Recent Posts in Modification Category

With the onslaught of celebrity coverage surrounding Mel Gibson's recorded telephone rants, many divorce clients have asked whether it is legal to record their spouse or ex-spouse's telephone conversations.  The answer depends on several different factors and often varies on a case by case basis.

The general rule is, no, unless you obtain express consent.  Florida wiretapping laws are complex and can carry criminal or civil punishments if violated.  In situations where your spouse would have a reasonable expectation of privacy, it is not proper to record your spouse's telephone conversations without permission.  I typically recommend always obtaining permission from your spouse or ex-spouse before recording any telephone call or communication.

However, there are several exceptions to this general rule, that would require an in-depth analysis of the facts and circumstances of your family law case. 

Contact your expert Tampa family law attorney to discuss whether these exceptions apply to you and your case.

It is never too early to start thinking about where your children will spend their holidays.  Most parents wait until November to start dialoguing with their former spouse about scheduling their holidays for their children.  If they do not have a set schedule in place, they find themselves calling their family law attorney after Halloween to settle their disputes.  Unfortunately, the judges have dockets that are already crowded.  So, last minutes hearings are rarely granted and usually quite expensive to litigate.

I recommend that clients start around the beginning of the school year to set out their requests for a holiday schedule.  That way, if there is going to be a disagreement, it can set sorted out without a last minute rush to the courthouse that quite possibly might not get resolved in time.

If you find that you and your spouse are unable to work something out, going to a mediator may be helpful.  Many jurisdictions have mediation services available for divorce cases at the courthouse for a relatively low cost.

Additionally, it may be helpful to know that many jurisdictions have a holiday guideline schedule that may be found on the courthouse website.  Ask your expert Tampa family law attorney for ideas as to how to get this problem served early in the year and avoid unnecessary expense.

In a Florida divorce or a Florida paternity case, the law sets out a specific schedule that determines how much child support each party is responsible for based on the income of both parents and the number of children in the family.  However, we have previously discussed that Florida family law provides for certain exceptions from these guidelines, such as the demonstrated need for one party to financially support an elderly parent or certain extraordinary medical or educational expenses.

Another exception is seasonal variations in one or both parents' income.  What does this mean and how would a court interpret this provision?  One example might be a teacher who gets paid his salary during the school year when he's in class teaching but not over the summer.  Another example could be a salesman who gets paid mostly on commission and sees larger paychecks around the holiday shopping season. These are only two circumstances for which the court could deviate from the established guidelines - there are many others.

Bottom line:  If you find yourself having trouble meeting your child support obligations due to changes in your income from month-to-month, consult with the best Tampa family law attorney to make sure you receive the reasonable accommodation as provided by law.

In determining the amount of child support to be paid in a Florida divorce case, courts have established a precise numerical formula for calculating those payments.  The Florida child support guidelines are based on factors such as the children's health care expenses and the number of days the child stays overnight at each parent's house.  Ultimately, Florida family law courts are confined to this formula to establish payments. 

However, a parent can request that the court deviate from this formula as detailed by the Florida Child Support Guideline Statute.  One of these reasons is if the child earns an independent income.

For example, a child may possibly hold a job as a hostess or a bus boy at a local restaurant.  If this child is earning enough income to purchase his or her own clothes, or pay for his or her own car insurance or medical expenses, child support payments may be lower than the formula establishes.

A board certified Tampa family law attorney can guide you through court proceedings in this scenario.  While a modification or deviation from the formula is not guaranteed, the court will take your situation into consideration when calculating payments.

As we have discussed in this space many times, Florida has a guideline mathematical formula which determines the amount of child support which will be paid in Florida divorce and paternity matters.  These guidelines are more than just suggestions as to what the support might be.  They are absolutely binding on the parents unless there is a justifiable reason to vary from the formula.

The Florida Child Support Guideline Statute has a list of reasons why the court can deviate from the normal calculation.  Among them are extraordinary medical, psychological, educational and dental expenses.

If a child has any sort of extraordinary need in this regard, it would be unfair to impose the normal child support guidelines upon the parents.  For example, if you have a child who needs constant treatment and this requires continuing payments to healthcare or educational professionals, it would be unfair to treat this situation like the typical child support scenario.

Your expert Tampa family law attorney can tell you how to present this situation to the court for a review.

Although it does not happen in every case, the court will listen to evidence as to child support guideline deviations.

Bottom line:  Not every Florida family law case involving child support goes strictly by the child support guideline statute formula.

When the court calculates how much child support will be paid in a Florida Divorce or a Florida Paternity case, there are many factors which are taken into account.  One of these is the cost of childcare.

First, your expert Tampa Family Law Attorney will assist the court in determining how much basic child support should be paid based upon the net incomes of the parents under the Florida Child Support Guidelines.  Then the court will add the cost of health insurance for the children. 

Many people pay some sort of childcare for their children.  This will be considered in the child support calculation, but only if it is necessary to enable one parent or the other to get to work.  The next step, then, would be to add this cost to the required full child support of the children after deducting a straight 25% amount.  The reason for the deduction is that the Internal Revenue Service allows a tax credit for a portion of health insurance attributable to the children.

