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The important distinction between wedding and engagement rings is that the engagement ring is considered a gift that occurs before the marriage whereas the wedding rings are viewed as gifts during the marriage.
Here are the top six tips for Florida Divorce and Paternity Cases
One of the most common questions I hear as a Florida estate planning attorney is whether a person with memory issues or early cognitive decline can still legally sign a will or trust. It is a question that affects many families because people are living longer and may experience years of mild impairment before they lose the ability to make legal decisions.
Attorney MaryCatherine Crock attended the inaugural meeting for the Dunn Blount Inn of Court on November 13, 2025. The meeting hosted a local member of the community specializing in mental health efforts in the workplace. The presentation gave significant and beneficial insight into maintaining a healthy balance between everyday work and attorneys’ mental health.

Florida Statutes create the guidelines for establishing the child support obligations from one parent to the other, but what happens if the obligated parent doesn’t use their allotted time-sharing? Florida Statute Chapter 61 establishes the ramifications for those who are ordered to pay child support but don’t use their allotted time-sharing with the child/ren. Essentially, […]

It’s common for spouses to separate prior to, or contemporaneously with, the filing of the Dissolution of Marriage petition; in fact, sometimes spouses separate years before one of them finally decides to file the petition. Sometimes the spouse who moved out ceases to contribute to the mortgage on the marital home and other household expenses, […]

Philip J. Bonamo, PartnerFlorida Bar Board Certified Criminal Defense Attorney In a recent appellate court decision, the 2nd District Court of Appeal for Florida ruled that law enforcement cannot search a vehicle only on the basis of smelling cannabis. The case stemsfrom the Tampa Bay area, when in 2023 the police, during a routine stop […]

Florida’s Probate Code protects family members who appear to have been unintentionally left out of a will because of events that happened after the document was signed. These protections live in the pretermitted spouse and pretermitted child statutes and they can reshape an otherwise tidy estate plan. A pretermitted spouse is a person who marries […]

Effective July 1, 2025, a significant change to Florida’s landlord-tenant law takes effect with the enactment of Florida Statute § 83.505. For the first time, landlords and tenants may legally communicate and deliver required statutory notices by email, provided certain conditions are met. This marks a departure from the prior legal framework, which recognized only […]

Florida Statutes create the guidelines for requesting emergent relief from the Court with regard to the emergency pick up of a minor child from the other parent. However, qualifying circumstances are extremely limited. An emergency motion for pick up is required to be verified by the filing party. This means that it must be sworn […]