What Does Child Support Credit Mean and What are the Different Types Of Credit For Child Support

What Does Child Support Credit Mean? Understanding Your Child Support Credit Balance

Are you wondering what child support credit means and if you qualify?
Here’s how you know if you qualify for child support credit. If you have been paying child support to one partner prior to the court order going into effect, you might be entitled to child support credit. However, there are other types of credit you might qualify for, read on to learn more.

Types of Child Support Credit Your Attorney Must Understand

There are a few different types of credits that many parents qualify for that are important for any Orlando divorce attorney to understand and include in your child support calculations. These often go unnoticed, causing child support orders to be entered that are too high or too low depending on who they favor. It is important to note that this is a basic overview of child support credits and should not be used as a substitute for seeking the advice of an experienced child support attorney.

How the Child Support Tax Credit at the End of the Year Impacts Support Outcomes

One of the factors for calculating child support is by using the incomes of the parents. For this reason, any increase or decrease in the income of either parent can have a substantial impact on child support amounts.

A parent can ask the court to order that the parents alternate the ability to claim the child for tax purposes. Child support & divorce lawyers need to remember to include this into their support calculations because the funds that parents get from the child tax credit needs to be added to that parent’s income which affects the ultimate child support amount.

Another area related to tax withholdings that can affect child support abrogation is where a parent is self-employed. This is because self-employment taxes can be greater than regular income taxes. This is why it is important to know how to include this information in the child support guidelines [1].

Most third-party child support calculating software has a checkbox to easily assign the tax credit income to the appropriate parent’s income for accurate calculations. However, more basic child support calculators, such as the free ones available online, make it more difficult to add these amounts. This can lead to inaccuracies in final child support determinations if the child tax credit income is not properly incorporated into the calculations.

Child Support Lawyers Know How Health Insurance Affects Your Child Support Credit

In addition to the tax credit, the Florida child support guidelines also provide credit to parents for the amounts they pay toward their personal health insurance. Under the Florida guidelines, the cost a parent incurs for their own health insurance coverage is considered an allowable deduction from their income. As a result, the parent’s income may be reduced for child support calculation purposes, ultimately affecting the final support amount.

Another area where child support attorney Sean Smallwood notices credits for child support is health insurance payments can add credit is where a parent paying for health insurance for the child which is added as a credit. While these health insurance credits are not going to be dollar-for-dollar credit, they do make enough of a difference to justify having a child support attorney paying attention to detail.

Amounts paid for older children’s court-ordered child support offer a substantial credit.

Other child support payments for additional children can make a substantial difference in the final child support calculation, especially when combined with the other credits discussed in this article. Under Florida guidelines, if a parent is making court-ordered child support payments for an older child—and those payments are current and not delinquent—that parent may receive a significant credit toward their child support obligations. This credit reflects the parent’s ongoing financial responsibility for multiple dependents and can meaningfully lower their calculated support amount.

Other factors that influence the fairness and accuracy of your case that we did not go into detail on here include:

Number of custodial overnights

Hiring the right child support attorney

Making sure to complete discovery fully on child support cases

sources: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0061/Sections/0061.30.html

If you have a child support issue then call attorney Sean Smallwood at 407-574-6155

Sean Smallwood

Sean Smallwood is an Orlando divorce attorney for the law firm Sean Smallwood, Orlando Divorce & Family Law P.A. where he represents clients in all areas of family law and divorce. 100% of the practice is devoted to family law. As an attorney in Orlando, he has helped many families with a wide variety of family law cases including Divorce, Child Custody, Child Support, and many other issues.