Fort Lauderdale Divorce Lawyer Blog

Many men and women from Broward that are enlisted in the military may find themselves in need of a Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyer. According to an article published in the USA Today and Sun Sentinel, divorce rates for soldiers enlisted in the Army increased for the seventh year. 10,000.00 married G.I.'s divorced during the fiscal 2009. It is also being reported that 4% of marriages among soldiers failed.

The Army has found that an increasing number of U.S troops in Iraq complain about troubled marriages as a result of long and multiple deployments to Iraq. While the pressures of being away from family is more prevalent for young soldiers, there has been recent affect on senior enlisted soldiers as well.

The Air Force is also reporting a 4.3% divorce rate this years. However, the Army has 100,000 more married troops than the Air Force. The Marines is reporting a 4% divorce rate that has remained steady from 2008 to 2009. While the civilian divorce rate in the USA was recently 3.4%, the total divorce rate for the U.S. military has increase from 3.4% to 3.6% in 2009.

Research has found that soldiers with more electronic access to their families are having more marital problems since they become too involved in their family lives over the internet and telephone. Soldiers find themselves being involved in minor squabbles that can be resolved by their spouse.

Ironically, Florida Statute 61.13002 permits a Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyer to request that the Broward divorce court temporarily modify time-sharing and parental responsibility if a parent is activated, deployed, or temporarily assigned to military service and the parent's ability to comply with the time-sharing is affected. In the temporary order or judgment and if feasible, the Florida marital and family law court is to provide contact between the military service member and his or her child by electronic communication by webcam, telephone and other available means.

Over the past couple years, the concept of alimony has changed and evolved as a result of recent appellate decisions in Florida. Many women who hire an attorney and file for divorce in Fort Lauderdale are now employed, self supporting and earning comparable pay as to their husband. In addition, the average length of a marriage has decreased. Accordingly, the amount of cases in which Broward divorce lawyers have permanent alimony awarded to their client has decreased. Also, the amount and duration of alimony has also been reduced.

The Florida legislature amended Florida Statute 61.14 to permit a payor spouse to seek to reduce or eliminate his or her alimony obligation when their former spouse is in a supportive relationship while remaining unmarried. The court will look at many different factors such as how long the recipient has resided with another person, whether they have pooled their assets or income and the extent to which the recipient has supported the other and whether or not they have jointly acquired any assets or property.

Alimony is based upon the need of one spouse for alimony and the other spouse's ability to pay. However, the days of focusing on the standard of living that the parties have been accustomed to during the course of the intact marriage is not as significant. In the past, a divorce attorney in Broward would hire a forensic accountant to perform a lifestyle analysis. The forensic accountant would analyze tax returns, bank statements, check registers and credit card statements to ascertain a spouse's needs, the other spouse's ability to pay and the historical spending during the marriage. However, gone are the days that a spouse receives alimony which comprises of all of the luxuries accustomed to during the marriage including, but not limited to, spa visits, country club memberships, vacations and clothing allowances.

The Fourth District Court of Appeal, which handles divorce, child support and other marital and family appeals filed by attorneys in Broward and Boca Raton now believes that when there is a high standard of living during a marriage, the purpose of alimony is to provide for the impecunious spouse above the bare subsistence levels, but not to fund every little luxury enjoyed before your Ft. Lauderdale divorce. Marital and family attorneys now have a difficult time including "unnecessary personal expenses" such as computer supplies, gifts and country club memberships as part of a recipient spouse's need for bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative or permanent alimony.

While the importance of many of the statutory criteria to award alimony has now changed, alimony has not been eliminated. If you are going through a divorce in Broward and reside in Coral Springs, Davie, Margate, Miramar or Southwest Ranches, you should speak to a Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyer to determine your entitlement to alimony.

In the last blog, I spoke about several financial decisions that you should discuss and make with your Ft. Lauderdale divorce attorney. During your divorce, you will need to make decisions with huge financial implications. Many of these decisions you are probably not use to making. As you become concerned with child support and alimony, it become easy to lose sight of long-term financial concerns that you face during your Broward divorce case.

