Author: Elf
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Age-appropriate Time Sharing for Divorced Parents
In 1991, Florida started changing the way family law cases are handled, with a focus on “therapeutic justice” in family courts. Psychological research has provided valuable information for creating time sharing plans for parents and children. Children experience their parents’ divorce differently based on their age and stage of development. Attorneys who understand these developmental…
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Title Procedure Before General Magistrates and Child Support Enforcement Hearing Officers
In Florida, the state pays general magistrates and hearing officers to help with family law cases. They are not in the state constitution or statutes, but they make it faster and cheaper to resolve family disputes. They are different from regular judges because they don’t have job security or salary protections. They are picked differently…
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Nonmarital Real Estate: Is the Appreciation Marital, Nonmarital, or a Combination of Both?
In Florida, when a spouse owns property before marriage or inherits it during marriage and keeps it in their name, the property is considered nonmarital. Any increase in value during the marriage is considered marital property and may be subject to distribution in a divorce. However, if the property increases in value without the use…
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Ruberg, Parry, and the Classification of Unvested Stock Options
In the court case Parry v. Parry, the Second District Court of Appeal created a process for determining how to classify stock options as marital or nonmarital assets. Stock options are contracts that allow someone to buy shares of stock in the future at a set price. Employment stock options are usually given with a…
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Immigration, Domestic Violence, and What the Family Practitioner Should Know
Florida is a popular place for people from other countries to live because of the nice weather and beaches. Many noncitizens come to Florida looking for a better life and more freedom. Miami has the most noncitizens of any city in the world. Because of this, Florida lawyers often have to deal with immigration law…
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Florida’s Putative Father Registry: More Work is Needed to Follow the Established National Trends Toward Stable Adoption Placements
In 2003, Florida changed its adoption law to make sure that adoption decisions were more stable. This was after some high-profile adoption cases caused a lot of controversy. The state made a registry to help unmarried fathers protect their rights in the adoption process. There have been some court cases about the registry, with different…
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Partitioning Real Property in Dissolution of Marriage Actions and Suits Between Unmarried Cotenants: Credits, Setoffs, Ouster, Division, and Sale
When people own property together and can’t agree on what to do with it, they might have to go to court to figure it out. This can happen to married couples, unmarried couples, or business partners who own property together. They might have to go through a legal process called “partition” to divide the property…
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Family Limited Partnerships: The Year in Review
The author wrote two articles in 2005 and 2006 about family limited partnerships (FLPs) and recent court cases. Since then, there have been three cases where the IRS won because of “bad facts” like transferring most assets to the partnership and using partnership funds for personal expenses. The article discusses these cases and also a…
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F.S. §39.0139: Protecting Children from Sexual Abuse by Those Entrusted with Their Care
The Florida Legislature passed a law called the Keeping Children Safe Act to protect kids from sexual abuse during visits with certain people. The law says that if a parent or caregiver has been accused of sexual abuse, found guilty of it, or classified as a sexual predator, they can’t visit or have contact with…
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Appellate Court Trends in Permanent Alimony for Gray Area Divorces: 1997-2007
In 1980 Florida Supreme Court defined permanent alimony as providing for the needs of a former spouse after a marriage. The factors considered in determining alimony have not changed, but the emphasis on these factors has. Appellate courts now consider additional factors such as children and career limitations due to the marriage. This article will…
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Florida Statute §39.0139: Limiting the Risk of Serious Harm to Children
Florida’s Keeping Children Safe Act (KCSA) was created to protect children who have been sexually abused by their parents or caregivers. The law makes it harder for these children to have visitation or contact with the abuser because it could put them in danger or influence their testimony. Some people argue that this law should…
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Florida’s Cohabitation Statute: The Revolution That Wasn’t
In 2005, a new law about alimony modification generated a lot of interest. People were worried about how it would affect their support payments. The law allows alimony to be changed if the person receiving it is in a supportive relationship similar to a marriage. This relationship has to have a financial impact, not just…
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Florida’s Homestead Realty: Is it Exempt from Imposition of an Equitable Lien for Nonpayment of Alimony and Child Support?
