If you have ever looked at a child support order and thought, “How did the judge arrive at that number?”, you are asking the same question a Florida appellate court asked at the end of 2025. In Webking v. Webking, the First District Court of Appeal reversed a child support award, reversed a retroactive support award, narrowed an expense-sharing provision, and threw out a contempt finding. The father in that case was representing himself, and he still won meaningful relief. He won it because the orders against him were missing findings that Florida law requires judges to make and to write down.
That is a hopeful lesson, and it is one that any Tampa divorce lawyer will tell you carries real weight. Florida family court is not a place where a judge can simply announce a number. When support is ordered, and especially when someone is held in contempt for failing to pay it, the court has to explain the basis for its decision on the face of the order. When it does not, the order is vulnerable.
This post walks through what happened, what the court decided, and what it means for anyone dealing with child support, contempt proceedings, or a divorce in the Tampa Bay area. Plain English throughout.
The Case in Plain English: Webking v. Webking
Webking v. Webking, Case No. 1D2023-0771, was decided by Florida’s First District Court of Appeal on December 31, 2025. It was a per curiam opinion, meaning it was issued by the panel as a whole rather than signed by a single judge. Judges Lewis, M.K. Thomas, and Long all agreed.
Sean Webking, the father, represented himself on appeal. Emily Webking, the mother, was represented by Jerry L. Rumph, Jr., of Brooks Law in Tallahassee.
The underlying order was a Final Judgment on Paternity, Time-sharing, and Child Support. The father challenged it on several grounds. He also asked the appellate court to review two later orders the trial court entered while his appeal was pending: an order finding him in contempt for not paying child support, and an income withholding order.
That second piece deserves a moment of explanation, because it surprises people. When a Florida family case is on appeal, the trial court does not go completely dormant. Under Florida’s appellate rules, the trial judge keeps authority over certain ongoing matters, including support and enforcement. A specific provision of those rules then lets the appealing party ask the appellate court to review those new orders within the existing appeal, rather than starting a whole separate appeal from scratch. That is exactly what the father did here, and the appellate court granted his request.
The opinion does not tell us the parties’ incomes, the parenting schedule, or the reasons behind the trial court’s rulings. It is focused on a narrower question: did the trial court’s written orders contain what Florida law requires them to contain?
What the First District Decided: Three Rulings Worth Understanding
The court affirmed the final judgment in most respects. But it reversed on three points, and each one teaches something useful.
Ruling One: No Finding on Ability to Pay Means the Support Award Cannot Stand
The court reversed both the child support award and the retroactive child support award. The reason was that the trial court had not made the required finding that the father actually had the ability to pay the amount ordered.
This is a bedrock requirement in Florida. The court pointed to Edwards v. Sanders, 622 So. 2d 587 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993), which held that a support order must be reversed where the trial court failed to find that the paying parent had a present ability to pay. It also cited Tinoco v. Lugo, 342 So. 3d 845 (Fla. 2d DCA 2022), where the Second District reversed and remanded because the order lacked findings about the parties’ net incomes and their respective ability to pay.
Why does the law insist on this? Because Florida child support is not a number a judge invents. It is calculated under a statutory guidelines framework built on the parents’ net incomes and the number of overnights each parent has with the child. Deviations from the guideline amount are permitted in certain circumstances, but they have to be explained. Without findings about income and ability to pay, an appellate court has no way to check whether the math was done correctly, and the parent on the receiving end of the order has no way to understand it.
Retroactive support raises the stakes further. Florida law allows a court to order support reaching back to a period preceding the filing of the petition, subject to statutory limits. That can translate into a substantial lump sum. A number that large, arrived at without findings, is exactly the kind of ruling appellate courts send back.
Ruling Two: An Open-Ended Extracurricular Expense Clause Was Narrowed
The final judgment required the father to pay 60% of the costs of the child’s extracurricular activities. He argued, both in the trial court and on appeal, that this language was too open-ended. As written, it could obligate him to fund any activity the mother chose to enroll the child in, on her own, regardless of cost and regardless of whether he could afford it.
