Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

You're probably overthinking it. Call a lawyer.

Call Now: 904-383-7448
Florida Statute 61.17 - Full Text and Legal Analysis
Florida Statute 61.17 | Lawyer Caselaw & Research
Link to State of Florida Official Statute
F.S. 61.17 Case Law from Google Scholar Google Search for Amendments to 61.17

The 2025 Florida Statutes

Title VI
CIVIL PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE
Chapter 61
DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE; SUPPORT; TIME-SHARING
View Entire Chapter
61.17 Alimony and child support; additional method for enforcing orders and judgments; costs, expenses.
(1) An order or judgment for the payment of alimony or child support or either entered by any court of this state may be enforced by another chancery court in this state in the following manner:
(a) The person to whom such alimony or child support is payable or for whose benefit it is payable may procure a certified copy of the order or judgment and file it with a complaint for enforcement in the circuit court for the county in which the person resides or in the county where the person charged with the payment of the alimony or child support resides or is found.
(b) If the pleadings seek a change in the amount of the alimony or child support money, the court has jurisdiction to adjudicate the application and change the order or judgment. In such event the clerk of the circuit court in which the order is entered changing the original order or judgment shall transmit a certified copy thereof to the court of original jurisdiction, and the new order shall be recorded and filed in the original action and become a part thereof. If the pleadings ask for a modification of the order or judgment, the court may determine that the action should be tried by the court entering the original order or judgment and shall then transfer the action to that court for determination as a part of the original action.
(c) Enforcement of a case certified under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act under this section shall grant to the registering court jurisdiction to address only those issues allowed and reimbursable under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act.
(2) The court in which such an action is brought has jurisdiction to award costs and expenses as are equitable, including the cost of certifying and recording the judgment entered in the action in the court of original jurisdiction and reasonable attorney’s fees.
(3) The entry of a judgment for arrearages for child support, alimony, or attorney’s fees and costs does not preclude a subsequent contempt proceeding or certification of a IV-D case for intercept, by the United States Internal Revenue Service, for failure of an obligor to pay the child support, alimony, attorney’s fees, or costs for which the judgment was entered.
History.ss. 1, 2, ch. 28187, 1953; s. 16, ch. 67-254; s. 18, ch. 71-241; s. 125, ch. 86-220; s. 7, ch. 92-138.
Note.Former s. 65.18.

F.S. 61.17 on Google Scholar

F.S. 61.17 on CourtListener

Amendments to 61.17


Annotations, Discussions, Cases:

Cases Citing Statute 61.17

Total Results: 28  |  Sort by: Relevance  |  Newest First

Copy

Gibson v. Bennett, 561 So. 2d 565 (Fla. 1990).

Cited 30 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida | 1990 WL 62031

...on Judiciary, CS for HB 1313 (1986) Staff Analysis 1-2 (rev. Jan. 31, 1986) (on file with committee). In addition to providing for the establishment of liens as a method of enforcement, section 61.1352, Florida Statutes (1987), the legislature adopted section 61.17(3), Florida Statutes (1989), which provides: Alimony and child support; additional method for enforcing orders and judgments; costs, expenses....
...ich the judgment was entered. The language of this section, adopted subsequent to Lamm and Sokolsky, expressly provides for the use of contempt proceedings, in addition to other remedies available, to enforce a judgment for support arrearages. While section 61.17(3) took effect after the events in this case, the statute merely embodies the preexisting public policy that equitable remedies, including contempt, are available to enforce a judgment for support arrearages....
...been expended to maintain the child during minority. The purpose, in part, of support enforcement legislation is to ensure that parents, rather than the public, bear the responsibility for the support of their children while the children are minors. Section 61.17(3), Florida Statutes (1989), provides for the use of contempt proceedings, in addition to other remedies available, to enforce a judgment for support arrearages....
...However, times have changed. As explained in the majority opinion in this case, both the United States Congress and the Florida Legislature have enacted legislation that expands the means available for collecting child support and alimony. Such legislation includes section 61.17(3), Florida Statutes (1989), which provides in part: "The entry of a judgment for arrearages for child support, alimony, or attorney's fees and costs does not preclude a subsequent contempt proceeding ......
Copy

Onley v. Onley, 540 So. 2d 880 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989).

Cited 12 times | Published | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal | 1989 WL 21485

...1st DCA 1987), we note that the court must reconsider the entire issue in the light of our instant determination to increase the amount of the recoverable arrearages. When it does so, it should reconsider also the propriety of the terms and conditions of the order requiring payment of the sums due. See generally § 61.17, Fla....
Copy

Dept. of Health & Rehab. Serv. v. Holland, 602 So. 2d 652 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992).

