Child Support & Medical Insurance Question

[FLMom]

State of Florida.

I am in the process of crunching the numbers of the child support guidelines worksheet. One of the deductions listed is for payment of insurance premiums for the children.

Florida is a state where the incomes of only the parents are considered, not the household income, for CS purposes.

In our household, my husband (the children's step-father) wholly carries their medical insurance with the company at which he is employed. It is not deducted from my income, but his.

Now, on the worksheets, one of the questions in computing CS amounts is a deduction of medical expenses and coverage for the children.

Question:

Do I claim this on my allowable deductions, even though it is my husband who actually pays through his employer?

OR

Do neither my ex or I claim this deduction?

Thanks,
FLMom

[socrateaser]

>State of Florida.
>
>I am in the process of crunching the numbers of the child
>support guidelines worksheet. One of the deductions listed is
>for payment of insurance premiums for the children.
>
>Florida is a state where the incomes of only the parents are
>considered, not the household income, for CS purposes.
>
>In our household, my husband (the children's step-father)
>wholly carries their medical insurance with the company at
>which he is employed. It is not deducted from my income, but
>his.
>
>Now, on the worksheets, one of the questions in computing CS
>amounts is a deduction of medical expenses and coverage for
>the children.
>
>Question:
>
>Do I claim this on my allowable deductions, even though it is
>my husband who actually pays through his employer?
>
>OR
>
>Do neither my ex or I claim this deduction?

I don't understand. First you state that only your husband's income and deductions are considered, then you ask if you can take a deduction. If only your husband's income is considered, then only he can take deductions.

If I haven't answered your question, then you'll need to rephrase it, because I'm not gettin' it. lol!

[FLMom]

It's most likely the way I phrased the question. I think you answered it, but I'll ask with more clarity. I'm also adding another question because the fun just never ends here.

FL considers only the income of the Mother and Father in calculating child support, not their respective households.

Father and Mother divorced, both remarried. In current court decree it is stated "Mother will provide health insurance". Previously a problem came up where I could change jobs with better long term advantages, but didn't want to lose the health insurance I had.

A very wise Soc told me that "it doesn't say HOW Mother will provide the insurance". Mother's husband, the children's step-father, now carries the insurance through his employer. The cost of this is deducted from his salary.

Now comes another quandry. Florida Statutes state that in order to show a substantial change of circumstances for child support modification, one of the factors is if the children are overnight with the NCP 40% of the time or more.

On a monthly basis, this percentage varies anywhere from 34% to 50%. The average amount of time of overnights with the NCP over the last 6 months comes out to exactly 42%.

(I used the 6 months because that time period seems to be the framework for custodial change of circumstances. Also, this particular time period is one that will never change for us over the years due to who has whom overnights due to holidays, birthdays and vacations. I will always have our children over 40% of the time in this 6 month period according to our custody agreement.)

When overnights in a custody order cause one parent to have over 40% overnights, a different form of calculation is used. This could be the difference between NCP Mother paying CP Father $300 and CP Father paying NCP Mother $1200.

This alternate calculation is done without considering daycare expenses (which doesn't apply to us) and medical expenses (which does). After you calculate with the alternate formula, the medical expenses are then an added deduction to whomever pays them.

Questions:

1) Due to their being a court order in place that states "Mother will provide health insurance", do I consider this my deduction, or is it a wash because it does not directly come out of my salary?

2) Is the 40% of overnights an average over a 6 month period, or is it on a month to month basis with at least 40% every month?

Thanks,
FLMom

[socrateaser]

>Questions:
>
>1) Due to their being a court order in place that states
>"Mother will provide health insurance", do I consider this my
>deduction, or is it a wash because it does not directly come
>out of my salary?

Usually the cost of health insurance premiums is deducted from the paying parents disposable income prior to calculating the support obligation.
>
>2) Is the 40% of overnights an average over a 6 month period,
>or is it on a month to month basis with at least 40% every
>month?

I'd say an average over time is a more reliable figure, because it could be 100% this month and 0% during the next 11 months, and the result would be .8333...% which would be well below 100%.