Blog Posts in 2014
Posted on Sep 29, 2014 By Hager, Schwartz & Ross, P.A.
When handling issues such as alimony, each state has different statutes and laws. How your state deals with these issues can positively or adversely affect you; and understanding the laws in your ...
Continue reading "Veterans' Benefits and Alimony in Florida" »
Posted on Sep 29, 2014 By Jay Butchao
When getting a divorce, many parents are concerned about the visitation agreement and how often they will get to see their children, the holiday schedule, and child support payments. Parents try to ...
Continue reading "How Divorce Can Affect Your Children" »
Posted on Sep 19, 2014 By Jay Butchao
At the onset of a divorce, many experts suggest that you change your electronic life, including shared social media accounts and passwords. But your Facebook and Twitter passwords are not the only ...
Continue reading "Expenses to Consider Outside of Child Support" »
Posted on Sep 19, 2014 By Jay Butchao
When you are in an abusive relationship, you may not know how to get out of it. Making the decision to get a protective order can be the first to end the cycle of violence. An experienced attorney can ...
Continue reading "How to Get a Protective Order" »
Posted on Sep 17, 2014 By Jay Butchao
At the onset of a divorce, many experts suggest that you change your electronic life, including shared social media accounts and passwords. But your Facebook and Twitter passwords are not the only ...
Continue reading "Paper Changes to Make Upon Entering Into a Separation or Divorce" »
Posted on Sep 17, 2014 By Jay Butchao
Divorce has surprising health effects of which you might not be aware, but knowing what you may be in for and keeping a close watch will help. Also, hiring an attorney can be helpful in reducing the ...
Continue reading "Health Effects to Watch Out For During Divorce" »
Posted on Sep 5, 2014 By Jay Butchao
It is hard to overstate the importance of a court's decision-making process when it comes to visitation and time - sharing arrangements. Florida law is emphatic that courts—and only ...
Continue reading "The Centrality of the Court to Time-Sharing Arrangements" »
Posted on Aug 29, 2014 By Jay Butchao
For many types of family law payments, including alimony and child support, there are laws and statutory provisions that govern modifications. Payments as originally conceived are not set in stone, so ...
Continue reading "Automatic Termination of Alimony Upon Death in Florida" »
Posted on Aug 29, 2014 By Jay Butchao
Divorce is by far the most common way couples get out of their marriages. Strictly speaking, however, it is not the only way: as in other states across the country, Florida law recognizes that ...
Continue reading "The Difficulty of Succeeding in an Annulment Claim in Florida" »
Posted on Aug 23, 2014 By Jay Butchao
Traditional approaches to surnames—a wife taking her husband's name, a child being automatically given the surname of the father—is entrenched even in today's society. Cultural ...
Continue reading "Paternity and Naming a Child in Florida" »
Posted on Aug 23, 2014 By Jay Butchao
Modern families are complex. People have children in and out of marriage; and, even in marriages, couples that have children often divorce, remarry, and form new families. According to a 2011 Pew ...
Continue reading "Subsequent Children and Child Support in Florida" »
Posted on Aug 17, 2014 By Jay Butchao
Familial disputes, especially and including divorces, can be difficult to resolve. Legislators, courts, lawyers, advocacy groups, and the parties themselves are all integral components in the realm of ...
Continue reading "Florida Supreme Court Holds Divorce Lawyer Accountable" »
Posted on Aug 17, 2014 By Jay Butchao
In 2002, well before same-sex marriage was legal in any state in the U.S., two women entered into a civil union in Vermont. The relationship lasted for a number of years; but the couple split up in ...
Continue reading "Divorce Ruling is Third in Recent Florida Same-Sex Marriage Cases" »
Posted on Aug 10, 2014 By Jay Butchao
There has long been a perception, supported by numerous studies, that married couples in which the wife is more educated than the husband are more likely to divorce. Indeed, according to one ...
Continue reading "Patterns of Divorce Changing Among Educated Couples" »
Posted on Aug 10, 2014 By Jay Butchao
In Florida, as elsewhere, determinations of child custody are made based on what is in "the best interests of the child." When awarding custody to one parent or another after a divorce, a ...
Continue reading "Religious Considerations in Florida Child Custody Determinations" »
Posted on Aug 1, 2014 By Jay Butchao
The ability of a parent to visit with a child is of paramount importance to the state of Florida. Sometimes, child custody arrangements via time - sharing plans are relatively simple affairs. They ...
Continue reading "Supervised Visitation in Florida" »
Posted on Aug 1, 2014 By Jay Butchao
Occasionally, a unique familial situation arises in which one party seeks support from another without also seeking a divorce. In certain religious contexts, for example, spouses may be uncomfortable ...
Continue reading "Spousal Support Without Divorce in Florida" »
Posted on Jul 22, 2014 By Jay Butchko
In Florida, as elsewhere, the non-payment of child support by a non-custodial parent is considered a uniquely intolerable offense. Therefore, the law provides for a number of serious and creative ...
Continue reading "Enforcement of Child Support Orders in Florida" »
Posted on Jul 22, 2014 By Jay Butchao
In 1971, Florida joined a growing the number of states to allow no-fault divorce. Today, under Florida law, divorce (or dissolution of marriage, as the statute calls it) can only be granted for one of ...
Continue reading "No-Fault Divorce in Florida" »
Posted on Jul 18, 2014 By Jay Butchao
The issue of paternity —the determination of whether a person is the legal father of a child—may at first seem simple. Florida paternity statutes allow paternity to be established in a ...
Continue reading "Complying with the Florida Paternity Statute" »
Posted on Jul 18, 2014 By Jay Butchao
In Florida, child custody determinations—"time-sharing," as it is called—are made based on what is in the "best interests of the child." This is a standard that arises ...
Continue reading "Modifications of Child Custody/Time Sharing Arrangements in Florida" »
Posted on Jul 10, 2014 By Jay Butchao
Florida somewhat uniquely combines several concepts of child custody and visitation into a scheme known as "time-sharing." Essentially, though a post- divorce child may reside with one ...
Continue reading "Florida Courts Reinforce Child Time-Sharing Policy" »
Posted on Jul 10, 2014 By Jay Butchao
Between 1940 and 1980, the national divorce rate doubled. However—despite common wisdom to the contrary—after 1980, the divorce rate fell dramatically. By 2009, it had dropped by a third, ...
Continue reading "Florida Divorce Rate on the Rise" »
Posted on Jun 30, 2014 By Hager & Schwartz, P.A.
Last year, Florida Governor Rick Scott vetoed a bill that would have fundamentally changed the laws of alimony in this state. Alimony reform—as the effort to change alimony laws throughout the ...
Continue reading "The Alimony Reform Effort in Florida" »
Posted on Jun 27, 2014 By Hager & Schwartz, P.A.
This fall millions of 18-year-old students will enroll in colleges and universities across the United States. And while a recent Wall Street Journal editorial debated the virtues of parents financing ...
Continue reading "Child Support & College Under Florida Law" »