The Florida Child Support Machine Tried to Break Me

By Kyle Fields – November 19, 2025 – Tallahassee, Florida

Introduction

It all started with a letter in July 2025. The Florida Department of Revenue told me I owed thousands in child support. The problem was that the divorce records showed a different man as the father. Over the next few months, letters, portal entries, and administrative errors revealed a system that was inconsistent, coercive, and often seemed to operate with little oversight.

I could not afford a high-profile attorney or years of legal battles. So I turned to social media, documentation, and persistence. By November 2025, federal and state oversight offices had opened inquiries, not because of lawyers or news outlets, but because I made the inconsistencies public and undeniable.

This is my story.

The Letters and Portal Confusion

Here is the timeline of what the Department of Revenue sent me.

•On July 29, 2025, a letter said I was $8,850 behind.

•By August 13, the next letter said $9,400 was due.

•September 2, my online portal warned me they might file for contempt if I did not pay, even mentioning a “final court order” I never received.

•On November 12, 2025, they demanded $11,050. But the portal now showed $41,419.

None of this matched. Portal entries, letters, and the court docket contradicted each other. It felt like the system was either broken or being misused.

How the System Works

The Florida Department of Revenue runs the state’s Child Support Program as the designated Title IV-D agency under federal law. They handle paternity, enforce support, and process payments for almost a million cases. They can issue what are called Final Administrative Support Orders, or FASOs.

These FASOs are enforceable like court orders but can be issued administratively without a judge. That means once someone is listed as the father, whether accurately or not, the DOR can start enforcement. If you think your paternity is wrong, you cannot contest it in the administrative forum. You have to file a separate, costly action in circuit court.

Dropped Cases and the Custody Loophole

Two separate child support cases were filed against my ex-wife, the child’s grandmother, and both were dropped. These cases highlighted a systemic failure in the way custody and support were assigned. I was out of state at the time of our divorce, yet the court and the Department of Revenue used my absence as a reason to assign custody obligations and financial responsibility in ways that did not align with the facts.

The irony is that my ex-wife explicitly stated in court and on legal documents who the father was. Despite that, the administrative machinery pushed forward as if the facts did not exist. These decisions created a paper trail that wrongly implicated me as the responsible party and left me vulnerable to enforcement actions that should never have applied.

Social Media Accountability and Sudden Agency Scrutiny

After months of getting nowhere, I began posting my story publicly on X. I documented portal entries, letters, and inconsistencies, showing clearly how the Department of Revenue was mishandling my case. That’s when things changed. I got a call from Marion County’s child support department. Not to correct the errors or discuss resolution, but specifically because of the attention my posts were getting.

The same Governor’s office that had initially said the case was not their jurisdiction suddenly declared it was. Civil contempt charges, including an attempt to serve me while I was already housed in Marion County Jail because of their original contempt order, highlighted the confusion and overreach in the system. Meanwhile, the DOR portal insisted I had not paid a dime, even though court records show otherwise.

It took escalation to the White House, along with persistent public exposure, before any agency or oversight body would engage with the facts of my case. Even my own state representatives did not intervene. Suddenly, every office from the Chief Inspector General to the federal child support authorities was paying attention. This episode showed just how much power social media and public accountability can have when legal and administrative systems fail to protect citizens.

Presumed Paternity and the Trap It Creates

Florida law lets paternity be established through several paths: voluntary acknowledgment, birth certificate listing, administrative action, or judicial proceedings. Once paternity is presumed, administrative hearings cannot challenge it.

I saw this in the case of Iderious Lee Love. He asked for DNA testing during a DOR administrative proceeding. The judge could not consider it. He had to start a separate court case just to prove he was not the father.

The system creates multiple ways for someone to be locked into paying for a child they may not have fathered. Once a birth certificate lists you, you are presumed responsible. The administrative process can issue enforceable orders without your appearance. The burden is on you to prove otherwise. And if welfare is involved, the pressure to enforce payments increases.

Errors, Enforcement, and Coercion

I found systemic errors in DOR records. People who were current on payments received notices saying they owed money. Retroactive calculations were often wrong. The FASOs could be enforced even when paternity was disputed.

The DOR has extensive enforcement tools. They can garnish wages, intercept tax refunds, suspend licenses, levy bank accounts, seize assets, and even involve criminal contempt proceedings. And all of this can happen while the alleged father is trying to figure out if he is even the biological parent.

