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Florida requires that in order to obtain a divorce here, you must be a resident for 6 months. There are different ways to show that you have in fact moved here, for instance: the day you changed your driver’s license, utility hookup bills, your voter registration card or even your lease or closing document from a new house. It is…
Yes. Depending on the plan, usually only one parent is listed as the owner and the child is the beneficiary. The huge problem with that is the threat that one parent may liquidate the fund. In the final judgment of dissolution of marriage, it is important if you feel the other party will use the fund for their own benefit,…
Yes. If you and your spouse come to an agreement that is signed by both parties, your attorney can file it with the clerk along with the uncontested checklist, special affidavit and proposed final judgment. The Court will hold it for a short period of time to ensure that the other party does not wish to contest the proposed final…
The obligation to provide financial support for a child ends once the child attains the age of 18 unless he/she is enrolled in high school with an expectation of graduating prior to turning 19. Unless a party agrees to provide college funding, a court is without the ability to order it. Since your marriage has lasted more than 17 years,…
From 2011 until May 12, 2014, when parents exercised an informal parenting plan (specifically if a judge had not ordered a detailed parenting plan), the paying parent was not given credit in the child support calculation for their time sharing. Child support is based on how many overnights each parent has monthly, hence the more overnights the paying parent exercises,…
If it can be shown that the party who is obligated to pay child support purchased some non-essential item and did not pay child support, it could certainly constitute willful non-payment. Obviously a vacation to Disney or purchasing a Michael Kors purse are non-essential.
In 2008, Florida’s legislature revised its family law statutes to remove the presumption against an equal time share between parents and their children. There is no presumption for any specific time share anymore. The Court will look at each individual case and make a decision if the parties cannot come to an agreement. I must say that there are some…
If you are receiving benefits, the attorney for the Department represents the State (technically.) It is definitely a good idea to hire your own counsel who will work in combination with the Department’s attorney.
Any liability or debt that is incurred during the marriage is presumed to be a marital debt and as such, it is a joint debt. It is irrelevant if one spouse is listed on the debt and the other is not. If the debt was incurred for marital expenses, like vacations, food, clothing etc, then that debt is marital. A…
An Income Withholding order is a uniform order that instructs the employer of a paying parent to withhold child support or alimony from that employee’s paycheck. The employer sends the funds to the Child Support Disbursement Unit where it is then disbursed to the receiving parent. If a parent is terminated from an employer who is following an Income Withholding…