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Interfaith separations in Fort Lauderdale can cause a contentious debate in may religious communities such as Plantation, Hallandale Beach, Hollywood and Pembroke Pines. When a divorce becomes combative, divorce attorneys are often faced with a client that is non-negotiable regarding the religious upbringing of their child and the religious directives of their parenting plan. Clients often look to use anything and everything against their spouse or former parter when they are involved in child custody litigation during their divorce or paternity case in Broward.

Religious differences in how a child should be raised is an obvious tool that may be used by a litigant because of the significant differences in the both of the clients beliefs. While couples who come from two different religious backgrounds negotiate and are motivated to reach a resolution because they are in love and want to get marred, the motivation during a divorce should be the best interest of the child.

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An extended family member such as a relative in the third degree by blood or marriage to the parent of a stepparent of a child currently married to a parent may have a lawyer file an action under Florida law to seek temporary custody of a minor child in Broward. This is intended to provide a legal means for a statutorily defined family member to acquire the necessary legal documentation to permit them to provide for the minor child under for whom they are caring for by allowing them to consent to medical treatment, to obtain copies of school records and to enroll the minor child in school.

In a recent case from the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Mohorn v Thomas, the grandmother appealed an order entered by Broward marital and family Judge Marina Garcia-Wood. The trial court denied her petition for temporary custody. Judge Garcia-Wood found that the father’s name on the birth certificate was insufficient to establish paternity and that the father was required to file a paternity action to establish or ratify paternity before temporary custody of an extended family member could be sought by an extended family member.

The minor child’s birth certificate listed Sylenia Danielle Thomas as the mother and Ronnie Kennedy as the father. One year after the minor child was born, the mother and father executed a document that gave all rights and legal guardianship of the minor child to the paternal grandparents.

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Disagreements over finances are one of the leading causes for divorce filings in Fort Lauderdale. When money is tight or investments are performing poorly, even couples who are happily married may encounter disagreements. However, before you talk to a divorce lawyer about alimony, child custody matters and a parenting plan, perhaps you should make some adjustments to your finances by having a financial divorce from your spouse.

In the past, a majority of financial decisions were made by the husband. Today, women depend on men far less than they did years ago. Women are now employed and have their own investments. In light of the climbing divorce rate, women do not want to be in a position where they rely upon men for alimony, support and maintenance.

A large percentage of marital disagreements deal with how money is spent. In addition, some couples have different investment objectives, methods and risk tolerances. South Florida couples with strict budgets who struggle to make ends meet may also fight about which bills to pay first.

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In Greenwald v Greenwald, the husband and wife were married on May 18, 2004. Fourteen months later, the parties filed for divorce in Miami-Dade. In support of her claim for permanent alimony, the wife claimed that the husband induced her to quit her job were she earned $100,00 per year. At trial, e-mail evidence proved that this claim was false since the wife wanted to quit her job prior to the marriage.

While the wife’s request for permanent periodic alimony was denied, Judge Scott Bernstein awarded her $65,000 in attorney’s fees and costs to be paid by the husband. In reversing the trial court’s award of attorney’s fees and costs to the wife, the Third District Court of Appeal held that the Miami divorce court should have denied the wife’s request for attorney’s fees and costs. The court reasoned that the wife made a claim for permanent alimony in a short-term marriage which is rarely successful, the case went to trial on the permanent alimony issue, the basis of the claim was false and the wife turned down a favorable opportunity to settle the alimony matter before trial in a lump sum payment of $36,000.

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Many residents of Fort Lauderdale will file for divorce. In fact, when you hire a divorce attorney in Broward you will often try to mitigate the impact of child custody, time-sharing and shared parental responsibility litigation on your children. The following statistics should remind you why it is important to amicably resolve your divorce case.

1. While 1/2 of children experience their parents divorce, 1/2 of those children will also experience their parents second divorce.

2. 1 out of every 10 children who have seen their parents divorce will also experience 3 or more divorces.

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During the recession, filing for divorce is a difficult decision. With housing values depressed and jobs disappearing in South Florida, divorce has become a luxury for many residents. Nowadays, there is often not enough money to maintain separate households or to hire a divorce attorney in Fort Lauderdale to go to court and fight over alimony, child support and child custody matters.