The appellate court agreed with him. Rather than striking the provision, it construed it narrowly: the 60% obligation applies only to extracurricular activities that the parties agree upon under their shared parental responsibility. The court relied on Gordon v. Gordon, 63 So. 3d 824 (Fla. 5th DCA 2011), where a nearly identical provision requiring a father to cover 61.47% of extracurricular costs was read the same limited way.
Shared parental responsibility is Florida’s default arrangement. It means both parents retain full parental rights and are expected to confer with each other and jointly decide major matters affecting the child’s welfare. A clause that lets one parent unilaterally create financial obligations for the other sits uneasily with that framework, and this decision reflects that.
There is a preservation point buried in this ruling that is easy to skim past. The opinion notes that the father made this argument in the trial court, “as he did below.” That phrase is doing real work. Florida appellate courts generally will not consider an argument that was never raised with the trial judge. Because he had raised it, the door stayed open.
Ruling Three: A Contempt Order Must Recite the Facts Behind It
The most consequential ruling for many readers concerns contempt. The trial court had found the father in willful contempt for failing to pay child support under the final judgment. The appellate court reversed that finding.
The problem was not that the father definitely could pay or definitely could not. The problem was that the contempt order did not recite the facts on which the court’s finding of present ability to pay was based.
Florida’s family law rules are specific here. A rule governing civil contempt in support matters requires an order finding someone in contempt to include a finding that the person had the present ability to pay, along with a recital of the facts supporting that finding. The court cited Browne v. Blanton-Browne, 199 So. 3d 565 (Fla. 1st DCA 2016), which described the same requirements, and Vazquez v. Vazquez, 827 So. 2d 384 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002), which read the rule to require the trial court to identify the sources from which the person could have obtained funds to comply.
That last piece matters enormously. It is not enough for a judge to conclude that someone could have paid. The order has to point to where the money was supposed to come from. This requirement exists because civil contempt in Florida can carry serious consequences, including incarceration, and a person cannot be punished for failing to do something they were genuinely unable to do. The recital requirement forces that determination into the open where it can be reviewed.
What “Affirmed in Part, Reversed in Part, and Remanded” Actually Means
The court affirmed the final judgment in all other respects, reversed on the points above, and remanded for further proceedings.
Remand does not mean the father wins. It does not erase his support obligation or guarantee a lower number. It means the case goes back to the trial court to redo the parts that were reversed, this time with the required findings. The trial court could conceivably reach a similar result, provided it makes and explains the findings the law requires. What the father gained was a correct process, and often that produces a different outcome.
Does a Tallahassee Appellate Ruling Apply to a Hillsborough County Divorce?
A reasonable question if you live in Tampa. The First District Court of Appeal covers Florida’s panhandle and north Florida. Tampa and Hillsborough County fall under the Second District Court of Appeal. A First District decision is not binding on a Hillsborough County judge; it is persuasive authority.
But look at the authority the First District relied on. Tinoco v. Lugo is a Second District decision, from the very court whose rulings do bind Tampa-area trial courts, and it stands for the same proposition: without findings about net income and ability to pay, a support order gets reversed. The contempt requirements come from a statewide family law rule that applies in every Florida circuit, from Escambia County to Miami-Dade.
So the principles here are not regional. A Tampa family law judge operates under the same rule when entering a contempt order and the same guidelines framework when calculating support.
Why a Paternity Case Is Relevant to Your Divorce
Webking was a paternity case, not a dissolution of marriage. The parties were establishing paternity, time-sharing, and support rather than dividing a marriage.
The legal requirements at issue, though, cross over completely. Florida applies the same child support guidelines whether the parents were married or not. The same shared parental responsibility framework governs both. The same contempt rule applies to enforcement of a support obligation regardless of how it originated. If you are a divorcing parent in Hillsborough County with a child support order, the rulings in this case speak directly to your situation.
