Family Law Tips

Essential advice on navigating family law issues, from divorce to child custody, to protect your rights and interests.

family-law-tips
  • If you are in fear of domestic or have been a victim of domestic or sexual violence you may qualify for a protection order to keep that person away from you whether you are married or not.
  • The length of time it takes to get a divorce in Florida depends on if the couple agrees to the divorce or not. Florida law requires a judge to wait 20 days from the time a divorce petition is filed to grant a divorce, unless the couple waives this requirement. The law also requires each side be given 30 days to prepare for a final hearing of divorce, unless waived by the couple. Ultimately, whether the divorce will be contested or not determines the length of time it takes to get divorced in Florida.
  • When a couple is not married and there is neither an acknowledgement of paternity form or a paternity order in place, the mother is the natural guardian.
  • When you involve your children in your divorce, you are putting them in the middle of a high conflict situation, and it is extremely dangerous to your relationship with your child and puts them in an anxiety provoking situation. This can also be extremely damaging to your legal case on custody.
  • Even if you are not current on child support or not paying support, you may be entitled to timesharing with your children.
  • All property accumulated in a marriage is likely to be deemed martial property and to be split in the divorce, therefore it cannot be sold, destroyed, or given away while the divorce is ongoing.
  • Who gets the house in a divorce? A judge can award the marital home to one spouse as part of property distribution in your divorce, provided the party can pay for the costs to maintain the home. A court will look at several factors to decide who gets the house and may also order the house be sold and the proceeds divided. This assumes that the house qualifies as “marital” property and not one spouse’s sole, separate property.

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