If you are the victim of domestic abuse in Florida there are ways you can petition the Court for help with or without an attorney. The first step is to identify that there is a problem that you need to deal with. If you need to you can contact the…
In Florida, attorneys are not permitted to charge contingent fees in Family Law Cases involving a dissolution of marriage or seeking an award of alimony, child support, or equitable distribution. Family law cases are emotional by nature. This causes cases to often times take a long time to resolve. If…
Many of my clients ask me to request an emergency hearing in their family law cases without really understanding what the term emergency means in Family law court. Clients have a different opinion of what constitutes an emergency than attorneys. In turn, judges have a different opinion of what an…
In recent news it has been reported that actor Kelsey Grammer is getting divorced from his wife of thirteen years, Camille. A recent development in the case is that the actor has requested a bifurcation of the trial proceedings so he can finalize the divorce as soon as possible and…
In Florida there is a residency requirement that must be met for a Florida court to have subject-matter jurisdiction. One of the parties must reside in Florida for at least six months before filing a petition for dissolution of marriage and have the intent to remain in the state at…
In a Florida divorce the term for dividing up the assets and liabilities of a marriage during a divorce is called “equitable distribution”. The assets and liabilities of the marriage must first be identified, then classified as marital or nonmarital, and then a valuation of the marital assets must be…
Every time the subject of mediation comes up in one of my family law cases clients always ask me the same thing, “do I have to go to mediation”? The answer is almost always yes in Florida. The judiciary has found in Florida that the majority of family law cases…
In Florida there is a difference between a Simplified Dissolution Proceeding and an Uncontested Final Hearing. In an uncontested divorce one party has filed a petition and the other party has filed an answer. A simplified dissolution is where the parties file a joint sworn petition that there are no…
In a Florida divorce the trial court may order the payor spouse to get a life insurance policy as security for his or her alimony obligation with the payee spouse as the beneficiary. The burden in this type of case is on the payee spouse to show several things: 1)…
In a Florida divorce the court can award alimony to either party which may be rehabilitative or permanent in nature. Generally after the court has determined which party is entitled to what assets and is responsible for which debts, it will address the issue of alimony. Alimony in a Florida…