Category: Marital and Family Law

According to leading legal research website, Westlaw, March is the peak month for divorce filings. Divorce filings uptick in January and reach a crescendo in March. This phenomenon is no doubt related to new year’s resolutions and people’s commitment to take action and make the changes they feel are necessary in their lives.

Once your divorce or paternity action is final you may think you will never have to re-visit those issues again. The ink is dry on the Final Judgment! It has been filed with the clerk’s office! After all that time and trouble, everyone has adjusted to a new routine. But wait a minute!

While hundreds of same-sex couples happily lined up this past Tuesday to get married after a federal judge ruled the state’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, Florida divorce lawyers readied their practices for more business.

We receive many questions about the age when a child may testify in court. During a divorce proceeding- especially contentious ones- where the parenting plan is in dispute, the children wind up squarely in the middle.

Over the last several months in Florida, there have been several interesting cases that have emerged in family court divisions around the state, which eventually will make its way to conclusions at the State’s Appellate Courts, and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court.

Emotions may run high between partners or spouses during or in the aftermath of a divorce. The temptation to lash out at one another using Facebook or Twitter should be avoided. Unfortunately, statistics demonstrate that incidents of cyberstalking are on the increase nationwide.

A party who seeks to change in the amount of court ordered child support bears the burden of proving a substantial change in circumstances. A substantial change in circumstances is defined as significant, material, involuntary and permanent in nature.

A judge in Hillsborough County, Florida has refused to enter a divorce decree for a couple because the State constitution and its statutes do not recognize same-sex marriages. The same-sex couple was legally married in Massachusetts but now reside in Florida.