When a couple decides to divorce, one of the parties often desires to retain the marital residence in order to provide continuity for the minor children. However, you should sell you home if retaining it would make you house rich and cash poor. It is important to discuss with your Fort Lauderdale divorce attorney the cost of staying in your home and whether or not the alimony and child support you receive coupled with your income will make this feasible.

Your marital and family law attorney can not and should not give you tax advise. It is important that you consult an accountant to learn about the tax consequences related to alimony, retirement accounts, deferred compensation and future tax deductions related to your children.

If you have not worked during the course of the marriage, you may be interested in getting a job in Fort Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines, Cooper City or Miramar after your divorce. If you require retraining or a new degree, your Florida marital and family lawyer should consider this in determining your monthly alimony or whether rehabilitative alimony should be awarded.

As part of your time-sharing schedule and parenting plan, your Miami divorce lawyer should include who will buy clothing, computers and other items for the other parent's residence. Other expenses for your children to consider include prom, cheerleading, sports gear, cars, car insurance, allowance, college visits, college expenses and cellular telephones.

Last but not least, do not forget that your spouse can always hire a divorce lawyer in Broward or Miami-Dade to modify child support, alimony or child custody matters such as shared parental responsibility, the time-sharing schedule or the parenting plan after the entry of the Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage. It is important to budget for future legal expenses.

When you get a divorce in Miami or Fort Lauderdale, it may be one of the most damaging financial events of you life. However, this is not always clear to a person who is about to higher a divorce lawyer. Often one is overwhelmed with exhaustion and sadness after marital problems or shock when their spouse leaves the marriage. However, financial implications will soon begin during your Broward divorce.

If you are on your spouse's health insurance, you will not be able to use it after your divorce. While the government permits you to have CORA coverage for up to three years, you are required to pay the premium yourself. Some people who are older or have pre-existing conditions find that they can not get health insurance after their divorce. Whether you hire a Broward divorce lawyer in Hollywood, Hallandale, Cooper City, Plantation or Weston, make sure that you know how much health insurance will cost after your divorce so that this can be considered prior to mediation.

The mourning and trauma that results from a divorce may make therapy necessary. If you do not have health insurance, you may need to locate a low cost therapist. Alternatively, you may have to pay upwards of $100.00 for a therapist.

It is easy to let bills slip when you are paying for your Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyer and no longer speaking to your spouse. However, this can damage your credit. All jointly held credit cards should be canceled and any balance that your spouse is responsible for should be transferred to a new card in his or her name.

Once there are no longer you and your spouse living together in the same household, you may have to hire help to assist with household maintenance. This may include lawn maintenance, pool maintenance, home repair and babysitting. Your Fort Lauderdale marital and family law attorney may want to consider these expenses when calculating your child support and alimony.

The Miami Herald is reporting that many couples in Miami-Dade, Broward and South Florida are staying together or appearing pro se (without a lawyer) because they are unable to pay a divorce attorney. Some divorce lawyers in Aventura, Sunny Isles Beach, Miami, Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale state that their divorce business is down as much as 35%. In addition, many potential new clients do not appear for their consultation because they are embarrassed that they can not afford the consultation fee.

According to court records, 16,868 divorces were granted in 2006 in Miami-Dade, 16,005 in 2007 and 14,631 in 2008. In Broward, 11,179 cases were filed in 200, 9,876 in 2007 and 8,924 in 2008. Circuit Court Judge Sandy Karlan, administrative judge of the family division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court of Miami-Dade, believes that there has been an increase in modification of divorce agreements and support payments as well as spouses seeking contempt remedies to enforce their alimony and child support. In addition, Judge Karlan has observed couples continuing to live in their marital residence after the entry of the Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage.