Lately, many clients have been living together during and after their divorce. Some have filed for bankruptcy. Others have realized that they are upside down with the values of their homes. In many cases, marital and family law attorneys in Miami-Dade have dealt with clients who only require equitable distribution of debt during their divorce case.

During 2008, there were 838,000 divorces granted in 44 states, a slight decline from the previous year when 56,000 divorces were granted. These days working class couples are vulnerable to file for a divorce since they feel the impact of unemployment. However, the recession has created many unhappy couples who would like to file for divorce but will be required to wait until the economy rebounds.

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When you file for a divorce or paternity action in Fort Lauderdale, many times your lawyer will also be required to represent you in a concurrent domestic violence action. A court can issue an injunction for protection against domestic violence when a party is a victim of domestic violence or has reasonable cause to believe that he or she may become a victim of domestic violence. The court must consider current allegations, behavior during the relationship and the entire history of the relationship. In the case of Malchan v Howard, the appellate court in West Palm Beach found that the trial court abused its discretion in entering a domestic violence action.

In July 2008, the mother filed a petition that sought an injunction for protection against domestic violence in Broward. She alleged that in 2005 the father punched a wall in their home, pushed her into the wall, tried to choke her and told her that he would kill her. She did not make any recent allegations of violence or threats of violence.

At the hearing, the mother testified that she was scared of the father since she planned on filing a child support action against him in the future. She admitted that the father had not threatened to kill her or her child since 2005. The mother also testified that she had spoken to the father three weeks ago when he requested a travel with the child to Orlando, a request that she had denied.

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Parents filing to establish or modify child support has increased the burden on Florida’s marital and family law court system. Child support hearing offices have been working overtime. Unfortunately, the court system can not deal with the increased demand without more employees. However, this seems unlikely given budget cuts in the state of Florida.

A parent in Broward that is trying to establish child support may have to wait up to six months for a hearing. In addition, parents requesting a modification of child support because of wage cuts or unemployment may have to wait up to three months for a hearing. In Florida, child support modification cases, specifically downward modifications, have increased by 50% since 2006. Broward Circuit Court Judge Susan Greenhawt who hears marital and family law cases including, but not limited to, divorce and paternity, believes that these type of cases really need to be heard since generally there is a contempt motion pending at the same time.

In some cases, individuals are unable to afford to hire a child support lawyer in Fort Lauderdale and proceed on their own. They use online forms, question the clerks and often forget important documents at their hearing. At the hearing, they often ask the court to appoint a lawyer since they can not afford one. Unfortunately, they have to do the best they can and often have their cases dismissed until they can present their case properly.

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If you file for divorce in Broward, your attorney may suggest that you retain a forensic accountant to value the marital business. However, in these uncertain economic times the values of marital assets are volatile and may fluctuate after trial and before the marital and family court in Florida enters the final judgment of dissolution of marriage. In the case of Mistretta v. Mistretta, the Miami Herald is reporting that First District Court of Appeal ruled that the trial court erred in revisiting the equitable distribution due to the economic recession

In the final judgment of dissolution of marriage entered on August 25, 2008, the trial court distributed the marital business to the Husband, assigned a date of valuation of October 31, 2007 and ordered the Husband to make a one time cash equalization payment of $845,000 to the Wife. The Husband requested a new trial and valuation of the business relying upon the economic recession that began in December, 2007 as “newly discovered evidence.” The trial court granted the Husband’s motion.

Rehearing or a new trial based upon newly discovered evidence is permitted when it appears that the evidence will possibly change the result if a new trial is granted, the evidence has been discovered since trial, the evidence could not have been discovered before trial by the exercise of due diligence, the evidence is material to the issue and the evidence is not just cumulative or impeaching. The alleged “newly discovered evidence” cannot simply show some change in circumstance since the trial.

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When a third grade teacher recently got divorced, she had trouble explaining the concept to her two children, ages 4 and 7. While the children had some knowledge about a divorce, the wife decided to read books that dealt with child custody matters such as time-sharing, shared parental responsibility and parenting plans in order to help her children understand what their parents were going through. Now, divorce attorneys in Miami-Dade and Broward may recommend that you purchase a book by Kristi Schwartz titled Divorced Together For the Sake of Children. The book was released on January 22, 2010 and may help Florida children understand about a divorce.