By: Mike Gora
Q My ex-wife and I lived in California when we got divorced seven years ago. We have two children. We entered into a marital settlement agreement. I agreed to pay a total of $1,000 a month in child support. Since that time, she re-married and moved to Atlanta. I moved, and now live, in Palm Beach County.
A week ago I was served with papers from the “ex” asking for an increase in child support, because she no longer worked, and because she thought that I was making a lot more money than I used to make. The man she married is a lawyer who, it appears, makes a lot of money, so she does not have to work.
Can the Florida court order more child support against me? Can she just quit working and get more support because she does not need to work? Can she just start this up again, and make me give her my current financials?
A The power of the court over you is called “jurisdiction.” Since neither you nor your ex-wife lives in California any more, she can seek modification of the California judgment against you where you live. Even though your original case was in California, Florida law will apply. Under Florida law, the right to modify depends on whether or not there has been an involuntary, permanent, material change of circumstances.
If your former wife voluntarily left the workforce because of her new marriage, she cannot rely on that change to ask for more support, because it was a voluntary change.
The case will then turn on whether or not you are now, permanently, making more money than you were at the time of the divorce. Your former wife will have the burden to prove that there has been such a permanent change in your income, and she will have the benefit of the Florida rules of discovery to gather your financial information.
You will have to turn over your tax returns, bank records, brokerage account records and business records for the time since the divorce.
If you are now making more money and the court finds that the change is permanent and material, a new calculation will have to be made under the Florida child support guidelines statute.
Income will be imputed to her at the amount she was earning at the time she voluntarily quit work after her re-marriage. If she cannot prove that your income has changed, and the only difference arises because the Florida support guidelines statute is more generous than the California statute, no increase should be granted.
Michael H. Gora has been certified by the Board of Specialization of The Florida Bar as a specialist in family and matrimonial law, and is a partner with Shapiro Blasi Wasserman & Gora P.A. in Boca Raton. Mr. Gora may be reached by e-mail at mhgora@sbwlawfirm.com.