The economy appears to have a greater effect on the lower and middle class more than the wealthy. Many potential clients are requesting free consultations but have no intentions of retaining a Miami or Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyer. Marital and family law attorneys are also dealing with many cases where a spouse is unable to live up to the terms and conditions of their marital settlement agreement.

While some lawyers have reduced their retainer and hourly rate, now accept credit cards and are offering payment plans, many individuals are opting to handle their case pro se (without a lawyer). However, Miami and Broward divorce lawyers often are retained during or after the divorce to fix the mistakes made by clients who file their own divorces that deal with alimony, child custody and support, time-sharing, parenting plans and equitable distribution of property.

During a Broward divorce, your Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyer may request that you be awarded alimony. A Florida marital and family court can award you bridge-the-gap, temporary, lump sum, rehabilitative or permanent periodic alimony. However, after the conclusion of your Broward divorce case, one spouse may have their Broward child support, child custody and divorce attorney ask the judge to reduce or terminate the alimony because of a statutorily created supportive relationship.

In determining whether an existing award of alimony should be reduced or terminated because of an alleged supportive relationship between an obligee and a person who is not related by consanguinity or affinity and with whom the obligee resides, the court shall elicit the nature and extent of the relationship in question. The court shall give consideration, without limitation, to circumstances, including, but not limited to, the following, in determining the relationship of an obligee to another person: the extent to which the obligee and the other person have held themselves out as a married couple by engaging in conduct such as using the same last name, using a common mailing address, referring to each other in terms such as "my husband" or "my wife," or otherwise conducting themselves in a manner that evidences a permanent supportive relationship; the period of time that the obligee has resided with the other person in a permanent place of abode; the extent to which the obligee and the other person have pooled their assets or income or otherwise exhibited financial interdependence; the extent to which the obligee or the other person has supported the other, in whole or in part; the extent to which the obligee or the other person has performed valuable services for the other; the extent to which the obligee or the other person has performed valuable services for the other's company or employer; whether the obligee and the other person have worked together to create or enhance anything of value; whether the obligee and the other person have jointly contributed to the purchase of any real or personal property; evidence in support of a claim that the obligee and the other person have an express agreement regarding property sharing or support; evidence in support of a claim that the obligee and the other person have an implied agreement regarding property sharing or support and whether the obligee and the other person have provided support to the children of one another, regardless of any legal duty to do so.

In Baumann v Baumann, the Second District Court of Appeal reversed the decision of a Florida divorce court that reduced the former husband's alimony obligation to the Former Wife. The former husband was required to pay the former wife $1800 per month in permanent periodic alimony. In 2007, the former husband petitioned the Florida marital and family law court to reduce or terminate his alimony obligation since the Former Wife was involved in a supportive relationship.

At the trial, the trial court found that the former husband had proven that the former wife was in a supportive relationship and was receiving $1400 per month from her supporting partner. Accordingly, the former husband's alimony obligation was reduced to $400 per month. However, following a hearing on the former wife's motion for rehearing the trial court acknowledged the existence of a supportive relationship but found that the Former Husband did not meet his burden in proving that the Former Wife's need for alimony decreased as a result of the supportive relationship and required him to continue to pay the former wife $1800 per month in permanent periodic alimony.

In reversing the decision of the Florida divorce court, the Second District Court of Appeal held that the trial court improperly placed the burden of proving a reduction of the former wife's need for alimony on the former husband. The court reasoned that the burden was on the former wife to establish that her original financial need continues to exist despite the supportive relationship after the former husband proved its existence.

Your divorce in Broward was most likely an extremely difficult process. While your Fort Lauderdale divorce attorney is not your therapist, it is important for you to let go and move on after your divorce. You should learn to incorporate different specific skills to assist you with emotionally recovering after the child custody, time-sharing, alimony and child support aspects of your Cooper City divorce.

You should take back control of your life by letting go of the pain, resentment and regret. You must also fully accept and take responsibility of your new reality and feelings. It is also important to handle your emotions in a healthy way to avoid collateral damage. During your Broward divorce, you must make the decisions about how you will handle your divorce and how it will affect you and your child's life.