Cited 12 times | Published | Florida 5th District Court of Appeal | 1992 WL 158125

...1990) expresses a continued evolution of public policy in favor of enforcing payment of child support obligations rather than throwing procedural roadblocks in the way of collection efforts. This alone should give this court cause to reassess Cronebaugh. In Gibson, the court held that section 61.17(3), as well as prior case law, makes available contempt remedies to enforce child support and alimony obligations, even though the arrearage has been reduced to a judgment, and even though the child is no longer a minor....
...r than Holland's, so he should come off well and likely be paid in full. *659 This helps illustrate why I agree with Judge Minor's dissent in Rogers v. Cooper, 575 So.2d 266 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991) that HRS should not be liable for attorney's fees under section 61.17 when filing suit, as it is required to do under section 409.2561(1)....
...4th DCA 1991) is support for the majority opinion in this case, on that issue, it could be limited to allowing attorney's fees for filing frivolous lawsuits pursuant to section 57.105. If HRS is liable for attorney's fee awards in enforcement of support cases under section 61.17, this will inhibit and perhaps prevent its effectiveness as the enforcement agency for support obligations in Florida....
Copy

Williams v. Starnes, 522 So. 2d 469 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988).

Cited 6 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 1988 WL 22259

...limony and child support awards, permits modification in the county in which either of the parties resides, see 404 So.2d at 1183, but no such authority exists under section 61.13, Florida Statutes (1987), pertaining to child custody awards. Compare section 61.17, Florida Statutes (1987), providing for additional methods for enforcing alimony and child support judgments in the county in which either party resides, wherein it states: If the pleadings ask for a modification of the order or judgmen...
Copy

DHRS v. Atterberry, 578 So. 2d 485 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991).

Cited 6 times | Published | Florida 5th District Court of Appeal | 1991 WL 61800

...5th DCA 1985) rev. dismissed, 478 So.2d 53 (1985) (laches available in presence of extraordinary facts or compelling circumstances). The legislature has specifically authorized the use of the IRS intercept program to collect child support arrearages. § 61.17(3), Fla....
Copy

Kutz v. Fankhanel, 608 So. 2d 873 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992).

Cited 5 times | Published | Florida 5th District Court of Appeal | 1992 WL 301325

...urt, in a lawsuit filed by the former wife, that is a distinction without significance. Surely Florida courts give at least as much "full faith & credit" [3] to Florida judgments, as they do to out-of-state judgments. The Gibson decision relied upon section 61.17(3), Florida Statutes (1989), provides: The entry of a judgment for arrearages for child support, alimony, or attorney's fees and costs does not preclude a subsequent contempt proceeding or certification of a IV-D case for intercept, by...
...Kutz did not appeal nor did he seek clarification of its terms. He argues that the 1978 judgment includes an award for Fankhanel's attorney's fees and for the children's medical expenses. The trial court said the arrearage judgment was less than clear on that point. But, in view of section 61.17(3), quoted above, which makes a judgment for arrearages for child support as well as attorney's fees and costs enforceable by contempt measures, Kutz's argument appears irrelevant....
Copy

Zuidhof v. Zuidhof, 242 So. 2d 739 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971).

Cited 5 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal

...We will not unduly extend this opinion by recreating them here as they would be of no precedential value. We determine that no abuse of discretion has been demonstrated as concerns the amount of child support awarded, being always aware that same can be adjusted if and when changes in circumstances occur. F.S. 1969, section 61.17, F.S.A....
Copy

Haley v. Edwards, 233 So. 2d 647 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970).

Cited 4 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal

...When an original decree has been entered in Florida there will always be a court with authority to act in this state. In child support cases the legislature has afforded the means of enforcing or modifying the same in courts other than the one in which the original decree was entered, Section 61.17, F.S., F.S.A., however, similar treatment has not yet been extended to modification of custody decrees....
Copy

Rogers v. Cooper, 575 So. 2d 266 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991).

Cited 4 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 1991 WL 17924

...of Health and Rehabilitative Services, Tallahassee, for appellants. No appearance, for appellee. ALLEN, Judge. This is an appeal from an order awarding attorney's fees and costs to appellee, following his successful defense of a child support enforcement action under Section 61.17, Florida Statutes....
...or the award of attorney's fees and costs in Chapter 61 actions. We hold that the department is subject to the provisions of Section 61.16, and we affirm the order appealed. Pursuant to Section 409.2564, Florida Statutes, the department instituted a Section 61.17, Florida Statutes, action against appellee....
...proceedings. The court may order that the amount be paid directly to the attorney, who may enforce the order in his name. (Emphasis added). It is readily apparent, therefore, that where the department brings a child support enforcement action under Section 61.17, as was done here, the department subjects itself to the provisions of Section 61.16, unless some other expression of legislative intent serves to contravene the very clear language of the section....
Copy

Potts v. Potts, 615 So. 2d 695 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992).

Cited 3 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 1992 WL 312857

...(c) All expenses of the minor children in connection with their obtaining a four year college education, including room, board, tuition, books, clothes, medical expenses and all other reasonable living expenses. In August 1991, appellant, now an adult, sued in his name to enforce the provision under section 61.17, Florida Statutes (1991), alleging that his father had refused to comply with it....
Copy

Robbie v. Robbie, 683 So. 2d 1131 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996).

Cited 3 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 1996 WL 710797

...Attorney's fees in a dissolution action may be enforced by contempt. Fishman v. Fishman, 656 So.2d 1250 (Fla.1995); Heitzman v. Heitzman, 281 So.2d 578 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973). Moreover, the entry of a money judgment does not preclude enforcement by contempt. See § 61.17(3), Fla.Stat....
Copy

Harris v. Harris, 512 So. 2d 968 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987).

