Child support becomes tricky when it is received from a past relationship.
How does the court treat child support you receive from another relationship? A recent Fifth District Court of Appeals case dealt with this issue. In Bower v. Hansman the Mother, Ms. Bower, had a child from another relationship. She also received child support for this other child. The trial court included the child support from another relationship in her income for the purposes of calculating child support for her child with Mr. Hansman.
The appellate court found this to be error. The appellate court reversed the family law trial court’s ruling stating that child support payments the mother received for her child from a previous marriage could not be included in calculating Mr. Hansman’s child support obligation for the current child. That child support Ms. Bower received for her previous child is funds that should be used to support that child only, not the new child.
The appellate court directed the family law court in Brevard County to recalculate Mr. Hansman’s child support obligation by using Ms. Bower’s correct income.
If you have questions about what amount of child support might be awarded in your family law case or require legal assistance in other areas of Family Law you may always contact Damien McKinney of The McKinney Law Group to discuss your case further. He can be reached by phone at 813-428-3400 or by e-mail at [email protected].