Divorce does add a layer that paternity cases lack, primarily marital asset division and, in many cases, alimony. Those determinations carry their own findings requirements. The theme running through all of it is the same: Florida judges have wide discretion in family cases, but that discretion has to be exercised on the record and explained in the written order.
Practical Takeaways for Your Florida Divorce or Support Case
1. Read Your Order Closely, Even If You Do Not Like Looking at It
Many people file an adverse order away without reading past the number. That is understandable and costly. Ask specific questions when you review it with your attorney. Does the order state the parties’ net incomes? Does it state that you have the ability to pay the amount ordered? If it deviates from the guideline amount, does it explain why? If it finds you in contempt, does it identify where you were supposed to find the money?
Missing findings are not a technicality in Florida family law. They are a recognized ground for reversal.
2. Put Your Financial Picture in Front of the Court Properly
A judge can only make findings based on evidence. Florida family cases require financial affidavits, and those affidavits, along with supporting documentation like pay records, tax returns, and bank statements, are what a court uses to determine income and ability to pay.
If your financial circumstances have changed, if your income is irregular, if you are self-employed, or if you have significant unavoidable expenses, that information needs to be presented clearly and supported by documents. Vague testimony rarely produces the detailed findings that protect you later.
3. Watch for Open-Ended Financial Obligations in Your Parenting Plan
The extracurricular activities ruling has practical value for anyone negotiating or reviewing a parenting plan. Language that assigns you a percentage of an unbounded category of future expenses deserves scrutiny before you sign anything.
Better drafting builds in structure. Require mutual written agreement before an expense is incurred. Set an annual cap. Specify how disagreements get resolved. Define what counts as an extracurricular activity. The father in Webking had to litigate through a final judgment and an appeal to get the protection that clearer drafting would have given him at the outset.
The same principle applies to other shared costs common in Tampa family law cases: uncovered medical expenses, private school tuition, travel for time-sharing exchanges, tutoring, and summer camp.
4. If You Cannot Pay, Do Not Simply Stop Paying
This deserves emphasis. Falling behind and going quiet is the most common route to a contempt motion, wage garnishment, and mounting arrears. A support obligation stays in force until a court changes it. Missed payments do not disappear.
Florida law permits child support modification when there has been a substantial change in circumstances, but modification generally operates from the date the petition is filed, not from the date your circumstances actually changed. Waiting six months to file can mean six months of arrears that a court cannot retroactively erase. If you lose your job or your income drops significantly, that is the moment to speak with a Florida divorce attorney about filing.
5. Raise Your Arguments in the Trial Court
The father’s extracurricular argument succeeded partly because he had made it below. Florida appellate courts generally will not entertain a legal argument raised for the first time on appeal. If something in a proposed order concerns you, say so at the hearing, in writing, or through a timely motion. A motion for rehearing can be particularly useful when a judgment is missing findings the law requires, because it gives the trial judge the chance to correct the omission and preserves the issue if the judge does not.
6. Understand That the Trial Court Stays Active During an Appeal
Webking is a useful illustration. While the appeal was pending, the trial court entered a contempt order and an income withholding order. Filing an appeal does not freeze your family case. Support enforcement continues, and new orders can be entered against you. There is a mechanism for getting those newer orders reviewed within your pending appeal, but it requires prompt action and familiarity with the procedure.
If You Are Facing a Contempt Motion for Unpaid Child Support
This is one of the most frightening moments in a family case, so it is worth setting out how the process actually works.
In a civil contempt proceeding for support in Florida, the existence of a prior support order and a failure to pay generally establish the moving party’s initial case. The burden then shifts to the person who owes support to raise the question of ability to pay. If the court finds willful failure to pay despite a present ability to do so, it can impose sanctions, and civil contempt sanctions in support cases can include incarceration with a purge provision, meaning a specified amount that ends the confinement.
