Florida State Law
1. General Program-At-A-Glance
2. Duration Of Support
3. Statute Of Limitations
4. Support Details
1. What guideline type or method does your state use to calculate child support (for example, Income Shares Model, Percentage of Income Model, Melson Formula)? |
Income Shares Model.
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2. Does your state have any statute(s) addressing interest on arrears? If yes, indicate the amount of interest charged, any related conditions, and the statutory citation. |
Yes. The Clerk of Court calculates interest for final judgments. Interest rates on judgments are determined annually by the state's Chief Financial Officer as provided by Section 55.03, F.S. See section 61.14(6)(d), F.S.
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3. Does your state's IV-D agency calculate interest on arrears? If yes, indicate the amount of interest charged and any related conditions. |
NO.
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4. Does your state charge interest on retroactive support? If yes, indicate the amount of interest charged and any related conditions. |
No.
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5. Will your state enforce a medical debt for any uninsured portion? If yes, under what circumstances? |
No. Florida will enforce noncovered medical expenses of the minor child based on the order terms if the expense has been incurred and paid for by the obligee. See s. 409.25635, F.S. |
6. If your state has issued an order, and another IV-D agency asserts that the person/entity entitled to receive child support payments has changed from the person/entity designated in your state's order (due to a change in placement or foster care status), what does your state require in order to change the person/entity entitled to receive payments? |
The order must be amended to change the payee.
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6.1. Does it matter if the child receives TANF or Medicaid-only? If so, explain. |
No. Support is payable only to the person or entity named in the order. If a different person or entity is owed the money, the order needs to be amended.
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7. Does your state require that a custodial party, who is not one of the biological parents, have legal custody of a child before enforcing an order for support that was issued to the biological parents as the parties for non-public assistance cases? |
No.
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8. Does your state IV-D agency give the noncustodial parent credit toward child support for Auxiliary Benefits received directly by the custodial parent on behalf of a child as a result of the noncustodial parent's Social Security Retirement, Survivors, or Disability Insurance (RSDI) benefit? |
Yes.
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9. Does your state abate support? If yes, explain the circumstances and provide your statutory citation. |
A circuit judge may order abatement of support. Circumstances vary; it could be based on inability to pay, a case where the obligor has overpaid support or for other equitable reasons. Abatement is not governed by statute.
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5. Paternity/Parentage
6. Support Order Establishment
7. Income Withholding
8. Distribution
1. Does your state pass through collections (and disregard collections for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) eligibility purposes) in current assistance cases? If yes, provide the amount and explain. |
No. |
2. Does your state participate in the pass-through in former assistance cases? If yes, provide the date and explain. |
No. |
3. In former assistance cases, are federal income tax refund offset payments applied to families first (DRA distribution) or state arrears first (PRWORA distribution)? |
PRWORA. |
4. How does your state distribute payments when the noncustodial parent has arrears due to your state and another state? |
Florida disburses all current and past-due support owed to the parent who is due support and/or Florida public assistance debt before distributing payments to another state's arrears claim. If claims are made from more than one state, payments are distributed from oldest to newest according to when the claim was received. |
4.1. If there are no arrears due to your state, how does your state distribute payments when the noncustodial parent has arrears due to multiple states? |
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9. Enforcement
10. Modification And Review/Adjustment
1. How frequently does your state conduct order reviews in IV-D cases (for example, every year or every three years)? (See 45 CFR 303.8.) |
Non-public assistance cases reviewed upon request of either parent; TANF cases are reviewed automatically every three years.
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2. What is your state's modification procedure? Briefly describe. |
Upon request of either parent, the department will review support award amounts and/or medical support provisions of the order. For reviews conducted less than three years from the most recent order or less than three years from the last review, a substantial change in circumstances must be shown to warrant modification. Change of circumstances in these cases can be established if a review indicates that the support order is inconsistent with current guidelines in an amount more than 15% or $50.00 of the original support award, whichever is greater. For reviews conducted at least three years after the most recent order or most recent review, if the review indicates that the support order is inconsistent with current guidelines in an amount more than 10% or $25.00 of the original support award, whichever is greater, the order will be modified. Under Florida case law, the Department cannot proceed with a downward modification at the request of the obligor, unless a parent / caregiver or the child is receiving public assistance, or the case is already an IV-D case prior to the modification request.
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3. What are the criteria for modification under your state's guidelines (for example, a change that is more than $50 or 20% upward or downward from the current amount ordered)? |
See question 2 in this section.
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4. Which of the following criteria for demonstrating a change in circumstances apply for modifying an order? |
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4.1. The earnings of the noncustodial parent have substantially increased or decreased. |
Yes |
4.2. The earnings of the custodial parent have substantially increased or decreased. |
Yes |
4.3. The needs of a party or the child(ren) have substantially increased or decreased. |
Yes.
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4.4. The cost of living has changed. |
NO. |
4.5. The child(ren) has extraordinary medical expenses not covered by insurance. |
Yes. |
4.6. There has been a substantial change in childcare expenses. |
Yes. |
4.7. What other criteria does your state use for demonstrating a change in circumstances for modifying an order? |
The change must be permanent and for purposes of a downward modification a change in income must be involuntary.
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5. Does your state have a cost of living adjustment (COLAs) for orders? If yes, what index does your state use? (See 45 CFR 303.8(b)(1)(ii).) |
No. |
6. After learning that a parent who owes support will be incarcerated for more than 180 calendar days, does your state elect to initiate a review of an order without the need for a specific request, i.e., automatically? (See 45 CFR 303.8(b)(2).) |
No.
