Consideration if a parent is a full time student when it comes to Child Support

[tampaking]

In a child support case is there any consideration if the parent is a full time student? My son and the baby’s mother are not together. My son is 17 (will be 18 later this month) and the mother is 18 today. They are both high school seniors and are both planning on going to college. They have worked together over the last year and everything has been great. During the summer or when school is out my son has his daughter 50% of the time. When school is in he gets her 2 or 3 nights a week and every other weekend. The mother has filed for state aid and they told her she has to sue for child support. My son has not gotten the paper work yet but expects it any day because the mother got a copy of the court order in the mail. Some of the wording is very harsh and makes it seem like he is a deadbeat.

[Attorney Howard Iken]

Depending on the split of overnights, the state will require child support. It is the state's way of reducing someone's dependence on tax dollars. This would have not happened if the parents chipped in to provide for all needs of the child.

The words are harsh, but no one is calling the dad a deadbeat. The wording is out of legal necessity.

Florida has a very strong policy that both parents shall support their child. And when either parent uses tax dollars for support, the assumption is that both parents are not adequately providing needed support.

Attorney Howard Iken