoid running off subject. I was wondering if you knew of any statues or cases to cite about hiding money, since I cannot (no time) subpeona records from booking and merchandise agents.

thanks so much for your help. I am in process of writing a statement that I will read at hearing to avoid running off subject. I was wondering if you knew of any statues or cases to cite about hiding money, since I cannot (no time) subpeona records from booking and merchandise agents.
There isn't any specific statutes pertaining to "hiding money" and I really don't know of much case law on it right off hand. You can try the link for the fl courts and I believe that they have a link to some case law. Other than that I don't know of anywhere on line to research case law for free. I did all my research at our local law library at the courthouse.

You can always request a continuance when you go to court so that you'll have time to serve the subpoenas. In the family law forms there are forms that can be used to subpoena documents from a non party, check those out.

I have a question regarding FL state law: My husband's court documents specifically state that his child support payments end at the age of majority for his child from a previous marriage. That child SHOULD have graduated at the age of 18, but his mother arbitrarily decided to have him repeat a grade when she regained custody of him after he had already successfully completed that grade in the custody of his father in another city. The father was not consulted on this decision, even though the court documents also stipulate that educational matters were to be decided jointly, as the parent have joint custody. Is there any scenario where he would be obligated to continue paying child support past the age of 18? If so, is the clock ticking on when a modification of the original court order would have to be petitioned in order for support to continue? Could such a petition be filed AFTER he turns 18 and made retroactive? What are the father's legal rights in this regard? Any credible insight and guidance would be most appreciated.

I have a question regarding FL state law: My husband's court documents specifically state that his child support payments end at the age of majority for his child from a previous marriage. That child SHOULD have graduated at the age of 18, but his mother arbitrarily decided to have him repeat a grade when she regained custody of him after he had already successfully completed that grade in the custody of his father in another city. The father was not consulted on this decision, even though the court documents also stipulate that educational matters were to be decided jointly, as the parent have joint custody. Is there any scenario where he would be obligated to continue paying child support past the age of 18? If so, is the clock ticking on when a modification of the original court order would have to be petitioned in order for support to continue? Could such a petition be filed AFTER he turns 18 and made retroactive? What are the father's legal rights in this regard? Any credible insight and guidance would be most appreciated.

If the father can prove that the child repeated a grade at mom's request he can file to terminate CS at age 18. Also, if the child won't be graduating until AFTER age 19, the CS cannot continue past age 18.

Case law is that a CP can petition for CS to continue anytime from when child turns 18 to age 19, but the best way is to file to modify about 3 months before the child's 18th birthday.

Thank you so much for such a prompt response! Wow.

Are you saying that if child turns 19 during his/her senior year but prior to graduation, that child support would end at 18?

Thank you so much for such a prompt response! Wow.

Are you saying that if child turns 19 during his/her senior year but prior to graduation, that child support would end at 18?

Yes, both the statutes and case law is that CS cannot legally continue (be enforced by the court) past age 19. The only exception is when a child is legally disabled. Read Florida statute 743.07(2) for more detail. www.flsenate.gov/STATUTES