During a divorce or paternity action, many parents agree to share any medical costs for their child 50/50. However, if you earn less money than the other parent, you do NOT have to agree to that. Unless you do, the Court must order you and the other parent to share those expenses at a rate…
I have a pending Florida child support caseinvolving Egyptian parties who were previously divorced inEgypt and the Husband (who resides in Florida) has never paida dime of child support for theparties’ minor child, who lives solely with the mother (in Egypt).As it turns out, the parties Egyptian divorcedecree makes no provision, noreven a mention of,…
Even if the author of a DCF (Department of Children & Families) report is available to testify, the hearsay within the report which is testified to must have a hearsay exception of its own, otherwise the report will be inadmissible.Davis v. Davis, Fla. 5th DCA Case No. 5D11-1534, January 2013,citingReichenberg v. Davis, 846 So. 2d…
When including a provision in a settlement agreement or court order that one or both spouses must maintan life insurance policies to cover child support in the event of that parent’s untimely death, it is the children, not the parents, who must be named as the beneficiaries. It is irreversible error for a court to…
When a party requesting an award of attorney’s fees is found by the court to be voulntarily unemployed or underemployed, the court can deny the request of fees, even when there is a large disparity in income between the parties.SeeSpenceley v. Spenceley, 746 So. 2d 505, 506-07 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999). A court may look…
A “right of first refusal” is a provision that sometimes gets added in to a settlement agreement or court order. Such a provision provides that if a parent cannot exercise his or her parenting time for a certain period of time (usually at least an overnight), that parent must offer the time to the other…
Unrepresented (pro se) litigants are held to the same standard as reasonably compentent attorneys.http://www.3dca.flcourts.org/Opinions/3D12-2871.pdf. This means that if you are unrepresented, do not expect to catch a break from the court if you fail to know the rules, forget to file someting in a timely manner, etc. This is why it is SO IMPORTANT to…
The Florida Supreme Court, on November 7, 2013, ruledthat same sex couples are entitled to a full determination of timesharing and child support by Florida courts! D.M.T. v. T.M.H., SC12-261 (Fla. November 7, 2013) (see online athttp://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2013/sc12-261.pdf). This case involved a biological mother and a birth mother. This case was remanded to the lower court…
Section 61.30(2)(a)(3), Florida Statutes (2013) (“Chapter 61”) provides that income for purposes of calculating child support shall include business income from close corporations. Florida Supreme Court case,Zold v. Zold, 911 So. 2d 1222 (2005) reviews the issue of whether the “pass through” income of an S-corporation that not “distributed” to shareholders constitutes income within the…
Sending a child out of state (or more than 50 miles away) for purposes of attending a boarding or private school is not a “relocation” for purposes of Section 61.13001 (Florida Statutes, 2013). This means there is no requirement to file a Notice of Intent to Relocation or comply with the other provisions of the…
