Category: Florida BAR article
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Child Support and the High Income Parent: Uses and Misuses of the Good Fortune Trust
When parents have a lot of money, it’s hard for the court to figure out how much child support should be. One way they solve this problem is by creating something called a “good fortune trust.” This trust is set up by the court when the regular child support amount is considered too much for…
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Cross-Examining the Pension Expert
This article explains how to cross-examine a pension expert in a legal case. It shows that many so-called experts don’t actually understand pension valuation. It also gives criteria for measuring an expert’s expertise, such as their background and training. It explains that actuaries are the most qualified to give opinions on pension value. When questioning…
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Impact on Divorce Taxation Issues of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997
The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 affects how taxes are handled during a divorce. It changes how assets are valued and how capital gains are taxed. It also provides tax credits for having children, and waives penalties for early withdrawals from retirement accounts for certain expenses. When dividing marital assets in a divorce, it’s important…
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Health Insurance and Other Health-Related Expenses in Family Law: An Overview
In 1984, The Florida Bar Journal published an issue about health law. The health care industry in Florida was growing, and there were challenges in controlling costs while maintaining quality care. Fast forward to today, and the industry is still rapidly changing, with lots of new rules and regulations. The current issue of the Bar…
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Appellate Court Trends in Rehabilitative Alimony
Rehabilitative alimony is a type of financial support that a court can order one spouse to pay to the other for a limited time after a divorce. It’s meant to help a spouse who has limited ability to earn money because of the marriage. The court uses certain factors to decide whether to award this…
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Florida’s Four Orders of Protection Against Violence: Distinguishing the Difference
In Florida, there are four types of protection orders called injunctions that protect people from violence. These are for domestic, repeat, dating, and sexual violence. These are civil cases and have specific rules and forms to use. When filing a case, it’s best to use the Florida Family Law Rules version of the petition. There…
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An Update on Florida Alimony Case Law: Are Alimony Guidelines a Part of Our Future?, Part II
Many state legislatures are thinking about using alimony guidelines, but not many have put specific formulas in place yet. The Georgia and Nevada supreme courts have suggested using alimony guidelines. In Michigan, they have a committee that has looked at different computer programs for alimony guidelines and recommend one for the state to use. The…
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An Update on Florida Alimony Case Law: Are Alimony Guidelines a Part of Our Future?, Part I
Florida judges are considering using guidelines to determine alimony awards, similar to child support guidelines. This would make alimony awards more predictable and could reduce the need for litigation. Some judges and attorneys support this idea, although it is still being discussed. This could provide a clearer way to establish alimony support, as the current…
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International Parental Child Abduction Part II: The Respondent’s Case
When a child is taken to the U.S. by one parent without the other parent’s permission, there is a rule that says the child should be returned to their home country. However, there are some situations where the court can decide to let the child stay in the U.S. These exceptions include cases where the…
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Long-arm Jurisdiction in Support and Divorce ActionsThe Unwary Beware
If someone needs to be served with legal papers in Florida and they are not in the state, strict adherence to the long-arm statute is required. Each state has different rules and procedures for this, but they all must follow constitutional due process. In Florida, there are specific requirements for serving someone outside of the…
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Assessing the Veracity of Domestic Violence Allegations in Parenting Disputes
In child custody cases, domestic violence allegations are common. Some are true, and some are false. But false allegations can make it hard to believe true ones. It can harm both falsely accused parents and abused spouses. A batterer might use the legal process to continue abusing their ex-partner and using the children as pawns.…
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The Importance of Parent-Child Relationships: What Attorneys Need to Know About the Impact of Separation
In family law, the relationship between a parent and child is very important. Children who have a good relationship with their parents do better in school and with their friends. This can help the court decide where the child should live or if they should see their parent. When parents and children form a strong…
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Freezing Your Assets Off: A Powerful Remedy on Thin Ice
In family law cases, a court can freeze a person’s assets without warning if they are trying to take their money out of the state or hide it to avoid paying alimony or support. This has been a law in Florida for a long time, and some courts make it a standard part of every…
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Financial Affidavits in Domestic Relations Cases: Sunshine Trumps Privacy A Proposed Solution
In Florida, personal financial information in family law cases is usually available to the public because of a court rule that requires parties to file detailed financial documents. Some people are worried about their privacy, but it’s hard to keep these documents private. This goes against the privacy rights protected by the Florida Constitution. No…
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Grandparents Have Rights After All
Even though the law used to give grandparents the right to seek custody of their grandchildren, the Florida Supreme Court changed that. But some grandparents still have custody. When a parent who lost custody wants it back, it’s a tough situation. The court has to decide if the parent is ready to take care of…
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Special Equity and Unequal Distribution of Assets
In short, the legal firm and attorney involved in the case don’t matter. What’s important is that the court ruled in favor of the student and overturned the suspension for cheating. Special equity and unequal distribution are terms used in divorce cases when dividing marital assets. Special equity refers to a spouse’s vested interest in…
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Anatomy of a Child Custody Evaluation
Florida’s Family Law Rules allow for psychologists to evaluate parents and children in custody cases. However, the problem is that some reports are hard to understand and there’s no set way to do the evaluations. Psychologists can’t just do whatever they want, but there are right and wrong ways to conduct the evaluations. The goal…
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Strategic Management of the Family Law Practice
Family lawyers need to start thinking of their practices as businesses if they want to succeed. Just like how some stores like Wal-Mart do better than others like K-Mart, lawyers need to have a plan (or strategy) for how they want to run their practice in order to be successful. This plan should include setting…
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Dividing Pension Property After Boyett, Part 2
Part II of the ruling on retirement benefits in the Boyett case has some important consequences. It means that when an employee reaches retirement age, they may be working for less pay than they could be getting from retirement benefits. This could encourage employees to retire early, and allow the employer to replace them with…
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Dividing Pension Property After Boyett, Part I
Defined benefit pension plans are complex retirement plans, and the division of these benefits in a divorce can be difficult. A Florida Supreme Court ruling in 1998 made this even more complex. The ruling changed the way benefits are defined, making it harder to determine a fair division of property. This means that both spouses…
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Is It Alimony as Defined in I.R.C. 71? Part 2
Just because temporary alimony is labeled as such in a divorce agreement, it doesnât automatically mean it has to be taxed. There are exceptions, like if the payee and payer are living together, or if thereâs no need for a recalculation of the alimony. Other requirements also have to be met for the payments to…
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Is It Alimony as Defined in IRC 71?
Alimony and separate maintenance payments can be deducted from income by the person paying them, and included in the income of the person receiving them, if they meet certain IRS rules. These payments don’t have to be specifically for support, and they don’t have to be made regularly. But they must meet all the requirements…
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Parental Consortium
In the beginning of the movie “When a Stranger Calls,” a babysitter receives scary calls asking if she checked on the children. The rest of the movie focuses on something else instead, just like a law called F.S. §768.0415. §768.0415 is a Florida law that says if someone causes serious permanent injury to a parent,…
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Parent Coordinators: An Effective New Tool in Resolving Parental Conflict in Divorce
This article explains how a parent coordinator can help divorced parents resolve conflicts over their children. It includes perspectives from an attorney, a judge, and a parent coordinator. Attorneys and judges in Lee and Collier counties are using parent coordinators to help with high-conflict divorces involving custody and visitation issues. Parent coordinators are mental health…