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Practice Areas:
Divorce & Family
Divorce
Facing divorce is emotionally challenging and the legal process can be extremely complicated. Our divorce attorneys are sensitive to what you are going through and will guide you through the process with the utmost respect for your wellbeing emotionally, financially, and with regard to your children. We will represent your best interests in regard to child custody, child support, alimony, and equitable distribution of property, assets, and debts.
Our family lawyers represent clients throughout central Florida in all types of divorce cases including: contested divorces, uncontested divorces, collaborative divorces, and simplified divorces. There are several options to resolve your divorce case, which depend on whether the spouses can agree on major issues or if the family court will need to resolve issues such as child custody, child support, alimony, and division of assets and debts.
Child Support
Under Florida law, both parents have an obligation to provide for a child's welfare financially. Child support is the court ordered payments from one parent to the other to cover expenses related to the child. Child support is generally awarded in proportion to each parent's income taking into consideration other factors such as the number of overnight stays the child has with each parent, which parent is paying for other expenses such as child care and health insurance, and any special needs of the child.
Child support may be awarded in a divorce case, a custody case, or in a standalone child support action. We represent fathers and mothers in child support cases to ensure that child support is administered fairly and accurately reflects each parent's legal obligation based on net income.
Competent legal representation may make thousands of dollars of difference in child support calculations for either parent in a divorce or family law case.
Paternity, Custody, and Timesharing
When a child is born, the mother is legally presumed to be the natural caregiver and parent of that child. In order for the father to have parental rights and/or obligations, paternity (legal fatherhood) must be established.
If the mother is married at the time of childbirth, her husband is legally presumed to be the legal father and no action is necessary to secure his rights. In the case of a divorce, the child support and custody issues will be addressed as part of the divorce. If the husband is not the biological father, then the paternity of the biological father must be established by the family court.
If the mother is not married at the time of childbirth, then either the mother or the father must petition the family court to establish legal paternity. Once the family court determines that the man is actually the child's father, then the family court will establish a parenting plan for the child recognizing both parents' rights and obligations including timesharing (physical custody), child support, and decision-making authority (parental responsibility).
Same-sex parents have the same rights and responsibilities as opposite-sex parents. In the case of same-sex parents where one is the biological mother, the biological mother is still presumed to be the natural caregiver and parent of the child and the other's parental rights must be established by some other legal means.
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Contact us today to discuss your family law matters. We are here to help you decide what is best for you and your children.
The legal system can be confusing and intimidating. Let one of our experienced Divorce & Family attorneys lead you through the court process step-by-step with personalized advice and legal guidance.
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