Navigating the Florida legal system can be scary, especially when you’re dealing with a family emergency. The most common form of emergency family court hearing in Florida is over the custody of a child. We’ve laid out a simple guide that will help you navigate the complicated legal process required for acquiring custody of a child in Florida.
According to the CDC, about 40% of children are born to unmarried women. In Florida, the mother of a child born outside of marriage is the natural guardian with sole legal rights in respect to the child unless you prove paternity.
The definition of paternity according to Merriam-Webster is the “quality or state of being a father.” That can be pretty ambiguous, and what constitutes paternity varies from state to state. In Florida, legal fatherhood is not necessarily the same as biological fatherhood. If a child is born in wedlock, that child is automatically considered the child of the man the mother is married to. Unless the biological father’s paternity is established, he has no rights or obligations to the child.
How do you establish paternity in Florida courts? There are a couple options:
As Tampa Divorce Lawyers we have handled hundreds of divorce cases. So here’s a unique twist, we are sharing divorce tips from divorce lawyer to the stars Laura Wasser’s new book that is filled with practical tips for people who are trying to disentangle themselves from their spouses.
Wasser — who has represented Kim Kardashian, Angelina Jolie, Britney Spears, and Ashton Kutcher — offers her advice in a book called “It Doesn’t Have To Be That Way: How To Divorce Without Destroying Your Family or Bankrupting Yourself.”
We culled Wasser’s book for her wisest tips:
What are the emotional stages of a divorce? No matter how amicable the separation, a divorce is the end of a significant part of your life and throughout the process, your emotions can and will change during this difficult time. You may be asking yourself what stage of grieving your divorce you are currently experiencing and what’s next. There are emotional stages that you need to be prepared to acknowledge and manage. These emotions can cause minds to be unclear and chaotic when decisions need to be made.
You could feel betrayal, guilt, distance, numbness, insecurity, and maybe even a small glimpse of hope that the relationship will reconcile. It can help the healing process if you know what emotions you have already gone through and look to see how you are making process moving forward.
Common grieving stages of divorce you may experience:
Divorce Advice from Tampa Divorce LawyerAs Tampa divorce lawyers we have often heard of one’s partner coming home and saying, “I am moving out.” This usually occurs after an often painful period of deliberation, and they are the ones who are ready to dissolve the marriage and want to be out of the home. Sometimes in cases like these, the spouse may not have any interest in keeping the shared home after the marriage ends.
But other times, even if one spouse wants out and the couple discusses dissolving the marriage it still isn’t clear who should be out of the home.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in December 2017 affects how taxes will be calculated for the 2018 Fiscal Year. This new tax bill includes many factors on the state of taxes, especially alimony payments. The provisions regarding alimony will only affect alimony agreements made after 2018. If your divorce was not completed with a final judgement, or your alimony agreement was not signed prior to January 1, 2019 then your alimony payments may still be tax deductible.
It is said that divorce is one of the most stressful experiences in a person’s life. As divorce lawyers, we see the fear, sadness, stress, anger, hurt and a range of other emotions that are triggered when a relationship ends. Try not make any rash, rushed decisions during this time. We often want to get the pain over quickly and concede to things that we may regret later.
Here are a few tips to help yourself when divorce appears to be imminent…
Take Pictures of Property
This may not be the first thing you are thinking, but it will be important as your divorce process continues. Begin to document everything that you own with photos including your home, the contents within as well as automobiles and other possessions. Indicate the date you took the photos by placing a daily newspaper in the photo or verify a time stamp is in the photo file. Knowing your marital assets can become helpful when splitting property.
Family law financial affidavits are mandatory in every divorce case by Florida Law, which is a part of mandatory disclosure. Mandatory disclosure is financial information that is automatically disclosed by people filing for a divorce. The purpose is to ensure that each party is aware of the financial circumstances from both sides.
These mandatory disclosures require a financial affidavit form, and often require information related to tax returns, bank statements, credit card statements, car titles and insurance policies.
Grandparents rights in Florida are limited but there can be situations where the Florida Family Courts system can provide visiting rights and sometimes temporary custody for grandparents and their grandchildren. This process will mostly be handled through mediation and, if necessary, a court hearing.
Florida awards grandparents custodial rights in the form of temporary custody when it has been determined that the parents are unable to adequately provide for their children. This is a short-term solution until the parents are able to resume their role as primary caretaker. Grandparents will be provided legal documents to prove they are able to make decisions regarding the child’s health and wellness during this time.
In a big step forward for Florida paternity cases, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that biological fathers should be allowed contact with children born to a woman married to someone else.
In the past, “illegitimate children” were taboo and reliable paternity tests were years away so it was decided that the woman’s husband should be declared the legal father and the biological father blocked from their children’s life. Even when the biological father tried to stay involved, through child support and a general concern for the child’s well being, did not mean they had any rights to that child.
A recent Broward County case has brought this out-of-date law into the spotlight. The father in the case had been involved since the child was born but when he requested to be declared the child’s father and given visitation the family was hesitant and the courts originally ruled in favor of the antiquated law, cutting the biological father out of his child’s life. The father appealed and the Florida High Court has ruled in favor of the biological father, giving him the rights to be involved in their child’s life and upbringing.
While not all cases are the same, this ruling means men should be eligible to have the legal right to the children, whether the mother is married or not. If you are concerned about your paternity rights, contact LaFrance Family Law to discover how we can help you gain and maintain your paternity rights.
