STATE OF FLORIDA, DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE, APPELLANT,
v.
CHANNON C. PRICE AND JOHN E. PRICE, APPELLEES

Fla. 1st DCA | 2015-12-31
No. 1D15-1452
' BENTON and OSTERHAUS, JJ., ' concur.
182 So. 3d 782 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (2015) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The father's overseas housing allowance (OHA) must be included in his gross income for child support calculations under section 61.30(2)(a)13, Florida Statutes, as it reduces living expenses.


Headnotes

[1] Overseas housing allowances received by a service member deployed on active duty are considered reimbursed expenses or in-kind payments that reduce living expenses and mu…

[2] Statutory definitions of gross income for child support purposes must be applied, and equitable considerations regarding the cost of living or potential inequities are re…

Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

The Department of Revenue appealed a dissolution judgment regarding the father's gross income calculation for child support. The father received an ov…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
BILBREY, J.

BILBREY, J.

The Florida Department of Revenue appeals the amended final judgment of dissolution of marriage, and' the second amended final judgment which denied rehearing of the earlier judgment, on the issue of the determination of the father, John E. Price’s gross income under section 61.30(2)(a), Florida Statutes, for purposes of calculating the child support award. We review the trial court’s application of the statute to the undisputed facts de novo. Fatter v. Fatter, 51 So.3d 1235, 1236 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011).

The issue in this case is whether the father’s overseas housing allowance (OHA) for the period he was deployed, to Bahrain on active service with the United States Navy, prior to his retirement, must be included in his gross income under section 61.30(2)(a), Florida Statutes. It was undisputed that the OHA is an allowance to offset off-base housing expenses when a Service member1 is deployed to a location *783where housing costs are higher than the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) covers.2 In calculating past child support due, the trial judge concluded that the father’s gross income should not include the father’s OHA for the periods he benefited from such payments, but did not explain how she reached that conclusion.

Section 61.30(2), Florida Statutes provides in pertinent part:

(a) Gross income shall include, but is not limited to, the following:
1. Salary or wages.
2. Bonuses, commissions, allowances, overtime, tips, and other similar payments.
13. Reimbursed expenses or in kind payments to the extent that they reduce living expenses....

The statute does not exclude military allowances, temporary or one-time bonuses,3 or earmarked allowances or reimbursements for housing which cannot be spent on non-housing expenses.4 However, the Department does not argue that the OHA is salary under section 61.30(2)(a)l or an. allowance under 61.30(2)(a)2. Our analysis therefore concerns only section 61.30(2)(a)13.5

The public policy of the child support guidelines statutes is to standardize and facilitate each patent’s “fundamental obligation to support his or her minor or legally dependent child” and is “based on the parent’s combined^ net income estimated to have been allocated to the child as if the parents and children were living in an intact household.” § 61.29, Fla. Stat. Although they apply foreign statutes which differ slightly from the Florida provision, we find the opinions in. Wilson v. Wilson, 855 N.W.2d 105 (N.D.2014) and Berkbigler v. Berkbigler, 921 P.2d 628 (Alaska 1996) persuasive. In both opinions, the courts held that' the Service member parents’ OHAs constituted subsistence allowances for daily living expenses. • Accordingly, the OHAs in those cases were required to be included in the Service member parents’ gross income for ^purposes of calculating past child support obligations.6

Accordingly, the father’s OHA for the months he benefited from this allowance must be included in his gross income *784under section 61.30(2)(a)13, Florida Statutes. The trial court’s rulings to the contrary are reversed and this matter remanded for recalculation of the past child support obligation.. In all other respects, the amended final judgment and second amended final judgment are affirmed.

AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, and REMANDED.

' BENTON and OSTERHAUS, JJ., ' concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • J.N.S. v. A.M.A., 194 So. 3d 559 (Fla. 5th DCA 2016)
    …do not believe it was an abuse of discretion to determine that Father was now capable of caring for the children. . We review de novo a trial court’s application of the child-support guidelines to undisputed facts. State, Dep't of Revenue v. Price, 182 So. 3d 782, 782 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015). .Mother brought this issue to the trial court’s attention in her motion for rehearing and even alluded to the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in Scott, albeit without a citation. Even if no evidence were presented on this…
  • Fla. Dep't of Revenue v. Cochran, 253 So. 3d 731 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018)
  • Coriat v. Enma Larissa Coriat (Fla. 3d DCA 2020)
    …ting Glaister v. Glaister, 137 So. 3d 513, 516 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014)); see In re Drummond, 69 So. 3d at 1057. “We review the trial court’s application of the [child support] statute to the undisputed facts de novo.” State, Dep’t of Revenue v. Price, 182 So. 3d 782, 782 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015) (citing Faller v. Faller, 51 So. 3d 1235, 1236 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011)). There is competent, substantial evidence in the record to support the modification of child support. Yet, “modifications are generally retroactive to the d…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw