MODIFICATION:

Many orders and Final Judgments for Alimony, Child Support and Timesharing with the child(ren) can be modified with the right facts. There must be a substantial change in the circumstances that existed when the Alimony, Child Support or Timesharing was entered and there cannot be an agreement between the parties that the Alimony is non-modifiable. A person wishing to modify their child support should also be careful that other factors in the Child Support Guidelines have not also changed. There are times that the facts will support a Child Support modification but the Payor will actually pay more Child Support because of changes in income or health insurance costs.

There are certain parts of “Final Judgments” that can be modified if the facts support a modification. Child support, timesharing or visitation, custody and alimony are usually the types of orders that can be modified if the facts will support the modification. A party to a divorce or paternity case can usually modify if there is a “Substantial Change in Circumstances” and the change was unanticipated at the time of the entry of the “Final Judgment”. The change must usually also be permanent in nature and many times the person asking for the modification cannot cause the change that leads to the modification.

Most child support orders also require that an Income Withholding Order is issued that takes the child support out of the payor’s check. These orders used to be called Income Deduction Orders in Florida. The money is paid by the employer to a central depository in the State and then the money is paid from the depository to the receiving parent. The individual counties have agencies that receive notifications from the depository about payments and keep a record of the payment that are made.

If a person is behind on paying their child support, the amount they owe is called the arrears. The party that is supposed to receive the child support can file a Motion for Contempt to enforce their rights to receive the child support. If the Court finds that the payor is willfully not paying the child support the Court can issue a purge order and if the purge is not paid then the person can be put in jail for up to 179 days.