Florida CS Modifcation Question

[newwifefl]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

Hi All,

This forum has been so helpful in the past and I have another current CS issue.

My husband (NCP) lost his job many months ago. The reason he left was a bit grey. He was technically fired during some heated issues during a change of ownership. He had been employed there for 10 years.

It took him 4 months to find another job. We did not file modification for temp. mod of CS as we had no idea it would go on that long so he has arrearages for those 4 months.

Wife is after arrearages and they can't agree on the amount.

His new job is slightly less than he was making 15 years ago when the order was issued and there have been no "formal" court CS reviews/modifications since. His current salary is about 40% less than his last position. They verbally agreed and filed with court in January an amount for CS for their last minor child (oldest aged out in May). However, husband agreed to an amount based on his salary from his previous job, which was 40% higher than his current job.


Will he likely get a modification to decrease support based on this 40% reduction? Do they look at his income from 15 yrs ago when the orig order was ordered by the court as the basis for which there must be a "substantial change"...technically he isn't making much less than that, however if you factor in inflation he certainly is. We cannot afford an attorney and don't know what to do.
The CP also voluntarily left her $50K year job to "sell real estate". She has made $0 income in the last 2 years. Will the courts impute $50K income to her when deciding new support amount? How much do courts typically assess for arrearages. I know they can garnish up to close to 60% of wages, but is that the norm for someone that has been paying steadily for 15 years with minor exceptions?

Also, there is another open issue of Insurance looming. Wife wants $20K arrearage for health insurance premiums for last 8 years. Husband stopped paying them because her kids were put on her new husbands policy at NO ADDITIONAL COST since husband already had a family policy with his children on it. (policy is same cost for unlimited children). Will she likely be successful in collecting this if insurance resulted in "no additional cost" to her? Or will they divide the total premium by number of people on it and assess their two childrens portion of it.

Thank you so much in advance for any help you can provide.

 

[Ohiogal]

Hubby owes for the last 8 years. If there was a change he SHOULD HAVE RETURNED TO COURT for a modification. NOT just decided not to pay it.

 

[newwifefl]

THank you Ohiogal for the adivce. I am well aware that he should have done that....but he did not. So we are trying to assess where he is and what will be the likely outcome.

Any thoughts on that and the other questions in my post?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Gracie3787]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

Hi All,

This forum has been so helpful in the past and I have another current CS issue.

My husband (NCP) lost his job many months ago. The reason he left was a bit grey. He was technically fired during some heated issues during a change of ownership. He had been employed there for 10 years.

It took him 4 months to find another job. We did not file modification for temp. mod of CS as we had no idea it would go on that long so he has arrearages for those 4 months.

Wife is after arrearages and they can't agree on the amount.

His new job is slightly less than he was making 15 years ago when the order was issued and there have been no "formal" court CS reviews/modifications since. His current salary is about 40% less than his last position. They verbally agreed and filed with court in January an amount for CS for their last minor child (oldest aged out in May). However, husband agreed to an amount based on his salary from his previous job, which was 40% higher than his current job.


Will he likely get a modification to decrease support based on this 40% reduction? Do they look at his income from 15 yrs ago when the orig order was ordered by the court as the basis for which there must be a "substantial change"...technically he isn't making much less than that, however if you factor in inflation he certainly is. We cannot afford an attorney and don't know what to do.
The CP also voluntarily left her $50K year job to "sell real estate". She has made $0 income in the last 2 years. Will the courts impute $50K income to her when deciding new support amount? How much do courts typically assess for arrearages. I know they can garnish up to close to 60% of wages, but is that the norm for someone that has been paying steadily for 15 years with minor exceptions?

Also, there is another open issue of Insurance looming. Wife wants $20K arrearage for health insurance premiums for last 8 years. Husband stopped paying them because her kids were put on her new husbands policy at NO ADDITIONAL COST since husband already had a family policy with his children on it. (policy is same cost for unlimited children). Will she likely be successful in collecting this if insurance resulted in "no additional cost" to her? Or will they divide the total premium by number of people on it and assess their two childrens portion of it.

Thank you so much in advance for any help you can provide.

Unless your husband and his ex can come to an agreement, the court will assess at whatever the order called for that was unpaid. Example- order was for $500 per month, husband did not pay for 4 moths, the arrears would be $2,000.

Was the insurance premiums included in the CS amount, or where they ordered to be paid directly to the ex? I ask because usually the insurance amount is added to the base CS, that way it gets paid with the CS, not seperately. If it was included in the CS amount, then he only owes for the period of time that he didn't pay CS, and that will be included in the total arrearage.

Since he is remarried, the max amount that can be garnished is 55%.

If the court determines that his, or her decrease in income was voluntary, an income will be imputed, typically it will be imputed at the last known income.