Will My Infidelity Affect the Child Support Amount?

When divorces involve infidelity, they can seem more stressful and complicated. Florida has fairly clear laws regarding divorce, custody, and child support. However, each case is different, so your infidelity might have caused your case to differ from the usual.

How Child Support is Determined

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Child support is usually straightforward in Florida divorces. The courts typically base child support payment amounts on the length of marriage, the economic state of the spouses, the child’s standard of living, and other similar economic-related statuses. Infidelity isn’t supposed to affect the child support amount ruled, but some exceptions do occur.

Times Your Infidelity Could Affect Child Support

One instance your infidelity could affect child support is if your infidelity causes you to lose the custody battle. If the other spouse is granted full custody of your child, you’ll most likely have to pay child support. If that custody ruling was somehow related to your infidelity, you can blame the affair for your new child support payments. Divorces that end with 50-50 shared custody don’t typically have child support involvement.

Another example of when infidelity could affect child support is if you have wasted marital assets on your affair. If you have wasted, distributed, or destructed marital assets (money, property), the judge may order you to pay child support to make up for the lack of financial support from those assets.

Furthermore, if your infidelity has caused a negative affect on your relationship with either your spouse or child, the judge might rule against your favor in matters regarding custody and child support.

Each divorce case in Florida is different. Always consult your family lawyer to find out what you can expect for your specific situation.