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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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