Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A. Florida Department of Children and Families is the state entity responsible for protecting children from abuse, neglect, and other actions that are detrimental to the child’s well-being. When DCF gets involved with a family, they typically start an investigation…
Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A. Florida divorce law allows for a spouse to be awarded spousal support/alimony, if the court finds that the requesting party has a need for support and if the other party has the ability to pay alimony. Both tests are…
Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A. Florida had a long standing adoption ban for homosexuals until an appellate court ruled that there was no merit for the ban and found it unconstitutional. However, the issue was not over with that court ruling because there was…
Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A. In a divorce or other child support case, I am often asked which parent can claim the child as a tax exemption. According to Florida State 61.30(11)(a)(8), the parent with the majority timesharing is required to file the IRS…
Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A. In Florida, divorces require the equal distribution of marital assets. What this means is that anything purchased or co-mingled during the marriage is considered marital and those assets have to be divided equally to the spouses. However, if one…
Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A. In Florida divorce cases involving children, the parents are required to attend a DCF approved parenting class to help them learn ways of talking with their children and each other about divorce, timesharing and other issues. In North Florida…
Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A. In Florida, child support is determined based on the child support guidelines. In addition, if the payee requests an income deduction order, then the child support will be garnished from the payor’s wages with a fee established by the…
Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A. Holiday Visitation can be challenging when going through a divorce and sometimes even after the divorce is over. Emotions are often heightened during a holiday so rational negotiations can be a challenge. If necessary, you may seek help from…
Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A. Florida alimony laws have been scrutinized over the years because we do not have an alimony calculation, but simply calculate alimony based on factors of marriage duration; contribution to the marriage; marital lifestyle; etc. In addition, the type of…
Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A. Alimony in Florida can be defined as a spousal support established to help keep both parties in the same lifestyle to which they were accustomed during the marriage. Alimony has been established for individuals that are divorcing that have…