Jacksonville Divorce Lawyer Blog

A recent case from the Florida First District Court of Appeal discusses what, if any, restrictions are allowed to be placed on a parent regarding the religious training of their children. (Pierson v. Pierson, 1D14-79 (Fla. 1st DCA August 18, 2014).
In the recent case, the divorcing parents had three children (ages 11, 9, and 5). Since birth they had all been raised Catholic - the mother's faith. During the parties' separation, the Husband became a Jehovah's Witness. After being exposed to his father...

Child Support in Florida is calculated using the Florida Child Support Guidelines. The guidelines use the mother's and father's net incomes to determine the child support obligation.
"Net income" is determined by subtracting a party's allowable deductions from their gross income. "Gross income" includes just about any way you receive money:...

A recent headline from England caught my attention:
Man can't get refund on £31,000 child support payments despite DNA proving he's NOT father
In the story, a man is seeking a refund from the government of the child support he paid for a child that DNA proves is not his. I'm not sure how the legal process works in England, but in Florida a judge must find that you are the biological father...

There is more to being in civil contempt than simply not paying your support obligations (child support or alimony).
First, the Court must find that there is a valid order for support that has been unpaid. This is usually the easy part of the analysis. However, the analysis does not stop there....