Blog

Category: Divorce & Family Law

Beginning January 2025, a new law in Florida will regulate minors' access to social media and online content. This legislation prohibits children under 14 from creating social media accounts and requires parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds. The law also requires that platforms verify users' ages in order to access pornographic material.
When you are pro se (meaning “for oneself”) in a legal action, you represent yourself directly in the case. In Florida Family Law cases, there is no law requiring representation by an attorney, so you certainly can represent yourself - but should you?
Florida is among many states that allow for “no-fault” divorces. This means that one spouse does not have to show wrong-doing on behalf of the other spouse, nor meet other legal requirements, in order to get a divorce.
Florida’s reputation as a retirement haven combined with record numbers of baby boomers retiring has resulted in senior communities springing up all over the state. According to an analysis of recent U.S. Census Bureau data, more seniors flocked to Florida than any other state in 2023. This report also stated that a record 21% of all Florida residents are over 65.
Florida’s alimony law was overhauled last year. Of note, permanent alimony was eliminated, but only as to initial petitions for dissolution of marriage filed or pending as of July 01, 2023. Though the new law does not eliminate permanent alimony awarded prior to the July 01, 2023 cut-off date, it does codify and clarify situations in which termination or modification of permanent alimony may be possible.
I’ve been helping divorcing spouses in Daytona Beach and Volusia and Flagler Counties in Florida for over 40 years. As I’ve gotten older so have my clients. So much so that about 10 years ago I started specializing in senior divorce, gray divorce, silver divorce, baby boomer divorce or whatever you want to call this fast growing family law sector.
Florida Child Support
Florida Statutes create the guidelines for establishing the child support obligations from one parent to the other, but what happens if the obligated parent decides to quit their job to avoid the current amount of child support or child support altogether?
Recent revisions to Florida alimony law have clarified what the courts will consider when ruling on an initial award of alimony or a petition to modify or terminate alimony based on the would-be recipient’s/recipient’s “supportive relationship.” These revisions recognize that the financial needs of the party who is seeking an award of alimony, or already has an alimony award, may be reduced when such a supportive relationship exists.
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.
Too often. we see family law cases wherein the parents have hostile communication, or one party is particularly high conflict with the other parent. In these circumstances, the Court may impose conditions regarding the communication between the parties to keep communication civil and on a need-to-know basis.