In Florida, child support is governed by Florida Statute § 61.30.
Often a misconception that is heard from clients is, “we’re going to do 50/50 custody and she 
doesn’t want child support…”
Child Support is not something either party can “waive,” as child support is a right of the child pursuant to the aforementioned statute.
Parties can however deviate from the guidelines pursuant to said statute in certain situations, and to a certain extent.
It’s important to note here, as the title of this blog denotes and attempts to answer, that even with an equal timeshare, child support is calculated pursuant to the guidelines and unless a deviation makes it minimal or $0/mo., guidelines are attached to finalizing documents in a case and it is likely that there will still be an amount owed by someone.
This is one of the areas of family law that isn’t entirely abstract, and so with the help of technology, your attorney should be able to “run the numbers”, so to speak, assuming he or she has all of the information they need to do so.
To elaborate a bit here, the guidelines are a system that “establishes the amount the trier of fact shall order as child support in an initial proceeding for such support or in a proceeding for modification of an existing order for such support…”
Most state authorities and attorneys have software programs that they use to calculate this number.
In this scenario, we know that the timeshare is 50/50. Knowing the timesharing is a major hurdle to overcome and likely one of the grey areas in this calculation, as it is likely that the amount of time each parent gets with their child(ren) is something that is left unresolved and why you may be fighting in court.
However, if the number of overnights for each parent is known, it is a major prerequisite in calculating the child support number.
But as previously mentioned, just because it’s an equal timeshare does not mean that there will not be any child support.
More often than not, one of the parties is making more money than the other. Take that into consideration with certain allowable deductions for calculation purposes, and you will still likely have a child support amount that is owed by one party to the other.
Deductions include things like day care expenses, health care expenses for the child, health care expenses for the parent, mandatory union dues, mandatory retirement, etc.
Most likely, before a family law professional has begun trying to calculate child support, they are securing documents that reflect these numbers, to include a signed/notarized financial affidavit from the parties in order to properly run these guidelines.
In short, once the proper information is obtained, child support guidelines can be calculated to determine how much the child support will be, regardless of whether there is an equal timeshare.
If you, or someone you know, is taking the step towards family law litigation, contact Men’s Rights Law Firm today for a telephone consultation at 239-829-0166.