My Campaign to Expose the Problem

I started posting screenshots and timelines publicly in July 2025. I showed:

•Conflicting arrears totals

•Portal entries threatening contempt for a nonexistent court order

•Dismissed enforcement cases against the mother

I posted over 350 times. Social media became my courtroom. My posts prompted federal and state oversight offices to take notice. The HHS Office of Inspector General referred my inquiry to the Office of Child Support Services. The Chief Inspector General for Florida acknowledged my concerns.

I achieved this without spending thousands on lawyers. I did it with persistence, documentation, and public exposure.

Why This Matters

What I experienced is not unique. Florida fathers face structural disadvantages in administrative child support proceedings. Presumed or assumed paternity can be used to enforce payments, even when it is wrong. The combination of administrative power and weak oversight puts individuals at risk.

Cases like Larael-Karris Owens v. Florida Department of Revenue and Garcia v. DOR show that legal challenges often take years and may fail even when errors exist. My story shows that public documentation and social media can level the playing field—but it is only a temporary solution without systemic reform.

Recommendations for Reform

•Require mandatory biological verification before enforceable orders are issued.

•Create transparent audit trails for arrears notices and administrative actions.

•Improve communication between the DOR, OCSS, and federal oversight.

•Let alleged fathers contest paternity before enforcement in the administrative forum.

•Publish data on errors and corrected cases to increase accountability.

Until these reforms happen, many fathers will continue to face coercive and inconsistent enforcement for children they may not have fathered.

References

1. Florida Child Support Program - Court Actions. https://floridarevenue.com/childsupport/compliance/Pages/court_actions.aspx

2. Florida DOR Child Support Program Overview. https://floridarevenue.com/childsupport/Pages/default.aspx

3. Larael-Karris Owens v. Florida Department of Revenue (11th Cir. 2023). https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca11/22-10550/22-10550-2023-06-21.html

4. Garcia v. Department of Revenue, Child Support Program (1st DCA 2025). https://law.justia.com/cases/florida/first-district-court-of-appeal/2025/1d2024-3220.html

5. Devon A. Brown v. Florida Department of Revenue. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca11/22-10010/22-10010-2022-06-15.html

6. CFOP 170-13 Chapter 02 - Child Support and Paternity Establishment. https://www.myflfamilies.com/sites/default/files/2025-03/CFOP%20170-13%20Chapter%2002%20-%20Child%20Support%20and%20Paternity%20Establishment.pdf

7. Inaccuracies in Child Support Records at Florida DOR. https://www.pbclegal.com/inaccuracies-in-child-support-records-at-the-florida-department-of-revenue/

8. Complying with Child Support Orders - Florida Department of Revenue. https://floridarevenue.com/childsupport/compliance/Pages/default.aspx

9. How Paternity Affects Custody and Child Support in Florida. https://hawmlaw.com/how-paternity-affects-custody-and-child-support-in-florida/

10. Enforcing Child Support Orders in Florida: What to Do When Payments Stop. https://www.sinatralegal.com/blog/2024/09/12/enforcing-child-support-orders-in-florida-what-to-do-when-payments-stop/

11. Iderious Lee Love v. Department of Revenue (3D24-341, 2024). https://law.justia.com/cases/florida/third-district-court-of-appeal/2024/3d24-0341.html

12. Florida Parentage: Navigating Legal Parenthood. https://www.goldenkeylawgroup.com/florida-parentage-navigating-the-path-to-legal-parenthood/

13. Disestablishment of Paternity in Florida. https://www.myfloridalaw.com/child-custody-law/disestablishment-of-paternity-florida/

14. Florida Court Discusses Claims of Fraud in Paternity Disputes. https://www.fortlauderdaledivorcelawyerblog.com/florida-court-discusses-claims-of-fraud-in-paternity-disputes/

15. Paternity Fraud: What Are the Consequences? https://inlawwetrust.com/paternity-fraud-consequences/

16. Administrative Order - Ninth Judicial Circuit. https://ninthcircuit.org/sites/default/files/AO07-95-44-04.pdf

17. What Happens If You Don’t Pay Child Support in Florida? https://figueroalawgroup.com/what-happens-if-you-dont-pay-child-support-in-florida/

18. Paternity Testing in Florida: When Is It Required and Why It Matters. https://lopeslawoffices.com/paternity-testing-in-florida-when-is-it-required-and-why-it-matters/

19. Administrative Support Proceedings. https://www.myfloridalaw.com/child-support-law/paying-child-support-not-the-father/

20. Reddit discussion of Florida welfare system pressure regarding paternity claims. https://www.reddit.com/r/FloridaMan/comments/dk1l8p/florida_man_forced_to_pay_child_support_despite/