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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.

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The troubling economy may be downsizing the number of divorce filings in Miami-Dade and Broward county. According to a recent survery of lawyers involved with the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, 57% of attorneys have reported fewer divorce filings since the last quarter of 2008. On the contrary, 14% reported an increase in divorce filings.
The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers encourages the study, improving practice, eleveating the standards and advancing the cause of marital and family law in the United States and Fort Lauderdale. However, if you are not receiving any child support from your spouse, you should talk to a Broward divorce lawyer about the different options that are available to you. Staying in a marriage as a result of the recession may be detrimental to both you and your minor children.

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A large percentage of minor children often wind up in the middle of their parents contentious Broward divorce. Two new websites, http://www.aboutthechildren.org and http://www.divorcecommunications.com, are secure internet based tools which your Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyer may recommend to assist you and your spouse in documenting events, e-mails, child custody and timesharing events and child support payments both during and after your divorce.

The program is a communication website which should be used by couples who divorce in Broward County. It allows you to speak to your spouse indirectly about matters pertaining to your child while ensuring that the communications are stored. While you or your spouse are unable to change the emails or financial transactions, you are able to print a summary of activities if ever needed by your Fort Lauderdale divorce attorney.

Communicating with your former spouse can be difficult, traumatic and frustrating. Through this website, there is a posting system that is similar to email or text messaging. There are also time and date stamps on all communications between you an your spouse. All communications are easily accessible and printable for your Broward divorce lawyer or the court. Additionally, any time that your spouse decides to communicate with you, you will receive an email notification.

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A Florida divorce court has finalized the dissolution of marriage action for Ronald Cummings, father of Haleigh Cummings, a young girl who disappeared in February 2009. Ronald Cummings cited an irretrievable breakdown in the marriage to his wife, Misty Cummings, who he married one month after his daughter went missing from his Florida home. Under the terms of the marital settlement agreement which was approved by the St. Johns County Court, a divorce court north of Fort Lauderdale, the parties waived any rights to alimony, child support and other financial payments from each other.

Misty Cummings was the last person that saw Haleigh Cummings before she disappeared from her father’s home in Putnam County. After placing the child to bed, the following morning she woke up and realized that the child was missing. Police do not believe that Misty Cummings has told them all of the information that she may know related to the child’s disappearance. They believe that she holds important clues in the case since she has neglected to provide an accounting of the later evening before and early morning of the child’s disappearance. In addition, physical evidence has contradicted Misty Cumming’s account of the evening activities. She has yet to be named a person of interest or a suspect in this investigation.

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In a Fort Lauderdale divorce case, you may ask your Broward divorce attorney to enforce a court order or judgment. In many instances, enforcement is sought when a spouse does not pay alimony or child support. Your Florida marital and family law lawyer may also seek enforcement if your spouse does not comply with child custody orders or pay your attorney’s fees and costs. Contempt of court is a mechanism that can be used to coerce compliance or even punish for non-compliance with a court order or judgment.

In Berlow v Berlow, the Third District Court of Appeal reversed a decision of the Miami-Dade divorce court that found the former husband in contempt of court for failing to provide the former wife with an irrevocable term life insurance policy. The parties divorced in 1994. In 2006, the former husband agreed to obtain a $1,000,000 irrevocable term life insurance policy naming the former wife as the beneficiary within 90 days.

At the Miami divorce hearing, the trial court found that the former husband willfully disregarded the prior court order and ordered the former husband to pay a $5,000 fine to the Miami-Dade County Fine and Forfeiture Fund within thirty days and to provide the required life insurance policy to the former wife. However, the contempt order did not contain a purge provision.

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A former South Florida Cathoic priest, David Dueppen, has fathered a minor child with a former stripper, Beatrice Hernandez. On October 5, 2009, he filed a Petition for Paternity, Timesharing, Child Support and for Related Relief in the Miami-Dade marital and family court which handles divorce and paternity cases for residents of Aventura, Coral Gables, Miami Beach and Pinecrest. He is seeking shared parental responsibility, child support and 70% of the custody and timesharing of the minor child.

Through his Miami divorce and paternity lawyer, David Deuppen has allegedly admitted paternity and would like to be involved in the minor child’s life. He joined the priesthood in 1999 but took an indefinite leave of absence in August 2009 after Beatrice Hernandez reported that the priest fathered a child. Over one year ago, they restarted their relationship and had a child, Marilyn.

