How Does Child Support Work in Florida: Amount and Enforcement

Child support in Florida works through a statewide formula set out in section 61.30 of the Florida Statutes. The formula combines both parents’ net incomes, applies a schedule tied to the number of children, and produces a presumptive monthly amount that each parent covers in proportion to their share of the combined income. Courts follow this guideline figure in nearly every case, payments run through a central state processor, and the Department of Revenue enforces orders when a parent falls behind. The rules apply the same way whether the parents were ever married.

For unmarried parents, paternity has to be established before a support order can issue. That happens through a voluntary acknowledgment signed by both parents or through a court case that can include genetic testing.¹ For married parents, support is handled inside the divorce.

How the Amount Is Calculated

The calculation starts with each parent’s gross income. From gross, the statute allows specific deductions: federal and state income taxes, Social Security, mandatory union dues, mandatory retirement contributions, health insurance premiums other than coverage for the child in the case, and any court-ordered support the parent actually pays for other children. What remains is net income.²

The two parents’ net incomes are then added together. That combined figure is matched against a statutory schedule that sets a minimum monthly need for the number of children involved. Each parent covers a share equal to their share of the combined income. If one parent brings in 65 percent of the combined net, that parent is responsible for 65 percent of the calculated need.

Three costs are added on top of the base amount before the split: the child’s health insurance premium, uncovered medical expenses, and childcare costs a parent needs in order to work or attend school. These add-ons can move the final number substantially.

When combined monthly net income runs above $10,000, the schedule stops and a percentage takes over for the portion above that ceiling. It is 5 percent for one child, 7.5 percent for two, and rises to 12.5 percent at six children.²

When a Judge Can Deviate

A judge can move the guideline number up or down by 5 percent without explaining why. Anything beyond 5 percent requires a written finding that the guideline amount would be unjust. Factors that support a larger deviation include the child’s special medical or educational needs, the standard of living before the parents separated, and the financial resources of each parent.²

Imputed Income

A parent who quits work or takes a lower-paying job to shrink a support obligation does not get the benefit of that reduced income. The court can impute income based on what the parent could reasonably earn given education, work history, qualifications, and the local job market. The parent asking for imputation has to show the unemployment or underemployment is voluntary and that suitable work is available. The analysis has two steps: whether the income loss was voluntary, and whether the parent made a real effort to find comparable work.

How Time-Sharing Changes the Number

Once a parent has the child for at least 20 percent of overnights in a year, the calculation shifts to reflect the shared schedule. The threshold works out to roughly 73 overnights annually. Below it, the standard calculation applies without any time-sharing adjustment. Because a handful of overnights can move the number in either direction, this is one of the most contested pieces of a Florida support case.²

How Payments Are Made and Received

Most payments flow through the Florida State Disbursement Unit, which processes and tracks every dollar. The paying parent can send funds by electronic check, debit or credit card, phone, mail, cash at authorized locations, or third-party services. Electronic check through the SDU portal has no fee; card payments usually carry a processing charge.³

The receiving parent gets paid electronically. Florida law no longer allows paper checks to the recipient; the choice is direct deposit into a bank account or a smiONE Visa prepaid card. Payments typically land about two business days after the SDU processes them.⁴

Income deduction orders are the default. When a court enters a support order, it also enters a separate order directing the paying parent’s employer to withhold the support amount from each paycheck and send it to the SDU. The court skips the income deduction order only if both parents ask it to and the judge finds that skipping it serves the child’s best interests.⁵

Retroactive Support

A Florida court can order support going back as far as 24 months before the petition was filed. In an initial paternity or support case, the judge has discretion to reach back to the point when the parents stopped living together with the child. The court uses the guideline schedule in effect at the hearing, and the paying parent can show what they actually earned during the retroactive period. Anything already paid for the child during that time is credited against the total, and the court can order the balance paid on an installment plan.²

How Long Support Lasts

Florida support orders must include a specific end date, and that date is the child’s 18th birthday. Support continues past 18 only if the child is still in high school, performing in good faith, and expected to graduate before turning 19. It can continue indefinitely for a child with a disability that prevents self-sufficiency.⁶