Cited 2 times | Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 12 Fla. L. Weekly 1807

...Boulder County, Dep't of Social Services, 494 So.2d 1126 (Fla. 1986). Thus, were this case a URESA proceeding, a Florida court could modify upward or downward the support order according to present circumstances. The instant proceeding is brought under section 61.17, Florida Statutes (1985), an action to enforce a support order of one Florida court in another Florida court....
Copy

Amir v. Gannon, 896 So. 2d 793 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005).

Cited 2 times | Published | Florida 5th District Court of Appeal | 2005 WL 176623

...quity requires, with due regard to the changed circumstances or the financial ability of the parties or the child, decreasing, increasing, or confirming the amount of separate support, maintenance, or alimony provided for in the agreement or order." Section 61.17(1) provides that an order or judgment for the payment of alimony or child support entered by any court of this state may be enforced by another chancery court....
Copy

Thompson v. Plowmaker, 679 So. 2d 864 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1996).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1996 Fla. App. LEXIS 14322, 1996 WL 525858

order was rendered_” (emphasis added). See also § 61.17, Fla.Stat. (1995) (Support orders may be enforced
Copy

Kutz v. Fankhanel, 608 So. 2d 873 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1992).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1992 Fla. App. LEXIS 11046

judgments. The Gibson decision relied upon section 61.17(3), Florida Statutes (1989), provides: The entry
Copy

Somerville v. Armes, 889 So. 2d 867 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004).

Published | Florida 5th District Court of Appeal | 2004 Fla. App. LEXIS 18977, 2004 WL 3090327

PER CURIAM. AFFIRMED. See § 61.17, Fla. Stat. (2004). PALMER, ORFINGER and TORPY, JJ., concur.
Copy

Deese v. Deese, 608 So. 2d 558 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1992).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1992 Fla. App. LEXIS 12149, 1992 WL 338552

court’s position is contrary to the intent of section 61.17(3), Florida Statutes (1991). The judgment for
Copy

Hughes v. Hughes, 441 So. 2d 688 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1983).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1983 Fla. App. LEXIS 24196

appeal by the ex-wife followed. We reverse. Section 61.17(1), Florida Statutes (1981), specifically states:
Copy

Haslauer v. Haslauer (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2024).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida

delinquency for non-payment of child support); § 61.17, Fla. Stat. (providing for enforcement of an “order
Copy

Scales v. Scales, 237 So. 2d 50 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1970).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1970 Fla. App. LEXIS 6081

requesting a modification of the judgment pursuant to § 61.17, Fla.Stat.F.S.A.(1969). On March 4, 1970, the appellee
Copy

Porter v. Porter, 401 So. 2d 832 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1981).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1981 Fla. App. LEXIS 21249

jurisdiction to enforce the support order by virtue of Section 61.17, Florida Statutes, and had subject-matter jurisdiction
Copy

Ingrahm v. Ingrahm, 711 So. 2d 1346 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1998).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1998 Fla. App. LEXIS 6650, 1998 WL 307574

for Volusia County, her county of residence. See § 61.17, Fla. Stat.; Bryant v. Bryant, 566 So.2d 65 (Fla
Copy

McCray v. McCray, 526 So. 2d 987 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1988).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 13 Fla. L. Weekly 1320, 1988 Fla. App. LEXIS 2315, 1988 WL 55737

divorced, rather than Madison County. However, section 61.17, Florida Statutes, a special venue statute,
Copy

Griffin v. Griffin, 648 So. 2d 267 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1995).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1995 Fla. App. LEXIS 31, 1995 WL 1568

remedies including contempt?” The court relied on section 61.17(3), Florida Statutes which provides: *268The
Copy

Battaglia v. Battaglia (In re Battaglia), 321 B.R. 67 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2005).

Published | United States Bankruptcy Court, M.D. Florida | 18 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. B 122, 2005 Bankr. LEXIS 259, 2005 WL 419707

agency. See § 61.1301, Fla. Stat. . Under Section 61.17, Fla. Stat., a person seeking to enforce payment
Copy

Paulk v. Braxton, 562 So. 2d 699 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990).

Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 1990 Fla. App. LEXIS 1132, 1990 WL 16890

decided the 1986 Florida Legislature enacted section 61.17(3), Florida Statutes (1989), which provides
Copy

Tonkin v. Sonnenberg, 539 So. 2d 1143 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1989).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 14 Fla. L. Weekly 475, 1989 Fla. App. LEXIS 687, 1989 WL 11605

either in Pinellas or Brevard county. § 61.14; § 61.17, Fla. Stat. (1985). All circuit courts in Florida
Copy

Hernandez v. Marsarm Corp., 613 So. 2d 914 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1992).

Published | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1992 Fla. App. LEXIS 12352, 1992 WL 360943

maintenance or alimony agreements or orders), § 61.17 (Alimony and child support; additional method for

This Florida statute resource is curated by Graham W. Syfert, Esq., a Jacksonville, Florida personal injury and workers' compensation attorney. For legal consultation, call 904-383-7448.