Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce
When one spouse is ordered to pay alimony to the other spouse in a Florida divorce case, is this payment considered in calculating child support? Usually, the monthly payment made by the paying spouse is deducted from that spouse’s income and added to the other spouse’s income in calculating child support. This was an issue in the case Eberhart v. Eberhart, 5D2024-1384 (Fla. 5th DCA March 28, 2025).
An issue in the appeal of this divorce case was the trial court’s use of gross income to calculate child support and alimony rather than net income. The evidence on the record before the trial court showed the former husband’s gross income was used, rather than his net income. Included in this error was the trial court’s failure to deduct from the former husband’s income in the child support guidelines the alimony he was required to pay the former wife. The trial court also failed to deduct from the former husband’s income alimony he is ordered to pay in another case to his other former spouse.
The appellate court concluded “Accordingly, even though no trial transcript was provided to this Court, there is error on the face of the Final Judgment warranting reversal for recalculation. We therefore affirm the Final Judgment in part and reverse in part with instructions for the trial court to recalculate the Former Husband’s alimony and child support obligations utilizing the parties’ net incomes on remand.”
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