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My Spouse Receives Gift Income from Their Parents, Can That Be Used Toward  Child Support and Alimony in My Orlando, Florida Divorce Case? 

My spouse gets money from their parents, can that be used toward child support and alimony in my Orlando, Florida divorce case? Does gift income count toward income when calculating alimony and child support? Gift income should not be imputed to a party because his or her parents gave money to help make ends meet. 

Where a parent has for the past several years received substantial gifts of money from their parent, these payments should be taken into account as part of the income for child support guidelines purposes. 

There are other cases that hold that gifts should not be imputed to a parent because future gifts may be withheld and dealing with future is purely speculative. 

There have been rulings in cases that have held annual gifts to the former husband from his mother to pay children’s tuition should not have been included in his income for purposes of calculating child support. The trial court reasoned that these gifts would continue, the appellate court reached a different conclusion regarding inclusion of the gifts in the former husband’s income. 

Further, recent cases have held that in order to include gifts as income, there has to be some evidence that gift income is likely to continue into the future. In that case, the appellant court instructed trial court to consider husband’s father’s age, finances, past gifts, and future giving intent instead of relying on inferences from husband’s financial affidavit. 

In another case, the appellant court instructed the trial court to exclude gift income where there was no evidence that expenses wife’s family paid on her behalf were regularly paid or that the family would continue to pay expense into the future. 

If you have more questions regarding a Marital and Family Law matter, you may call Ann Marie Giordano Gilden at Ann Marie Giordano Gilden, P.A. at 407-732-7620 and set an initial consultation. You may also visit my website at: https//:www.AnnMarieGildenLaw.com

This article is for informational purposes only; and it does not form an attorney client privilege.