The parties also have a pending domestic violence action since Hernandez claims that Dueppen choked her during an argument about paternity and child support. The Miami-Dade court has issued a temporary injunction for protection against domestic violence.

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The purpose of a parenting coordinator during your child custody litigation is to provide an alternative dispute resolution to assist with your Broward parenting plan and time-sharing schedule. Your Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyer may recommend parenting coordination in your marital and family law case to assist you and your spouse with the resolution of your child related disputes by providing education, making recommendations, and, with prior approval, making limited decisions.

If you and your spouse have a history of domestic violence prior to or during your Broward divorce, your lawyer may not request that the court order parenting coordination unless you and your spouse consent. If both parties consent to parenting coordination during a divorce or paternity case, the Fort Lauderdale divorce court will require safeguards to protect the safety of the participants.

Absent a written agreement amongst the parties, the court can only appoint a qualified parenting coordinator who is either a licensed mental health professional, licensed physician certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, certified by the Florida Supreme Court as a family law mediator with a master’s degree in a mental health field or a member of The Florida Bar. A parenting coordinator used by your Broward divorce lawyer in creating or implementing your parenting plan must also complete three years of post-licensure or post-certification practice, a family mediation training program by The Florida Supreme Court and 24 hours of parenting coordination training.

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Once your Broward divorce lawyer has finalized your divorce, you may seek to relocate . Some parents move closer to family and friends. Others find better employment offers outside of the Fort Lauderdale area. In addition, you may meet someone new and decide to relocate from Florida. Whatever the reason may be, a parent relocating after a Broward divorce can be traumatic for children. It is important that your children maintain contact and access with you in order to comply with the parenting plan and time-sharing arrangement.

It is important that your children keep in touch when you relocate. The children should visit with the relocating parent during long weekends and holidays. Time-sharing in Fort Lauderdale or your new home should be made in advance. Make a note of the time-sharing that your children will spend with you so that you can look forward to the time that you will spend with your children.

In between time-sharing in Broward, text message and e-mail your children in between telephone calls. Your Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyer can include other means of communication between your children and you including a web camera and videoconferencing.

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Fort Lauderdale police chief Frank Adderley retained a Broward divorce lawyer and has filed for dissolution of his marriage prior to his wife being sentenced for shooting at him for an alleged adulterous affair. Documents in the court filed indicate that a Christmas gift of earrings to another woman made Eleanor Adderley commit a serious crime against her husband, a law enforcement officer. Mr. Adderley alleges that his 18 year marriage to his wife is irretrievably broken. He has also requested custody of the minor child born during the marriage.

In July 2008, Eleanor Adderley used her husband’s gun and fired one bullet into the foot of the couple’s bed that her husband was lying on. In addition, she fired two more rounds outdoors as her husband ran outside to a neighbor’s home. Today, Broward County Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Levenson sentenced Eleanor Adderley to nine months behind bars at the Broward County Jail followed by two years of probation.

The Fort Lauderdale divorce case has been assigned to Judge Alfred J. Horowitz, a circuit court judge assigned to the marital and family law division which handles matters pertaining to custody, time-sharing, parenting plans and alimony in Broward County, Florida.

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Many times a client will come into their Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyer’s office and not know where there spouse is currently residing or located. Sometimes parties may have been separated for many years for a variety of reasons. A spouse may have returned to their home state or country. Others separated at the beginning of a marriage for reasons of domestic violence and have not seen their spouse in twenty years.

While your Broward marital and family lawyer can assist you in filing for divorce and requesting alimony, child support, attorney’s fees and costs as well as equitable distribution, a preliminary step requires that your spouse be served with your Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, even when he or she has disappeared, before the court can enter a Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage.

If you are unable to locate your spouse, he or she will have to be served by constructive service of process or service by publication (i.e service in your local newspaper). You must first make a diligent search and inquiry with the United States Post Office, last known employment, unions that your spouse may be affiliated with, regulatory agencies, relatives, death records, telephone listings, internet people finder sites, law enforcement arrest or criminal records and highway patrol records in the state of your spouse’s last known address. In addition, you should also check the department of motor vehicle records, department of corrections records, child support enforcement agency records, hospitals in the last known area of your spouse’s residence, utility companies (water, sewer, cable and electric), the armed forces and the tax assessor’s and tax collector’s offices.

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