Retroactive support

[Ref]

State : Florida

I believed that when I filed for CS modification, I would be able to get my future obligation adjusted for the overage I have paid since my initial filing date.

I have been paying about $800 a month since filing in October and I estimate I should be paying about $300 a month based on the calculations.

My attorney said to me (I hope I misunderstood) that the retroactive adjustment would only be as of the date the court date was set.

BM's attorney is stalling through discovery requests and it has taken a little longer to get the date set. My attorney said that the judge likely will consider retroactive to filing date because of this.

1. Would the adjustment be as of the date I filed for modification or the date the court date was set?


Thanks
Ref

[socrateaser]

>1. Would the adjustment be as of the date I filed for
>modification or the date the court date was set?

The federal law on which all of the state statutes must rely states that a support order shall not be made retroactive to a date prior to the date of filing of the motion or order to show cause for support modification.

This was intended to protect the payor parent from being assessed again for amounts already fixed by a prior order, which would violate the takings clause of the constitution, by changing a vested property right after it was perfected by a prior court order.

It would be like you were granted a deed for a home in return for $100K, and then the grantee (seller) came back to court 5 years later and asked the court to force you to pay another $100K because the property value increased.

However, the above federal law is silent about the court's power to make support retroactive to a date after the filing of the motion, and so, family law courts routinely discriminate against the paying parent (by saying that they are acting in the child's best interests) so that if the ultimate modification is upward, then the mod will be as early as federal law will permit, and if the modification is downward, then the mod will be as late as federal law will permit. It's all about making money for the state, because every dollar collected is another 15 cents in free federal matching dollars to the state.