Timescolonist.com posted an article the other day titled, “Parental Abduction: Here are the Warning Signs.” Although the article discusses issues arising out of Canada the same principals apply to the States.
Some things to consider when there are concerns regarding Parental Abduction:
(1) Divorce or separation is “high conflict.”
Drug testing is a common issue in divorce and other legal proceedings involving children. Family Law Judges in Jacksonville have the authority to order a parent who is alleged to be using and or abusing illegal substances to submit to a drug test. This usually occurs upon motion of the other party or parent.
Reportedly, R&B star, Usher, is finding himself in this exact situation. Neontommy.com posted an article, which opens with, “In the heat of a custody battle, Usher’s ex-wife, Tameka Raymond, is practically begging for the judge to have him drug tested. She claims that the R&B superstar “pops pills” and “who knows what else” in front of their two boys.”
If you live in the Jacksonville area and are concerned that your ex-spouse or soon-to-be-ex-spouse is abusing drugs around your children contact a Jacksonville Family Law Lawyer today to schedule a free consultation.
As a Family Law Attorney in the Jacksonville Beach area I am consistently asked how the courts calculate alimony. This is often a difficult question to answer.
In Jacksonville Florida there is no basic calculation system that the courts follow; instead, there are factors that are taken into consideration when determining whether to award and how much to award in alimony.
These factors include:
Family law attorney, Edra J. Pollin, recently wrote an article on www.huffintonpost.com titled, “My Top Ten List Of What Not To Do In Divorce Court.” Ms. Pollin suggests that judicial determinations are often based on factors other than legal argument and evidence. Particularly, Ms. Pollin suggests judges often look to the way parties behave while in the court room. As a Jacksonville Family Law Lawyer, I could not agree more.
The following list consists of what NOT to do while in front of a judge.
(1) Do not roll your eyes, mutter under your breath or otherwise gesticulate when your spouse is testifying.
It’s not uncommon for parents to decide to part ways and raise their children separately. Some parents are able to work things out without going to court, but oftentimes the court needs to step in and help determine each parent’s rights.
Child support payments are often contested in these situations. Your former spouse may think you owe more than you think you do. If you go to court, you may find the court is on your side. If the court orders child support payments, however, you may find yourself owing more than you originally thought.
In fact, in paternity actions, dissolution of marriages, or petitions for support during marriage, the court has the discretion to award child support retroactive to the date when the parents did not reside together. The court can order payments from up to 24 months in the past.
Many divorces in Florida begin as “uncontested,” meaning both parties agree that divorce is appropriate and they want to work out an agreement and get the whole situation behind them as soon as possible.
A Jacksonville Divorce Attorney can help you through this process. In order to file an uncontested divorce, at least one party must be a resident of Florida for at least 180 days (6 months) prior to filing. If the parties remain agreeable, the judge can sign off an agreement within as few as 20 days of filing the initial divorce petition.
In the ideal world, both parties will get what they want and the divorce will be granted relatively quickly. But unfortunately, uncontested divorce does not always work out that way. Parties often find they disagree about important aspects of the divorce. Whether it’s a fight over the house, the kids, the car, or the dog, obtaining an uncontested divorce is often not as simple as the parties would like.
In Jacksonville, Florida injunctions (commonly known as restraining orders) can be very beneficial and are often times necessary for victims of domestic violence. However, as a Jacksonville Family Law Attorney, I know with injunctions come obstacles.
For example, lets say Husband and Wife with two children decide to get a divorce. The Husband has been both emotionally and physically abusive to Wife. Wife secures an injunction for protection against Husband. Due to the physical and emotional abuse the Family Law Judge in the divorce grants Husband temporary supervised timesharing (visitation) with the children. How are the children going to be exchanged for Husband’s timesharing?
In Jacksonville we have the Family Nurturing Center (FNC). The FNC serves as a meet up point for supervised exchanges. Precautions are taken to ensure that the Husband and Wife have no contact with each other.
Because the beneficiary designation was never updated post divorce finalization, the Supreme Court of Florida has ruled a former spouse still entitled to death benefits payable from a retirement plan. Unambiguous language in the Marital Settlement Agreement can avoid a beneficiary designation even where a spouse has neglected to remove their now ex-spouse.
However, some designations can be revised prior to a divorce, but Federal law does not allow the changing of a beneficiary designation on some financial plans without written spousal consent, which is difficult to get when something like a 401(k) is in dispute. This spousal consent rule can create a small hurdle; most beneficiary designations can be changed and should be as soon as possible after a divorce.
An experienced Florida Family Law Attorney should be sure to ask you about beneficiary designations before finalizing a divorce. Be sure to ask the attorney working on your divorce if you are unsure about certain designations. If you are not currently working with an attorney, the most advisable practice is to secure an experienced Jacksonville Family Law Attorney as soon as possible.
During a Jacksonville divorce, many facets of a couple’s life are controlled by an order of the court. Things like time-sharing for the kids, alimony for a spouse, and distribution of assets. Something the court cannot control is the way a father chooses to live his life, even if he is making choices that sacrifice the life of you and your child after the divorce is finalized. Take the following as an example.
Wife gets pregnant and shortly after goes through a dissolution of marriage with her husband. Wife has been raising her child for the last 2 years with her child’s father paying support. Lately, husband has been missing his payments and is about $5,000 behind in child support payments. He has been out of rehab and spent some time in jail, for which he also lost his job. Since that is the case, husband is petitioning the court to lower or reduce the amount of child support he owes.
A situation like this raises a few questions: will the court not enforce the arrearages of $5,000 because he can’t pay? The answer most likely not. A court will not usually reduce past due support payments unless the husband is able to show he is entitled to a reduction for a compelling reason, such as lack of capacity to enter the marital settlement agreement, which prevented him from filing a motion prior to the support payments due date.
You may remember the four-hour wedding special and countless front-page tabloid appearances. But alas, true love does not always last: Kim Kardashian filed for divorce from Kris Humphries as of today, October 31. Citing “irreconcilable differences,” apparently the couples’ TV show and focus under the spotlight was just too much to handle.
Details are scarce, but the couple apparently had a prenuptial agreement. Prenuptial agreements allow couples to make agreements prior to their marriage regarding any number of things, though they are often used to protect one of the parties who may have substantially more assets than the other and does not want those assets to be divided in the event of a divorce.
Her attorneys likely advised Ms. Kardashian on her best options, but in states like Florida, a marriage for such a short period of time could be drawn to a close through an annulment. Annulments are available primarily when the marriage was never valid in the first place; however, such instances can be difficult to prove.
Jacksonville Divorce Attorney Blog