Court Opinion

ID: 9926255
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-01-24 15:03:12.177751+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:14.170022
License: Public Domain

Third District Court of Appeal
                             State of Florida

                     Opinion filed January 24, 2024.

                          ________________

                            No. 3D23-1820
         Lower Tribunal Nos. CS 1244821853, 13060028666FC
                         ________________

                           Eduardo Perez,
                               Appellant,

                                   vs.

   State of Florida, Department of Revenue, Child Support
                        Program, et al.,
                               Appellees.

    An Appeal from the State of Florida, Department of Revenue, Child
Support Program.

     Eduardo Perez, in proper person.

      Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Toni C. Bernstein, Senior
Assistant Attorney General (Tallahassee), for appellee Florida Department
of Revenue.

Before EMAS, LINDSEY and MILLER, JJ.

     PER CURIAM.
                      ON CONCESSION OF ERROR

     Appellant Eduardo Perez appeals a September 20, 2023, final order

which modified a 2007 Final Administrative Support Order rendered by the

Florida Department of Revenue, Child Support Program. The modification

of child support was sought by the mother of A.P., based upon an asserted

change in circumstances. Perez is the father of A.P.

     On appeal, Perez contends—and the Department of Revenue

concedes—that the Department failed to consider Perez’s current income

and financial status in calculating the child support guidelines. We agree

that the child support guideline calculations contained in the order on appeal

are not supported by competent substantial evidence.           Among other

infirmities, the order on appeal purports to rely upon Perez’s income from

2022, despite record evidence of Perez’s current income. It appears from

the record that Perez had provided the Department with documentation of

his earnings in 2023, including evidence that he became unemployed and

was to receive unemployment in July of 2023. The order contains additional

errors,1 as the Department concedes, but we deem it unnecessary to detail

them further.

1
  For example, the order on appeal finds that the mother’s actual net monthly
income is $743.67. The record establishes, however, that this amount
represents supplemental security income (SSI), which the child receives for

                                      2
      Based upon the proper and commendable concession by the

Department of Revenue, and our own review of the record, we hold that the

Final Modified Administrative Support Order is not supported by competent

substantial evidence.     We reverse the order and remand for further

proceedings consistent with this opinion.

the child’s own disability, and is not income of the mother. Further, such
amounts should not be considered in adjusting the total minimum child
support award. See § 61.30(11)(a)2, Fla. Stat. (2023) (providing: “The court
may adjust the total minimum child support award, or either or both parents'
share of the total minimum child support award, based upon the following
deviation factors: . . . Independent income of the child, not to include moneys
received by a child from supplemental security income.”).

                                      3