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Trials, appeals and settlements
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Mediation
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Criminal Defense
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Collaborative Law
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Philosophy
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Family
Law
Family law includes divorces,
parental responsibilities, child support modifications, and other family law
problems. I have been doing family law since 1970. We do our best to keep costs down - I don't
believe in fighting just for the sake of fighting. I do believe in
fighting for things that are important.
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Divorce
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Divorce can take anywhere from a
minimum of 90 days to a year or more. If you have a contested
divorce - especially if you are fighting over custody or assets which may
disappear - it is very important to start the divorce properly.
The procedure is generally the same from county to county, but there are
specific rules in every county which are different. You should file in the
county where the other party, or where the children reside; but you can
file in the county were both parties last resided together with the intent
of remaining married.
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Shared
Parental Responsibilities
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Parenting Plans lay out, in
detail, where the children spend their time, who
picks them up and drops them off; etc. They are enforceable in court
against either parent - so it makes sense to spend some time on them.
The court will usually keep the children with the parent who has been the
primary caretaker for the recent past. Very often the plan that is
initially entered by the court ends up being the permanent plan - so the
temporary plan is critical.
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Custody Modifications
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In order to do a major
modification of a parenting plan, there must be a substantial change in circumstances. That is, if you want to change
custody to you, the circumstances must have changed fairly
drastically.
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Child Support
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Child support is set as a function
of the combined income of both parents, pursuant to a formula set forth in
the Florida Child Support Guidelines. Then, each parent pays his proportional share of the support. The custodial parent gets the
transfer payment; obviously he does not pay himself. The amount is
set by the legislature - but there are some grounds for deviations that
work. Arguments over
child support typically revolve around what the actual incomes are;
whether you count overtime (yes!); whether you can get a deviation down
for other children you are supporting (yes - sometimes); and how to prove
and get reimbursed for daycare and medical expenses. Parenting plans
(visitation) and child support are completely separate: just because he is not paying child support does not mean
he does not get visitation, and
vice-versa.
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Child Support Modifications
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Child support modifications are
available where there has been a change in the financial status of either
party. The amount of the modification, if any, is also tied to the
Child Support Guidelines.
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Breaking Up - Not Married
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The bad news is this: the marriage
dissolution statute applies only to marriages. If you have been living together,
have property together, and have children together, there is no neat and
clean way to deal with the breakup. To deal with the children, and child
support, you may have to bring a paternity action; to deal with the
property you will have to bring a separate civil action, in the Circuit
Court. You may get attorney fees in the paternity
action, but you won't get them in the civil action. One way to deal with
this is to have a pre-nuptial or co-habitation agreement - but that means
you have to talk about it beforehand.
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Dividing the Assets
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Florida is a equitable
distribution state. In a divorce, each spouse has an equal and undivided share of
whatever property was accumulated. The only rule the court has is that it
has to divide up the property however seems fair to the court - and it has
discretion in deciding what "fair" is. Generally, however, the
asset split is 50 - 50. The major disagreements involve finding out
and evaluating the assets.
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Alimony
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In Florida, the courts will award
alimony based a number of criteria. The longer the marriage,
and the greater disparity in income, the larger and longer the award of
alimony. In a short term marriage, there may be little to no alimony
awarded;
in long term marriages - 20 years or more - there will probably be lifetime
alimony.
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