Because orders now carry a built-in termination date, many end automatically. Older orders without a clear end date do not. Closing a Child Support Program case is not the same as ending the underlying court order; the order itself has to be terminated through the Child Support Program or by motion in court.⁶

Orders entered on or after October 1, 2010 must also include a step-down schedule showing how the monthly amount drops as each child ages out. That prevents a paying parent from continuing to pay the full multi-child figure after the oldest child turns 18.⁷

Changing an Existing Order

Either parent can ask for a modification when circumstances change after the original order. The change has to be substantial, permanent, and involuntary. Job loss, a significant income increase, a change in the child’s medical needs, and a real shift in the time-sharing arrangement are the common triggers.⁸

Florida sets a numerical threshold. The gap between the current order and what the guidelines would produce today has to be at least 15 percent or $50 per month, whichever is greater, before the guideline difference alone counts as a substantial change.² If the Department of Revenue is managing the case and finds a difference of at least 10 percent (and at least $25), it will start a modification review on its own.

You can request a review through the Child Support Program or file a petition directly in circuit court. The parent asking for the change carries the burden. A voluntary career change or a decision to take a lower-paying job will not qualify, and the court may impute income at the prior level instead of lowering the obligation.

What Happens If a Parent Doesn’t Pay

The Florida Department of Revenue enforces support orders and has a stack of collection tools. Income withholding is the first and most common, but enforcement escalates from there:⁹

Federal and state tax refunds can be intercepted and applied to arrears.
Florida lottery prizes of $600 or more are offset against child support arrears before payout, and child support takes priority over other state debts.¹⁰
The state can suspend a delinquent parent’s driver’s license, and in some cases professional or recreational licenses.
A judgment for unpaid support becomes a lien on any Florida real property the parent owns.
The Department of Revenue reports the name, Social Security number, and overdue amount to credit reporting agencies.¹¹
Arrears of $2,500 or more block passport issuance and renewal through the U.S. State Department.¹²

A parent who does not pay can be held in civil contempt. In Florida, civil contempt for nonpayment can carry up to five months and 29 days in jail, but only after the court finds the parent has the ability to pay and is choosing not to. Judges usually set a purge amount the parent can pay to avoid custody.

Arrears also accrue interest at the statutory rate set quarterly by Florida’s Chief Financial Officer under section 55.03. As of the first quarter of 2026, that rate is 8.44 percent per year.¹³ The rate resets each quarter, so a long-standing balance compounds at whatever rate applies from period to period.

Federal criminal exposure enters the picture when a child lives in a different state. Under 18 U.S.C. section 228, willfully failing to pay support for a child in another state is a federal misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in prison. It becomes a felony carrying up to two years when the parent crosses state lines to avoid support that has been past due for more than a year or exceeds $5,000, or when the unpaid amount tops $10,000 or has gone unpaid for more than two years.¹⁴

Bankruptcy does not clear child support. Federal law excludes domestic support obligations from discharge in both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13, and support gets first-priority status among unsecured debts in the bankruptcy itself. Current payments, past-due amounts, and interest on arrears all survive the filing.¹⁵ Enforcement actions like wage withholding and license suspension continue during the bankruptcy.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Code 742.10 – Establishment of Paternity for Children Born Out of Wedlock
2
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 61.30 – Child Support Guidelines; Retroactive Child Support
3
Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Child Support Program – Make Payments
4
Florida Department of Revenue. Receive Child Support Payments
5
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 61.1301 – Income Deduction Orders
6
Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Child Support Program – Case Closure
7
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 61.13 – Support of Children; Parenting and Time-Sharing
8
Florida Department of Revenue. Changing a Support Order
9
Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Child Support Program
10
Online Sunshine. Florida Code 24.115 – Payment of Prizes
11
Florida Senate. Florida Code 61.1354 – Sharing of Information Between Consumer Reporting Agencies and the IV-D Agency
12
U.S. Department of State. Pay Your Child Support Before Applying for a Passport
13
MyFloridaCFO. Judgment Interest Rates
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 228 – Failure to Pay Legal Child Support Obligations
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S.C. 523 – Exceptions to Discharge