While 50% of marriages in the United States end in a divorce, a divorce does not have to resemble a war with various casualties. Your Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyer will recommend you to be civil and respectful after your marital and family case to ensure a stable and bright future for all interested parties. When a divorce is not overwhelming, a marital and family lawyer can easily settle different parts of your Broward divorce case including , child custody, child support and alimony.

When you meet with your Broward divorce lawyer, you and your spouse will be required to produce and exchange mandatory disclosure including, but not limited to, tax returns, proof of income, evidence of indebtedness and a financial affidavit. The purpose of this discovery is so that your Fort Lauderdale child custody lawyer can have an understanding of the assets, liabilities and income of you and your spouse for the calculation of alimony, child support and other equitable distribution of your assets. However, in recent years divorce attorneys in Broward and Miami-Dade have begun to request e-mail, instant messages and text messages in an effort to strengthen their case.

In this day and age, e-mail, instant messages and text messages can be used in Broward and Miami-Dade child custody, parenting plan and time-sharing cases by your marital and family lawyer. These methods of communicating digitally may also be used to learn of adulterous relationships and dissipation, destruction and waste of marital assets. Additionally, forensic computer technicians are being retained to recover deleted e-mails, instant messages and files as well as providing Fort Lauderdale and Florida divorce attorneys with information that is relevant and likely to lead to further discoverable evidence.

When you meet with your divorce lawyer in Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Plantation, Weston or other cities in Broward, it is important to discuss any digital and technological information that your spouse's lawyer could discover during your case. Remember, even if you have deleted this information it still may be recoverable.

Even though divorce in Fort Lauderdale can be a tremendous burden, with the right tools, information and resources it can also be a great opportunity for personal growth.

As the fourth most populous state in the nation, Florida also has one of the highest per capita divorce rates. Floridians don't call it divorce however; they call it dissolution of marriage.

Whatever you call it, initiating a divorce with your lawyer could be the single most important emotional and financial decision a person residing in Broward can make in their lifetime. Although dissolution is never the most desirable outcome of a marriage, it is sometimes the best way to preserve the quality of life. A bad marriage can be resolved with a divorce, but a bad divorce might never be resolved. A bad divorce can result in expensive child custody, child support and alimony battles, unfair property settlements and life-long detrimental economic effects for both adults and children.

That's where Divorce.com comes into action. Divorce.com knows that marriage is the building block of society and believes that a stable marriage is always preferable to divorce. Divorce is still better than enduring a bad marriage though, and Divorce.com is devoted to taking the mystery and misery of the divorce experience. Good planning can significantly reduce both emotional stress and financial uncertainty. Preparing for a divorce in advance will make the legal process less mysterious and can help make life after divorce a lot easier too.

Divorce.com provides comprehensive resources and information needed to make informed decisions in a process that can affect the lives of adults and their dependent children forever. The website offers easy access to informative articles and coverage of divorce in the news. All of the elements of the process are covered in easy-to-search categories containing tools and strategies useful before, during and after a divorce. The site features expert legal answers to user's questions and advice from professional divorce attorney Wendy Jaffe. A divorce dictionary is provided to explain some of the actions, orders and various legalese used in the vocabulary of divorce. Even though the Fort Lauderdale divorce courts usually prefer outside settlements to court intervention, Divorce.com provides both legal contacts and tips on how to do-it-yourself. Divorce.com also addresses the laws governing divorce with state-by-state resources for all 50 states, including valuable information for all Broward County residents living in Hollywood, Weston, Pembroke Pines, Plantation and Hallandale Beach considering a divorce.

Divorce.com features:
• Articles & Information
• Attorney Listings
• Blogs & News
• Expert Q&A
• Resources Before, During & After
• Forms, Files & Paperwork

Good divorce preparation and management will provide the opportunity to start life over in a better situation with a better chance for long-term success.