Written By: Lenorae Atter, Florida Family Law Attorney
latter@woodatter.com
Going through a divorce in Jacksonville, Florida or its surrounding areas can raise questions involving visitation, child support, alimony, etc. However, what about grandparents and the impact of divorce on them? In Florida, grandparents are not given a statutory right or any other right to the grandchildren, except as decided by the parent(s).
In Jacksonville, Florida family law, I deal with cases involving children, divorces, support, visitation and custody, and as d a person interested in my work, I find different information helpful. What is most interesting, however, is that there are so many different statistics we can view, pieces we can read on the effects of divorce, societal changes and how they are affected, and multiple other news and information outlets regarding this topic. However, it does not seem like most of the information provided is from firsthand experience and what a child may have witnessed in their broken home(s).
Recently, I was reading an article in the Washington Post on, the book “The Marriage- Go-Round” and how Americans have a higher rate of divorce than any other country in the world. Not only that, Florida has a higher divorce rate than mid-west or western states. The article discusses the whys and why nots and stability’s role in our lives. “If you already have a child and you’ve broken up with the other parent, slow down. Take your time bringing new people into your household.” Andrew J. Cherlin, a Johns Hopkins University sociologist.
The issues raised in the book and the article are all factors in considering a “Parenting Plan,” which is now a requirement in divorces involving children. It allows you to factor in the many difficult decisions you and your exspouse will be making through your child(ren)’s life. It’s important to consider factors in dealing with new relationships and introducing them into your lives. It also allows you to consider birthday, graduations, weddings, etc.
On Father’s Day weekend, Governor Sanford was not celebrating with his son, but with his mistress. In Florida divorces, while we recognize adultery as having an impact, we do still recognize “no fault divorce”. However, if Florida allows the affair to be acknowledged monetarily what about the consequences with children and visitation/timesharing?
Governor Sanford told his family that he needed a to the Appalachian Trail, but with four sons, the question still warrants whether the children were impacted by an absentee father for a national recognition of the same. Then, to add insult to injury for the children, it came out that Governor Sanford was no where near the Appalachian Trail, he was thousands of miles away visiting his mistress.
While we look to his wife for her response, the children remain the silent victims. I would have to assume, that even a no-fault divorce state, the emotional impact of Governor Sanford’s actions will actually play a role in the overall determination of who the children live with and how liberal Mark Sanford’s visitation will be.
Florida’s visitation is now timesharing and residential parent is now majority timesharing parent. As a Florida family law attorney I have focused on the parents and children going through this change, but it was brought to my attention that change in visitation and custodial parents is actually having an impact on the Florida schools.
I practice primarily in Jacksonville, Orange Park, Fernandina and St. Augustine, but an article in the Bradenton Herald caught my attention. The article, entitled “Schools Custody Policy Proposed: Custodial Parent Is No Longer Decision Maker In Schools” deals with the impact the new legislation has had on the schools determining which parent is the “go to” parent on school issues. Historically, a family would go through a divorce and the mother or father was determined the “Primary Custodial Parent”. In today’s world of timesharing, things have changed and the language needs to be tightened up to make things easier. The legislature did create “Parenting Plans” to help in this transition and determine the roles of the parents.
While the article states that timesharing is designed to give both parents 50/50 split, that is actually not true. Timesharing is a way for the parents to feel as if they both get the child and that one parent is not more important or greater than the other. The courts, at least in Jacksonville, still frown at the concept of children not having a stable environment.
Written By: Lenorae C. Atter
As a family law attorney in Jacksonville, Florida, I handle a number of different divorce cases. The issues are always different because individuals and their assets, debts, businesses, incomes and matters related to their children are always different. One thing I have noticed is the surprise of my clients when they discover a business that was started during the marriage is actually a marital asset or liability, depending on the company’s solvency.
In order to define the asset/liability, it is important to recognize what the business is and if the business is solely dependent on the spouse(s) work. A business valuation is typically a good idea, so that an outside, neutral party can determine the actual value of the property.
