FAMILY LAW SPRING 2008

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS

Day 21.

a. How much discretion do judges have under Fl Stat §61.30 to depart from the guidelines? How much should they have?

b. Be prepared to work through the following problem under the statute. Assume the facts are as given and calculate the amount of child support H will be obliged to pay monthly to W. [Ignore questions of pre- or post-tax income.] Also be prepared to discuss the problematic issues raised  by these facts and by variants to be presented in class.

H and W have 2 children. This is a second marriage for each. W receives $400/month child support from her first husband for the child of that marriage; H pays $200/month alimony and $400/month child support to his first wife, who is the primary residential parent for the child she had with H. H & W have agreed that W will be the primary residential parent for the children of this marriage (as well as her older child) after divorce.

     H used to work construction, but was injured several years ago and receives $400/month of non-taxable disability payments. He has since started a quite successful small business  designing web pages at home. The average gross income [i.e. the money paid by the customers of the business to the business) is $4500/month. H pays $300/month for business-related supplies and advertising costs; $200/month is the allocated rental costs of the portion of the home that serves as the office from which the business operates and he pays $500/month in self-employment social security  tax; and $1000 /month to a pension fund he has structured for the business (of which he is the only employee)

     W works part-time as a waitress and is going to school to get a degree in computer programming. She earns $300/month in salary and $400/month in tips. Their younger child is in day care while she is at work and school, for which she pays $400/month.

c. How would your answer to the problem above change if, instead of W being the primary residential parent, the custodial arrangements will have the children spening 40% of the time with H and 60% with W?

Day 22.

     Consider how you would advise a client who came to you with the following problems both (a) in regard to the Florida statutory law and (b) in regard to policy and/or constitutional arguments that might be used to influence the outcome under those rules or even to override those rules.

     1. Your client, a partner in a major local Miami law firm, is making substantial child support and spousal support payments for his ex-wife and his children, now 11 and 14. Over his protests, the partnership has agreed to merge with a national firm. Because of conflicts, the new firm will no longer be able to represent AlphaCo, his major client. Since compensation is based in substantial part on business generation, your client is concerned that, if he remains with the firm, his income level may decline. AlphaCo has indicated that it would be interested in making him their new general counsel, which would involve only a modest decline in income, but would require him to relocate to Chicago, and thus reduce the amount of time he currently spends with his children. He would like to take this opportunity instead to make a career move he has been  talking about for a long time. He would take a year off to get an LLM in Estate Planning and then shift to an estate planning practice, both with wealthy clients and doing a lot of pro bono work helping charitable organizations set up programs of deferred giving. The practice would, he hopes, provide an income not much less than he expects if he stays with his current firm, while being less time consuming and thus giving him more time to spend with the children. He wants to substantially reduce his support obligations beginning with the income-less year, and would be willing to revisit the question of the proper amount once his new practice was established.

     2. Your client is the custodial parent of two children, now 11 and 14. She was trained as an accountant and then, by mutual consent, became a full-time homemaker when the first child was born. She went back to work part-time when the youngest started kindergarten, and returned to full-time work when they were divorced, four years ago. Her child support payments reflect both her ex-husband's income of $45,000 and her income of approximately $35,000 per year. Two years ago she remarried a man who earns $23,000 per year as a maintenance worker and soon became pregnant. Their child, born a few months ago, has cerebral palsy and requires a lot of care. She has quit her job to devote full-time to the care of this child, which -- she points out -- also gives her more time to help her eldest through the traumas of early adolescence. She is seeking a modification of child support to reflect her new, income-less status.

Day 23.

a. Be prepared to list at least six different means to enforce child support obligations. For each, indicate whether it applies to past due or current obligations or both,  what defenses are available, and how practical it is.

b. What actions has the federal government taken to facilitate the collection of child support? If you were designing a system for effective and appropriate child support enforcement, how, if at all, might it differ from the current system?