Year: 2015

I have often quoted the myth (apparently) that 50% of marriages end in divorce. According to the New York Times, only 30% of couples who married in the 1990s did not reach their 15th anniversary (excluding those in which a spouse died). And couples who married in the 2000’s are even less likely to divorce given their current stats. It seems…

Last week the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to allow same sex marriage nationwide. It no longer allowed the states to make the decision whether to recognize same-sex marriage. The same privileges that are conveyed to a heterosexual couple will now be available to same-sex couples. That will also land many of those couples, like their heterosexual counterparts, in court. Divorce,…

Co-parenting is rarely an easy thing. As a relatively reasonable person, you keep thinking that this thing has to get better. But it doesn’t. If you notice that the other parent is self absorbed, he/she may be a narcissist. I always have had the notion that the word narcissist was overused, but really, it describes that parent who is tuned…

In Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, domestic violence injunction (aka restraining orders) hearings are held on Wednesday mornings. There have been so many times that I have heard a Respondent agree with an injunction being placed against them. Why would you ever agree? The following is a list of what can happen if a restraining order is entered against you:…

College tuition is not included in child support. In Florida, a parent’s obligation to provide support for a child ends once the child reaches the age of 18, or is attending high school with a good faith basis to graduate prior to reaching the age of 19.  Court’s have held that any duty a parent has to pay an adult…

Marriage has a respect from the government, not usually given to other relationships. Until two people file for divorce, they can do whatever they want between themselves and their children. But the minute someone files for divorce, it’s on. Yes, you can leave the state with your children even if your spouse disapproves. Keep in mind though that if you…

Alimony has long been declared a “dirty” word in divorce. A spouse who earns the lionshare of the money in a marriage never wants to pay it and the spouse who doesn’t earn those funds, almost always wants it. Florida seems to be trying to become more in line with the majority of the rest of the states to remove…

This is actually an easy question-YES. If the court can show that the parent who is required to pay support, has the ability to do so or better yet has money in their bank account, the Court can take that parent directly from the courtroom to the jail.  If that parent is lucky, he or she will be given a…

Each case is unique but for the most part when the term “right of first refusal” is used, it means that when a parent is absent from the minor child during their parenting time for less than 6 hours, that parent can place the child with a relative by blood or marriage without giving the other parent the option to…