Florida Child-Support Guidelines Worksheet Checklist

For supervised law-firm staff, the reliable workflow is to obtain the lawyer-approved calculation lane and date, retrieve the current official worksheet, build a two-party source register, enter only approved inputs, preserve every formula, independently recompute the selected branch, and release only the exact lawyer-approved filing and service package.

Staff can trace facts and perform transparent arithmetic. The responsible lawyer decides applicability, income and deductions, eligible children, parenting inputs, expenses, credits, substantial-time-sharing treatment, deviations, disputed facts, and the legal position. A worksheet result is a dated calculation from approved inputs—not a guarantee of the court’s order.

Download Form 12.902(e) from Florida Courts immediately before use and record its title, revision date, URL, retrieval date, and version evidence. The form itself warns that guideline-chart amounts can change, so a saved worksheet or copied schedule should not be assumed current.

Create a restricted source register for both parties. Each proposed value should identify the party, source document and page, source date and period, formula, factual-confirmation status, lawyer-approval status, and unresolved question.

Form 12.902(e) directs users to transfer present gross monthly income from line 17 and present net monthly income from line 27 of each current, lawyer-approved applicable Form 12.902(b) or 12.902(c). Discrepancies and stale snapshot dates remain visible for lawyer review. The worksheet also uses the approved number of children, combined net income, additional costs, payments or credits, and—when applicable—overnight inputs. Section 61.30 supplies the legal framework for the guideline calculation.

Those fields are not merely data-entry choices. Route questions about what counts as income, allowable deductions, child-care or health costs, credits, imputation, the operative overnight count, substantial-time-sharing treatment, and deviations to the responsible lawyer.

If the lawyer directs a request for an amount different from the guideline amount, identify and preserve the exact lawyer-approved deviation package, including current Form 12.943 when applicable. Staff does not select or justify the deviation grounds.

The form uses monthly figures. Its current instructions convert semimonthly payments by multiplying by 2, biweekly payments by multiplying by 26 and dividing by 12, and weekly payments by multiplying by 52 and dividing by 12. Preserve the source amount, frequency, formula, precision, and rounding separately.

Calculate each parent’s percentage of combined net income and the approved share of the basic obligation. Enter approved child-care, children’s health-insurance, uncovered-health, credit, and other amounts once and in the correct column. If the lawyer directs the substantial-time-sharing branch, use only the approved overnight figures and sequence.

A second checker should recompute the selected branch from the approved source register rather than trusting only the same worksheet or software output. Verify combined income, percentage shares, basic obligation, additional costs, credits, overnight percentages, adjustments, and final difference as applicable.

If the independent total differs, hold release and trace the source, period, formula, sign, column, precision, rounding, and duplication. Preserve the variance and resolution; do not conceal it by changing an unrelated input.

Rule 12.285(k) states that when a case involves child support, the parties must file a worksheet at or before a hearing to establish or modify child support. The form instructions also call for filing with the clerk and service on the other party or counsel. The responsible lawyer confirms the operative event, recipients, method, and any case-specific direction.

Check the current Notice of Filing, attached worksheet identified as Exhibit 1, caption, party names, approved child count, both income columns, every required line, continuation pages, applicable signature or execution, certificate of service, minimization, and protected-address handling. The responsible lawyer determines the signer and filing or service method. Source records and internal calculation notes are not automatically part of the filing package.

A worksheet is tied to its calculation date and approved inputs. Preserve the prior version and reopen the source register when a financial affidavit, income record, cost, insurance amount, overnight input, order, or other material fact changes.

The responsible lawyer decides whether and how a recalculation, amended filing, supplemental service, deviation request, or other response proceeds. Staff preserves the change trail and proof through lawyer-approved closure.