Just tell me the important stuff in easy words, and leave out the fancy stuff and names of the legal stuff. When a parent or ex-spouse falls behind on alimony or child support, there are ways to collect the money they owe. This can include taking their income, revoking their driver’s license, and even putting…
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Appellate Court Trends in Rehabilitative Alimony: 10 Years Later
Rehabilitative alimony is when a court orders one spouse to support the other for a limited time so they can become self-sufficient. When deciding on this, the court looks at certain factors, but also considers other things not listed in the law. This article looks at cases from the past 10 years to see how…
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The End of Custody in Florida: Finally Parents Are Just Parents
In 2004, the Family Law Section of The Florida Bar started looking into changing the custody laws in Florida. They wanted to get rid of the labels of primary and secondary residential parent because it was causing a lot of expensive fights in court. After two years of work, they approved what became the 2007…
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A Brave New Frontier: The Equitable Distribution 2008 Legislative Changes
On July 1, 2008, Florida changed its law about how property and assets are divided when a marriage ends. They got rid of the special equity rule and made it easier for one person to prove they deserve more of the property. They also made it so that gifts between spouses are assumed to be…
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Raising Children on the Spectrum in Florida: Navigating Roads Less Traveled
When a child with autism joins a family, the family faces many challenges. Autism affects about 1 in every 150 American children and can cause communication, socialization, and behavior challenges. Some people say that the divorce rate for families with autism is very high, but others disagree. Regardless, parents considering divorce should make sure they…
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Determining the Nonmarital Portion of Pensions and Retirement Benefits
This article discusses complex issues with retirement plans, specifically defined contribution plans like 401(k) and profit sharing plans. The main issue is determining the nonmarital portion of these plans in a divorce. There are two methods used for this, but both violate Florida Statutes. Using tracing investments as a method doesn’t work because the participant…
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The Presumptions of Privette: Have They Perished with the Coming of Daniel and Disestablishment of Paternity
In Florida, the Supreme Court has ruled that once a child is born during a marriage, they have the right to be considered legitimate, even if they are not biologically related to the husband. This is to protect the best interests of the child. If someone wants to challenge this presumption, they must provide very…
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Frozen Embryos, Divorce, and Needed Legislation: On the Horizon or Has It Arrived?
In 1984, the first baby was born from a frozen embryo. However, it wasn’t until 1992 that the legal world started thinking about what to do with unused frozen embryos when couples get divorced. Since then, there have been a few court decisions about this, but they don’t provide a clear answer for future cases.…
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The Application of Kinney System, Inc. v. Continental Ins. Co. to Modification of Child Custody Proceedings
When parents live in different states and want to change the custody arrangements for their child, they have to figure out which state’s court to go to. There are laws that help make this decision clearer, but sometimes it can still be confusing. When a court has the power to make a decision about something,…
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Extortion: What Your Client Wants
Extortion is a serious crime in family law. It happens when one person threatens to accuse someone else of a crime or harm their reputation in order to get money or something else of value. This is against the law in Florida and can result in felony charges. If someone threatens you in this way…
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The Bursting Bubble Dealing with the Marital Home During a Real Estate Recession
Back in the day, divorcing couples could easily sell their house and split the money. But now, with the housing market in bad shape, it’s harder to sell a house for a good price. People are stuck with houses they can’t sell or afford to buy out their ex-spouse. So, one person often has to…
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Immigration Form I-864 (Affidavit of Support) and Efforts to Collect Damages as Support Obligations Against Divorced Spouses What Practitioners Need to Know
Imagine a person who can sue their ex-spouse for support every year until one of them dies. They can go back and forth between state and federal court to keep filing new lawsuits for support. It might seem impossible, but it’s actually happening. The I-864 affidavit of support is a form that U.S. citizens or…