Here is why Webking matters so much in this context. The court cannot simply assert that you had the ability to pay. The written order must contain that finding and recite the facts supporting it, including identifying the sources from which you could have obtained the funds. An order that skips that step is subject to reversal.
Practically, this means two things. First, if you truly cannot pay, come to the hearing prepared to prove it, with documentation of your income, expenses, assets, job search, and any medical or employment circumstances. Silence does not help you. Second, if you have already been held in contempt, have an attorney examine the order itself. The deficiency that won relief in this case was visible on the face of the document.
Talk to a Tampa Divorce Lawyer at The McKinney Law Group
Child support, time-sharing, and enforcement are areas where the details of a written order shape years of your life. A number set without proper findings can follow you for a decade. A vaguely drafted expense clause can generate conflict every few months. A contempt finding can put your liberty at risk.
At The McKinney Law Group, we help clients throughout the Tampa Bay area handle these matters with attention to exactly the kind of detail this case turned on: making sure the evidence supporting your financial position is actually before the court, that proposed orders contain the findings Florida law requires, and that the language in your parenting plan will not create problems later.
If you are in the middle of a divorce, facing a support or contempt hearing, or trying to understand an order you have already received, you do not have to work through it alone. Talking to a Tampa divorce lawyer early is often what makes the difference between a manageable situation and a costly one.
Contact The McKinney Law Group today to schedule a confidential consultation with a Tampa divorce lawyer. We will review your situation, explain your options in language that makes sense, and help you decide on a path forward.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is child support calculated in Florida?
Florida uses statutory child support guidelines based primarily on the parents’ combined net incomes and the number of overnights the child spends with each parent. Health insurance and childcare costs factor in as well. A court may deviate from the guideline amount in certain circumstances, but it must explain the reason for doing so.
What does “present ability to pay” mean?
It refers to whether you actually have the resources to pay the amount ordered, based on your income and available assets. Florida courts are required to make this finding before ordering support and before holding someone in contempt for nonpayment. As Webking shows, an order missing that finding can be reversed.
Can I go to jail for not paying child support in Florida?
Incarceration is possible through civil contempt, but only under specific conditions. The court must find that you had the present ability to pay and willfully failed to do so, must recite the facts supporting that finding in its written order, and must set a purge amount. If you genuinely cannot pay, that is a defense you need to raise and support with evidence.
What is retroactive child support?
It is support covering a period before the current order was entered, reaching back to a statutorily limited window preceding the filing of the petition. It can amount to a significant sum, which is why courts are required to make proper findings when awarding it.
Do I have to pay for extracurricular activities my co-parent signs our child up for?
It depends on how your order reads. Webking and the Gordon case it relied on suggest that Florida courts will construe such provisions as covering only activities the parents agree upon under shared parental responsibility, rather than anything one parent chooses unilaterally. Clear drafting from the beginning avoids the fight entirely.
What should I do if I lose my job and cannot afford my child support payment?
Speak with a Florida divorce attorney about filing a petition for modification right away. Modification generally runs from the filing date, so waiting can leave you with arrears that cannot be undone. Do not simply stop paying.
Does a First District Court of Appeal decision apply in Tampa?
Not as binding authority, since Hillsborough County falls under the Second District. However, the requirements discussed in this case come from a statewide family law rule and from principles the Second District itself has applied, including in Tinoco v. Lugo. The substance carries over.
Can I handle this without a lawyer, like the father in this case did?
You are permitted to represent yourself in Florida family court. The father here obtained partial relief on appeal, largely because the deficiencies in the orders were apparent from the documents themselves. That is a narrower path than it may appear, and it followed a full trial and appellate process. Most people benefit substantially from having a Tampa divorce lawyer identify these issues before an order is entered rather than years afterward.
Written by Damien McKinney, Founding Partner
Damien McKinney is the Founding Partner of The McKinney Law Group Family & Divorce Lawyers, bringing nearly two decades of experience to complex marital and family law matters. He is licensed in both Florida and North Carolina and has been repeatedly recognized as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers.