MANTILLA v. DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE CHILD SUPPORT PROGRAM (2021)

ON CONFESSION OF ERROR

Appellant Oscar Mantilla appeals from a final administrative support order and income deduction order issued by an administrative law judge in State of Florida's Division of Administrative Hearings.

On appeal, Mantilla contends that, in calculating the child support obligation, the administrative law judge abused his discretion in imputing income to Mantilla without any substantial competent evidence to support such an imputation.

Appellee, Department of Revenue, properly and commendably concedes error and, upon our own review of the record, we agree that the imputation of income is unsupported by competent substantial evidence. See Waldera v. Waldera, 306 So.3d 1037, 1039–40 (Fla. 3d DCA Aug. 5, 2020) (stating: “A trial court's determination of a party's income for purposes of establishing support obligations must be supported by competent substantial evidence.” (quoting Sallaberry v. Sallaberry, 27 So. 3d 234, 236 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010)). See also Ramsey v. Ramsey, 431 So. 2d 258, 259 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983) (observing: “Judgments providing for automatic changes in alimony and support payments upon future occurrences have usually been disapproved because of the lack of an evidentiary basis for the determination of future events. It follows that a dissolution judgment which purports to consider future events as a basis for establishing current alimony and child support must suffer a similar fate”) (citing Kangas v. Kangas, 420 So. 2d 115 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982); Garrison v. Garrison, 380 So. 2d 473 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980); Stoler v. Stoler, 376 So. 2d 253 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979)).

We therefore reverse the orders on review and remand the cause for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

PER CURIAM.