Tag: Florida Divorce Attorneys

On August 30, Fatherly published a heartwarming story submitted by a reader that many divorced or close-to-divorced fathers—and parents in general—would likely find it is an interesting and worthwhile read.

The submission chronicles the story of a father who was thrown off—or rather, immobilized—upon hearing that his wife and mother of his children wanted a divorce. As he describes, divorce especially crushed him because he himself did not have a father figure growing up, and his one goal in life was to be a good father.

Below, we discuss some of the “lessons learned” from fathers who describe becoming better fathers—and sometimes even men—due to their divorce.

Lessons Learned

Up front, the author directly addresses things he should have done differently in his marriage with his ex—talking more, being more affectionate, going on dates, taking vacations, each spouse putting each other first, etc., and what it was like to finally find a partner—a true connection—to share his life with after his divorce. Ultimately, he states that being divorced taught him to be a better father—to value the time he spends with his children even more—and to ultimately put family before work.

When couples are contemplating or going through divorce, they already have too much to worry about: Depending upon their particular circumstances, that often includes the family home, the children, assets, and more. The last thing that most couples anticipate is also having to tackle an insurance dispute.

And yet, life insurance policies are one of the most important aspects of the divorce, but without ensuring that the proper documentation is in place, divorcing couples could be setting themselves out for a serious battle.

Support in Perpetuity

Life insurance policies can provide support and assurance where other payments—such as alimony—cannot, as they terminate upon death. Under the law, former spouses can remain named beneficiaries to life insurance policies even after the divorce has long been finalized.

Carefully Craft Your Divorce Settlement

A recent decision out of the United States Court of Appeals for Sixth Circuit upheld the importance of divorce decrees (i.e. settlements) even over later changes in named beneficiaries in terms of what qualifies for a qualified domestic relations order under the Employment Retirement Security Act. This decision reinforces the importance of carefully crafting settlement agreements.

January 8^th is reportedly the beginning of “divorce week,” where the highest number of couples decide to initiate divorce proceedings. To that end, we have provided some recommendations below on how to make it through, as well as important things to keep in mind.

Some of the most common topics that partners argue about include: in-laws and other relatives, drinking, sex, children, money, and housework. What can often throw a couple into a heated argument is bringing up the subject at an inopportune time as opposed to planning a time to sit down together and discuss something as a group in order to put a plan of action together to prevent the same issue from coming up again.

Plan, Plan, Plan

One piece of advice that some experts offer is to ask yourself about the specifics: what is it about this specific issue or behavior that concerns you? Does it involve how you are treated, how your partner treats themselves, etc.? Preparing for the discussion ahead of time can help ensure that your partner better understands why something bothers you instead of feeling attacked. Once you’ve identified the cause of the problem, it can often become easier to find a simple solution that can turn the issue around.

According to the latest Gallup poll, 73 percent of U.S. adults say that divorce is “morally acceptable”; an all-time high, even as the national divorce rate has been on the decline. Since 2001, the public has consistently viewed divorce as morally acceptable, more and more each year. In the decades prior, however, the concept of divorce generated a fair amount of discord in public polling.

Specifically, by mid-1968, before most states adopted no-fault divorce laws, 60 percent of Americans indicated that they wanted the government to make divorce “more difficult.” However, as laws changed during the 20^th century, divorce became more and more familiar to most Americans, allowing it to become more morally acceptable, even as the divorce rate itself continued to decline. 

Moral Acceptability of Divorce in U.S. Hits New High amongst Married and/or Older Adults

Historically, divorce was always more acceptable amongst unmarried adults. However, over the last seven years, married individuals became about equal in this endeavor in accepting divorce as morally acceptable, indicating that attitudes are changing amongst married adults. Even the one major subgroup that has historically remained the most opposed to divorce—“very religious Americans”—is now, for the first time in history, reflecting that a majority of its members find divorce to be morally acceptable.

When you’re contemplating or already engaged in the process of going through a divorce, ensuring that you work with the right divorce attorney is crucial. While you may be considering contacting attorneys referred to you by family or friends, perhaps you also found some law firms online that practice divorce law locally. But how do you know that they will care about your case, and ensure that your rights are protected throughout the process?

When it comes to ensuring that your divorce is handled right, you want to make sure that you do your homework in selecting a divorce attorney to work with. To start, there are some basic questions you should ask any attorney you are thinking of hiring for your case, which include:

It is crucial to find out if your attorney has specifically been practicing in family law, and if so, how many divorce cases they’ve handled. Depending upon the circumstances of your case, have they also worked in related important areas, such as child custody, property and asset distribution, etc.? If they have handled numerous divorce cases, do they have a particular clientele in these cases, such as focusing on fathers’ rights, etc.?

Going through formal divorce proceedings can be expensive with court costs and attorneys’ fees. One alternative option to seeking a divorce is a collaborative divorce. Collaborative divorces have become increasingly popular, are less expensive, and are less adversarial than traditional litigation.

A collaborative divorce is where the parties and their respective attorneys agree to handle the matter without the involvement of the court system. The parties attempt to amicably resolve the case through settlement negotiations and the hiring of experts i.e. a counselor, therapist, or accountant if necessary.

Some pros associated with collaborative divorces are there are no court imposed time restraints and if the collaborative divorce is not working, it can be ended by any one party and the parties can then proceed to litigation. However, the attorneys that represented the parties during the collaborative divorce can no longer represent their clients in the litigation. Another disadvantage to a collaborative divorce is that it has the potential to be more expensive if negotiations break down or if one party is not participating or acting reasonably. There is also no threat of court action to force the other party to participate reasonably.

While most people generally know what mediation is, if you are contemplating or going through a divorce, it can be helpful to know more about how it specifically works within the context of divorce law, and how you can work with an experienced Florida divorce law attorney in the process of mediation in order to achieve a resolution you are happy with at the outcome of the process.

In a nutshell, mediation aims to help both parties avoid litigation (where they ask the court to decide the terms of the divorce) and instead come to some form of agreement as to the key terms. However, it is not the only option available if you wish to avoid litigating your divorce in court.

In mediation, parties meet in a private, confidential setting, with a neutral third party (and their attorneys) present in order to assist the parties with communication and staying on course to come to a particular agreement, outcome, or resolution, as a result of the mediation. The mediator is not always an attorney, thus it is crucial that each party work with their own attorneys so that the terms of what they are working towards are clear and any desired outcomes are achieved as a result of the mediation. All that the mediator can do is help facilitate communication between the parties, thus it is your responsibility to ensure that your legal interests are represented throughout the process.

Although the state of Florida has abolished the concept of fault when individuals file for divorce, that doesn’t make the process of obtaining a divorce any simpler, nor does it completely eliminate the impact that an individual’s behavior during marriage has when it comes to important decisions that come out of divorce, such as property distribution, alimony, timesharing, and related issues.

In addition, many would be surprised to find out that adultery (or, rather, “living in open adultery”) is still considered to be a crime in the state of Florida, thus, it’s fair to say that behavior during marriage–regardless of what’s listed in state statute as technical grounds for dissolution–can have its effects.

The No-Fault Divorce Law in Florida

Florida being a no-fault divorce state, which means parties can dissolve their marriage by indicating that the marriage is “irretrievably broken.” When either spouse files, they must simply prove that they have been married and at least one has been a Florida resident for at least six months immediately preceding the filing date.