Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Support

In an administrative child support proceeding, income can be attributed to a parent by subpoenaing bank records. This occurred in the case Antoine v. DOR, 4D2024-0360 (Fla. 4th DCA April 30, 2025), but the father alleged he was not the owner of the bank account funds.

The Department of Revenue subpoenaed bank records of the father’s business entities and provided summaries of deposits made into the accounts. The father denied ownership of the accounts and instead stated that they belonged to his father. The administrative law judge found the accounts belonged to the father and used the summaries prepared by the Department of Revenue to determine his income at about $4,700 monthly. The father was ordered to pay retroactive support and ongoing support. He appealed.

The father argued for the first time on appeal that DOR should have taken into account that the amounts deposited into the accounts did not reflect deductions for business expenses. But because he did not make this argument at trial, the appellate court found that he did not preserve his right to appeal on this ground. However, the appellate court found merit in the father’s argument that the numbers used in the summaries were duplicative and incorrect.

The appellate court held “In his initial brief, the father showed how the deposit summaries had multiple duplicate entries. The Department did not respond to these claims, other than to say that the summaries corresponded to the deposit slips. We have examined the summaries and the bank statements with the corresponding deposit slips and conclude that the father is correct about duplicate entries. The following chart shows the yearly totals on the Department’s summary, the duplicate payments, and the total by subtracting the duplicates.” The court concluded “These errors in the total of income would significantly affect the average monthly income both for the establishment of retroactive child support as well as current child support. Thus, no competent substantial evidence supports either child support award.”

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