Background
The parties divorced in 2016 and initially shared equal timesharing of their child, with no child-support award. A 2018 order required the former husband to pay $225.42 twice monthly in child support.
In 2024, the former wife sought to modify child support and custody after the former husband moved permanently to Trinidad and stopped exercising timesharing. The circuit court granted her sole parental responsibility and referred child support to a hearing officer. The hearing officer treated the $8,600 monthly mortgage and household expenses paid by the former wife’s current husband as her income, along with her stated $1,500 monthly earnings, and the court adopted that recommendation.
The Court’s Holding
The Fourth District affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded. It held that the former wife’s current husband’s payment of the mortgage and other ordinary household expenses was not a payment to the former wife and therefore was not her income for child-support purposes under sections 61.30(2) and 61.046(8), Florida Statutes.
The court distinguished cases involving recurring gifts, reimbursements, or direct and in-kind payments made for a parent’s benefit. Here, the record showed the new husband was paying expenses for his own household, not making payments to the former wife. The court directed the circuit court to redetermine her income and recalculate child support, while affirming her other appellate arguments without discussion.
Key Takeaways
- Ordinary household expenses paid by a remarried parent’s new spouse are not automatically income to that parent.
- The statutory inquiry turns on whether there was a payment to the parent, including a qualifying in-kind payment or reimbursement.
- The trial court must recalculate child support without including the $8,600 in new-spouse household contributions as the former wife’s income.
Why It Matters
The decision reinforces that child-support income must be grounded in an actual payment or benefit provided to the parent, rather than simply the economic advantage of living in a household supported by a new spouse. It also preserves the distinction between ordinary spousal household spending and direct financial assistance that may properly be included in a parent’s income.