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698 So. 2d 934

Escribano v. Coviello

District Court of Appeal of Florida

Decided September 10, 1997

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1997-09-10

Relies on 384 So. 2d 279 - Lawrence v. Lawrence · Campbell v. Campbell

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1997-09-10

How this case has been cited

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently May 2013

3 state decisions

10199720002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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PER CURIAM.

¶1We reverse the order finding Appellant in civil contempt and setting a purge amount for his failure to pay child support. Appellant argues that there was never an order entered requiring him to pay a stated sum of support. The only order provided to this court represents that the parties agreed that support would be pursuant to the guidelines. See § 61.30, Fla. Stat. (1995).1

¶2To obtain a guidelines amount of support the statute requires the consideration of several factors, including the parties’ incomes and deductions. See Section 61.30(2) & (3), Fla. Stat. (1995). Accordingly, we find this reference to the guidelines insufficient to support a contempt finding as it is not clear and definite so as to make Appellant aware of his obligation. See, e.g., Lawrence v. Lawrence, 384 So.2d 279, 280 (Fla. 4th DCA *9351980). In fact, we note that the trial court’s contempt order does not reference any underlying support order.

¶3We also reverse the trial court’s finding that Appellant has the ability to pay the purge amount. Such finding does not take into account that the purge amount provided would absorb nearly all of Appellant’s income. See Campbell v. Campbell, 679 So.2d 366 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996).

STONE, C.J., and STEVENSON and SHAHOOD, JJ., concur.

¶4. Appellee did not file an answer brief or appendix.

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