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11. Lump Sum Payments
12. Cost Recovery And Fees
1. Does your state elect to recover costs in excess of any fees collected to cover administrative costs in your child support state plan? (See section 454(6) of the Social Security Act and 45 CFR 302.33(d).) If yes, does your state collect excess actual or standardized costs on a case-by-case basis? Please describe. |
Yes, standardized costs. |
1.1. If yes, does your state recover costs from the custodial parent or the noncustodial parent? (Note: No costs can be assessed against a foreign custodial parent applying through a Central Authority in a Hague Convention country, a foreign reciprocating country, or a foreign country with state-level reciprocity.) |
A non-prevailing obligor may be assessed costs by the court. |
2. Does your state recover costs on behalf of an initiating state that has elected to do cost recovery? If yes, describe. |
Yes, if the amount and due date is specified in the support order. A notice is sent to the parent when the cost payment becomes 30 days overdue. If a payment is not received in 30 days, another notice is sent to the parent. Costs may also be collected through insurance settlements, lottery winnings and income withholding. |
3. How does your state impose and collect the mandatory $35 annual fee (after collecting the first $550)? This fee is applicable in IV-D cases in which individuals who never received IV-A assistance are receiving IV-D services. (See 45 CFR 302.33(e).) See options below. |
The state pays the fee. |
3.1. Is it retained by the state from support collected? |
No. |
3.2. Is it paid by the individual applying for child support services? |
No. |
3.3. Is it recovered from the noncustodial parent? |
No. |
3.4. Is it paid by the state out of its state funds? |
Yes. |
13. Insurance Match
1. Does your state have legislation requiring insurance companies to work with child support agencies to identify claimants who owe past-due child support? Describe the requirements and provide the statutory citation. How does your state allocate payments when there is more than one claim against the noncustodial parent's income? Should the payment be divided equally or pro-rated among the cases? (See 45 CFR 303.100(a)(5).) |
No.
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2. What criteria must a noncustodial parent meet to be eligible for your states participation in the federal insurance match program? |
The parent must owe a past due balance greater than $500.00 and twice the monthly support obligation. |
3. What process does your state use to intercept insurance payments? |
Income deduction notice
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4. How does another state initiate and intercept collections from your states workers compensation agency? |
States should sign up to receive insurance match information via OCSE Insurance Match Program.
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5. Does your state participate in the Child Support Lien Network or CSLN (which provides insurance match services)? |
Florida participates in the OCSE Insurance Match. |
14. Family Violence
15. CSENet
1. When your state is the initiating state, does it send a Child Support Enforcement Network (CSENet) case closure transaction to let the responding state know your state has closed its case (including the reason for closure) and/or the responding state's intergovernmental services are no longer needed? (MSC P GSC15; 45 CFR 303.7(c)(11).) |
Yes. |
2. When your state is the responding state, does it send a CSENet case closure transaction to notify the initiating state that its case is closed based on one of the following reasons: (MSC P GSC16)? Initiating state failure to take an action essential for the next steps? (45 CFR 303.11(b)(17).) The initiating state requested the responding state to close the case? (45 CFR 303.7(d)(10).) |
Yes. |
3. When your state is the initiating state, does it send a CSENet case closure transaction to notify the responding state that it must stop any income withholding orders or notices and close the intergovernmental case? (MSC P GSC17; 45 CFR 303.7(c)(12).) |
Yes. |
4. When your state is the responding state, does it send a CSENet case closure transaction to notify the initiating state that, per its request, the case is closed, and your state has stopped its income withholding order? (MSC P GSC18; 45 CFR 303.7(d)(9).) |
Yes. |
5. Does your state send CSENet transactions to request interest information? (MSC R GRINT) |
Yes, we send them manually from a Transmittal 2. |
6. Does your state send CSENet transactions to provide another state with interest and arrears information? (MSC P GSTAI) |
Yes, we send them manually from a Transmittal 2. |
16. Copies Of Orders And Payment Records
1. What are the procedures and associated costs for obtaining a certified copy of a court order? |
Use Transmittal #3. There are costs, but not if requested by the Florida IV-D agency.
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2. What are the procedures and associated costs for obtaining a certified payment record? |
Use Transmittal #3. There are costs, but not if requested by the Florida IV-D agency.
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17. Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA)
18. International - Reciprocity
1. With which foreign countries or other jurisdictions (such as Quebec) does your state have state-level reciprocity for child support? (Do not include federal foreign reciprocating or Hague Convention countries.) |
Bermuda, Quebec (Canada), Fiji, Jamaica, and South Africa. |
2. Does your state exercise its option for enforcement of spousal-only orders for a foreign reciprocating country, a Hague Convention country, or a foreign country with which your state has state-level reciprocity? (See section 454(32)(B) of the Social Security Act.) |
No. |
3. Does your state agency accept direct applications for services from individuals residing outside the United States (See UIFSA 307 - Alternative A), or does your state's law allow discretion in accepting these applications (See UIFSA 307 - Alternative B)? |
Yes, B. |
19. International Information For Hague Convention Countries
20. International Payments
1. How does your state disburse child support payments to foreign reciprocating and Hague Convention countries when your state is the responding state in a case? |
Payment may be by check. |
2. What actions does your state take to reduce the costs and fees associated with international payment processing? |
All payments are processed through a designated authority. All payments are processed upon receipt. |
3. Does your state accept electronic payments from foreign reciprocating or Hague Convention countries in international cases? If so, provide payment instructions. |
Yes. We process electronic payment on international cases by wire transfer using a SWIFT account. |
21. Tribal Non IV-D
1. Has your state established cooperative arrangements with any Indian tribes or tribal organizations that don't have a tribal IV-D program? |
No. |
1.1. If yes, list the tribes and identify services provided, if less than full services. |
N/A.
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2. Does your state have any IV-D attorneys licensed to practice in the courts of Indian tribes or tribal organizations that don't have tribal IV-D programs? |
N/A. |