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Is a Pre-Marital – Pre-Nuptial Agreement Always Enforceable in the State of Florida? The answer to this question like many – “It depends.”

The sad reality in our society is that most marriages will end in divorce. The United States currently has the highest divorce rate at roughly 50 percent for first marriages and almost 70 percent for remarriages. Fortunately, a premarital agreement can bring predictability and security to the circumstances surrounding settlement of your personal affairs following a marriage or remarriage.

The Florida Statutes define a “premarital agreement” as an agreement between prospective spouses made in contemplation of marriage and to be effective upon marriage. Such agreements may also be referred to as Florida antenuptial or prenuptial agreements, and informally as Florida prenups. The couple planning to be married decides how important financial matters will be resolved in case of divorce, separation or death.

Florida’s Uniform Premarital Agreement Act includes specific requirements needed for a premarital agreement to be valid and enforceable. First, the agreement must be in writing (a court will not enforce any verbal agreements between parties). Second, both parties must sign the agreement. Lastly, the agreement is valid without either party giving up any rights; the act of marriage is sufficient enough to create a valid agreement.

However, Florida law provides multiple ways in which a premarital agreement can be attacked or challenged. Examples include if either party can prove they did not sign the agreement voluntarily, due to fraud, duress, or coercion, or that the terms of the agreement were very unfair and one party was not provided fair access to the other party’s financial situation. For more information on this topic, see the Florida Statutes

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During a heated custody battle, a Jacksonville judge granted custody of three year old Miranda Wilkerson to a registered sex offender over her grandmother. The mother of the girl, Trista Crews, died about a month after Miranda was born. At the time Miranda was conceived, Crews was married to registered sex offender Donald Coleman. His offense was impregnating Crews when she was 14 and he was 38.

During Crews’ pregnancy, Coleman had filed for a divorce. In his divorce petition, Coleman stated that Crews was pregnant with another man’s baby. However, despite the claim, Coleman is still Miranda’s legal father because he was still married to Crews at the time Miranda was born, which played a part in the judge’s ruling. Miranda’s grandmother, Rita Manning, who has since been the child’s caregiver said she only allowed her daughter to marry Coleman because they were expecting a baby.

Coleman’s motion for custody claimed that Manning was not allowing him to see Miranda. The motion also discussed Manning’s arrest record, which included a charge for contributing to the delinquency of a minor (which was later dropped), and a charge for child neglect when her daughter got pregnant by Coleman. According to court documents, Manning was sentenced to probation and Coleman was sentenced to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

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The death of a four-year-old girl, Kristina Hepp has raised new questions about how cases handled by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) are handled. Kristina was born in July 2004 to her mother Elizabeth Hepp, 16-year-old, and immediately concerns were raised over the care of the child.

DCF contracted with Partnership for Strong Families (PSF), a private group, to manage Kristina’s case. Kristina was allowed to stay with her mom, but caseworkers visited routinely. Elizabeth was ordered to take parenting classes and have routine drug tests. In addition, she was ordered to disclose who the father of Kristina was. Paternity tests confirmed that Matthew Roland was the father.

Criminal background checks reveal that Roland, 22, had a criminal history that dated back to 2000, and included charges involving drugs, burglary, battery, and violation of probation. Records show that PSF was required to develop a case plan to help Roland parent Kristina. At that same time, Elizabeth’s attorney requested that her case be closed because she had successfully completed her case plan. Judge David Glant, who was assigned to the case, granted the request. However, DCF’s records indicate that Elizabeth’s case plan was not complete, and that Roland’s case plan was never adopted by the court.

Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney

Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A.

162243_loading_zone.jpgMoving with a child can require meeting Florida statutory requirements, such as providing notice of relocation. If the parent moving has majority time-sharing (i.e. visitation or custody), then that parent needs to provide notice to the other parent of the relocation, which must include certain information in accordance with Florida law. Not following this statute can lead to the court determining you have to come back to Florida.

Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney

Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A.

1053161_footprints.jpgIn Florida, unmarried fathers have to establish paternity and parental rights through the court system by filing a Petition to Establish Paternity. Florida paternity is strictly defined by Florida statute, which also states a strong presumption that a child born during a marriage is the child of the husband. The court looks at the husband as being the legal father of the child and there is no cause of action that can be brought by the biological father to fight the presumption. What this means is that if you are the biological father of a child that is born during the mother’s marriage, and you are not the husband, then you have no way of getting rights to your child.

Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney

Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A.

754431_in_business.jpgChild support and alimony laws of Florida often go hand-in-hand. In Florida, child support is calculated based on the income of both parties. In Florida, alimony is considered income to the party receiving the funds, including the person having to pay taxes on the alimony. As such, Florida requires that alimony be determined separately from child support and the order reflect said division to be certain that child support is properly calculated.

Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney

Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A.

668001_danger_school_traffic_signal.jpgFlorida child custody cases are decided in the best interest of the child. Florida law changed in 2007 to change custody to time-sharing and the court does require a time-sharing plan. However, there has been a presumption that time-sharing means that parents have 50/50 child visitation. In 2011, the Florida legislature made it clear, through new changes to the statute, that time-sharing is not to be presumed equal for the parents. Therefore, prior case law should now be ignored on that basis and the parents, in developing time-sharing plans, must keep the best interest of the child at the top of their goals, otherwise the court will enforce what it feels is in the child’s best interest.

Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney

Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A.

love-triangle11.jpgRecently, a Florida man who is married to two women was to not be in violation of Florida bigamy laws. The Orlando man was caught in the marriage triangle by his wife, Heather Bennett in 2010. She and Tait were married in 2000 and he was married to Amy Bennett in 2005 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Due to the second marriage taking place in Nevada, the crime is considered to have happened outside of Florida and therefore, the State of Florida cannot prosecute Tait Bennett for the crime.

Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney

Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A.

907673_reserved.jpgIn a Florida case involving children, whether a divorce or paternity action, the court requires that the parents have a time-sharing plan and a parenting plan. A Florida parenting plan lays out parameters for the parents to follow while they try raising children in separate households. If the parents cannot agree on a parenting plan, the court may require them to participate in a Social Investigation as defined by Florida Statute 61.20.

Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney

Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A.

959347_magnifying_glass.jpgFlorida family law court requires that parties divorcing with children or going through a paternity case must establish a parenting plan. The parenting plan is designed to give parents parameters in raising children in separate homes. Often, parents cannot agree on a parenting plan, when that happens, the court may require the parents to attend a Social Investigation per Florida Statute 61.20.

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