In a Jacksonville, Florida divorce, just the entry of the, “parties are returned to the status of being single” does not bar a claim for child support, division of assets and liabilities and all other related issues. Basically, it is a tool often used so that the parties can declare themselves divorce, but the proceedings continue the path they were on.
The difficulty is, when one party sees this, it may cause panic, tears, concern and frustration. Actually going about the process correctly takes finesse, patience and understanding for the other party. Explain to them that they are not stopped from getting matters resolved, but simply taking care of one issue, the actual marriage that still holds them as “husband and wife.”
When going through such a process, make certain that you have certain things in place like a provision that the Final Judgment does not preclude further action. However, in regards to child support, Florida law makes it clear that you cannot actually negotiate away your right or responsibility to child support.
In Florida, the statutes regarding paternity, child support, visitation and custody have different laws when dealing with an out-of-state parent. I am a Jacksonville area divorce and family law attorney and recently I had a case involving a mother and child that reside here and a father that lives out-of-state. The issue that was difficult to overcome is, “which court is proper to bring actions regarding the child?”
Florida Statute 48.193 requires that the out-of-state resident to have some form of contact with the State of Florida. While the presumed father has the option to prevail on this issue if he has not been in Florida, nor was the child conceived in Florida, that does not resolve the issue for the presumed father.
Once a child resides in Florida, the Florida courts have jurisdiction over that child through the UCCJEA and Florida Statute 61.514. Therefore, all actions dealing with visitation and custody must be brought in Florida, so an out-of-state court may be required by the presumed father, to determine paternity and possibly child support, but if the father wants visitation with the child, he will be required to file in Florida.
In Jacksonville, Florida family law , I have clients that are facing huge changes in their life whether it is from divorce or determination of paternity. The majority have never been a parent or have never been a single parent. In addition, some have jobs that have taken them from their children. The solution may be in a service being offered by Ronnie Cage, who has a Master Trainer Certification in the “Fatherhood Development” Curriculum from the National Partnership for Community Leadership. I had the pleasure of speaking with him and finding out that he coaches fathers on how to become dads to their kids whether for the first time or the first time in a long time.
Mr. Cage has found his calling in helping individuals learn, mainly fathers, to be better communicators, listeners and parents. It’s a service we could all benefit from in our lives, but we can’t often find the recipe to make the proper parent pie. Mr. Cage, and others in his field, may be the missing cookbook to better parenting.
Written By: Lenorae C. Atter
Collaborative action for divorce, child support, visitation, alimony and other family law matters is not common in Jacksonville, Florida.
Collaborative Law is being practiced in most parts of the country, including South Florida, but has not found its popularity in Jacksonville yet. As a Jacksonville divorce lawyer who wants my clients walking away with a smile rather than the need for the spa, I am a huge advocate of this process. I don’t think children should be the victim of their parents’ inability to communicate, but should be healthier through divorce because the parents have a since of stability throughout the process. That is what is offered in a collaborative law setting. It’s the attorneys and the clients, from the very beginning, agreeing that a divorce process aimed at resolving the divorce, custody, child support, marital home, assets, and finances can actually be done amicably from beginning to end.
In Florida, when parties obtain a dissolution of marriage and there are children involved, one issue is which party will carry the health insurance on the children. If the party who does not have primary timesharing with the children carries the health insurance for the children, he or she will receive a “credit” towards the child support obligation to help cover the cost of the health insurance. As such, it can be a benefit to be the party who sustains the health insurance obligation. However, recently, the government has been exploring the idea of taxing health insurance benefits to employees. Under the current law, employer contributions for health insurance premiums provided for employees are not taxable income to employees, but that could change in the near future. Be aware that if health benefits become taxed as income to the party maintaining the insurance on behalf of the children that this could affect the child support, net monthly income and “credits” provided to the obliging party.
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