Divorce Questions and Answers
What you need now more than anything is correct and legally useful information. Information that will help you to understand the problems you face and how to deal with them.
Below are a few of the most frequently asked divorce and family law questions we help our clients work through. Our answers here are brief, so please know that further, complete information about your situation is just a phone call away.
Speak with an experienced Florida attorney at our firm today.
Call 855-Kramer-Now (855-572-6376).
Divorce FAQ
Q: How long does divorce take in Florida?
A: This generally boils down to whether the divorce is contested or uncontested.
When both parties are in agreement about custody, child support, visitation, spousal support, and how to divide assets and debts, your divorce is uncontested. In this case, a divorce can take only a month or two to complete.
If you and your spouse cannot agree on the above issues, you have a contested divorce. This means the issues must either be settled through mediation or go to trial. If, despite the efforts of your attorneys and mediators, the case goes to trial, the judge will decide on each issue. Depending on how busy the courts are, contested divorce can take as much as six months to a year or more.
Q: How do I get child custody?
A: In Florida, “custody” is actually called time sharing. Time sharing is part of your parenting plan, and it involves both parents. Florida’s policy is that each minor child is able to maintain ongoing contact with both the parents after a divorce to serve the best interests of the child. The court does not show preference for the father or mother or for any specific time-sharing schedule when constructing the parenting plan of the child.
Your parenting plan must be approved by the judge. If you and your spouse cannot agree on how you should share time with and responsibility for your child, the judge will dictate the parenting plan. Mediation can avoid a court ordered parenting plan that is much more desirable that one imposed by the court.
Many factors go into the court’s decision on time sharing with the children. Florida courts start with the assumption that there is nothing wrong with 50/50 time-sharing. However, equal time-sharing idea is not mandatory, nor is it always best for the child.
Q: What does child support cover?
A: The Florida judicial system considers child support is the right of the child, and it is the duty of every parent to financially support their children. Child support covers:
- Basic support – this embodies everyday expenses for food, clothing, shelter, school supplies and entertaining the child
- Cost of day care and after-school care
- Health insurance for the child
Q: How to enforce child support in Florida
A: You are entitled to take legal action to enforce your child support court order. Cases where a spouse is delinquent in paying child support may require civil or criminal sanctions.
The first thing to do is file a Motion for Contempt. Our attorneys will work with the court on your behalf in various ways to recover unpaid child support, including wage garnishment, revoke or suspend driver’s license and other licenses, seizure of certain assets, foreclosure, interception of tax refunds, and imprisonment.
Q: What is alimony?
A: Alimony, also called spousal support, is the monetary allowance ordered by the court that one spouse pays to the other either during the divorce process or after the divorce is final. Alimony is based on the financial need and earning potential of the receiving spouse and the ability to pay of the paying spouse. Florida provides for several types of alimony according to the circumstances of the case.
Q: What is family law?
A: Family law deals with legal issues that happen within families or other personal relationships such as marriage, domestic partnerships, paternity issues, domestic violence, adoption, property settlement and family business matters. Family law is also known in the legal community as domestic relations law or divorce law.
Yet family law is unique among areas of legal practice. Our clients look to our firm for unwavering support as they begin what is often a scary new chapter of their lives. The stability of a family is essential to our very beings, and divorce and other family law issues invariably reach far beyond the basics of family law and into other areas of law.
A family law firm or family law lawyer will have a broad scope of legal knowledge. A good family law attorney is adept in bankruptcy law, business law, real estate law, contract law, criminal law and estate planning because a divorce or family law case can be affected by any one of these areas of law. The family law attorney should also have knowledge of tax law and financial issues that may impact every case.
Make sure to view our Video Help section, which answers many more divorce FAQs.
We will be happy to answer your family law questions confidentially, one-on-one. Contact us today by calling 855-Kramer (855-572-6376).