Retroactive Child Support Must be Specifically Pleaded

Until now, there was an open question as to whether retroactive child support needs to be explicitly requested in the pleadings. The argument against the necessity for doing so is that Florida’s child support statute states that when child support is an issue, the court may order support to begin as early as 24 months before the filing date. Accordingly, the statute puts the parties on notice of the possibility of retroactive support whenever child support is requested. In pertinent part, F.S. 61.30 provides as follows:

In an initial determination of child support, whether in a paternity action, dissolution of marriage action, or petition for support during the marriage, the court has discretion to award child support retroactive to the date when the parents did not reside together in the same household with the child, not to exceed a period of 24 months preceding the filing of the petition, regardless of whether that date precedes the filing of the petition.

In Ramirez v. Gregory (February 14, 2025), the Fifth District held that retroactive child support must be specifically pleaded. The decision is consistent with the longstanding principle that the court lacks jurisdiction to enter any judgment on an issue not raised by the pleadings, unless the issue is tried with the express or implied consent of the parties. The case includes a useful practice pointer on handling unnoticed issues. The trial attorney should object, which preserve the issue for appeal, but then may proceed to enter evidence on the unnoticed issue.

Michael DeVoe is a divorce attorney in Orlando, Florida practicing contested divorce, uncontested divorce, timesharing, visitation, custody, paternity, child support, injunctions, and other family law cases.