Once this is added to the basic child support amount, the court is closer to giving the final Florida child support amount to the parents.

Bottom line:  The mathematical child support calculation includes the cost of childcare for the children and your expert Florida Family Law lawyer can assist in this calculation.

Before the court finishes calculating how much child support will be paid in a Florida divorce or a Florida Paternity case, the court will take into account the amount of health insurance premiums for the children.

First, your expert Tampa family law attorney will assist the court in determining how much basic child support should be paid based upon the net incomes of the parents under the Florida Child Support Guidelines.  Many people pay some sort of health insurance for their children, so the court will next add the cost of those health insurance premiums. 

Once this is added to the basic child support amount, the court is closer to giving the final Florida child support amount to the parents.

Bottom line:  The mathematical child support calculation includes the cost of health insurance for the children and your expert Florida family law attorney can assist in this calculation.

To be a parenting coordinator, a person must either be licensed as a Florida mental health professional, psychiatrist or lawyer or be certified as a family law mediator with a master’s degree in a mental health field.  Expert Tampa family law attorneys often refer client s to parent coordinators for assistance in creating a timesharing plan because of the education and experience in dealing with children that comes with these qualifications.

The parent coordinator will meet with the parents both together and individually to discuss the needs of the children.  In some cases, the parent coordinator will contact teachers or others who have information regarding the children or, in certain circumstances, speak with the children themselves.

The primary goal of the parent coordinator will be to reach an agreement between the parents on all aspects of their future timesharing arrangement.  Not only will the parents decide which days the children will spend at each home, but also agree upon rules for telephone contact, exceptions to the usual schedule, responsibility for transporting the children, systems for selection of doctors, schools, extracurricular activities and all other choices you will make as your children mature.

Parent coordinators are fairly new to the divorce process in Florida custody cases, but have proven to be quite valuable in helping to reduce the bickering and reach agreements that divorcing parents can accept.

Bottom line:  Ask your expert Florida divorce lawyer if a parent coordinator could be helpful in your situation.

After the divorce is over and the former spouses have moved on with their lives, often the spouse receiving alimony develops a new love interest.   Sometimes that leads to another marriage.   What happens to the alimony award required in the Florida divorce court order?

The best Tampa family law attorneys will tell you that the alimony will end when there is a remarriage by the receiving spouse unless there is an agreement and court order specifically to the contrary.   Those types of agreements and orders are extremely rare.

Suppose, though, that there is no remarriage.   Suppose instead that the alimony receiving spouse merely becomes involved in a live-in arrangement with the new love interest.   What happens then?

Florida divorce law allows that alimony can be reduced or even terminated if the receiving spouse becomes involved in a “supportive relationship” with another person.   The court will look at a number of factors: whether the two people in the relationship have held themselves out as husband and wife even though not married, used the same last name, shared a mailing address, lived together for a long time, pooled their assets, supported each other, performed valuable services for each other or for the other’s company or employer, worked together to create or enhance something of value, purchased real or personal property together, or provided support to each other’s children.

In the distant past it was not nearly as common for people to live together without marriage.   Because it is now so common, the law recognizes that the circumstances of living together can justify termination of an alimony obligation just as in a case of the spouse getting married again.

Bottom line:   If there is alimony involved with your former spouse, you need to contact the best Florida family law attorneys if you are receiving the alimony and are thinking of moving in with someone else or if you are paying alimony and your spouse has moved in with someone.

If you feel that a modification of alimony might be appropriate, you have a choice where you file your motion to modify alimony.  You can file a motion to modify alimony in either the circuit court of the circuit in which either you or your ex-spouse resided at the date of the execution of your original agreement, or in which the original alimony order was rendered, or where either of you currently reside.

If it has been a few years since alimony was originally ordered in your case, chances are you may not know the amount of income your ex-spouse currently earns.  The rules of Florida family law courts provide that your ex-spouse must complete a new financial affidavit if you request a modification of your current support amount.  If you have reason to believe that either your circumstances or those of your ex-spouse have substantially changed, and a modification of alimony might be appropriate, contact an expert Florida alimony attorney to discuss your case.

Computer technology has advanced greatly in the past twenty years.  Years ago, if a parent had to move away from their former spouse and child, telephone contact and writing letters was the only way to maintain contact.  With the advent of the internet, cell phones, skype, and so on, the family that is separated by distance is no longer restricted to infrequent visits. 

Florida Divorce law recently caught up with this new technology.  New laws allow a court to order electronic communication between a parent and a child.  The court must first consider if the communication is in the child's best interests and whether or not the technology is available to the parent and child.  The court must also consider whether there is a history of substance abuse or domestic violence.  The presumption is that it is in the child's best interest to communicate electronically with the other parent if no other outlet is available.

While these new means of electronic communication are not as good as seeing your child in person, they are better than the old options.  Contact an expert Florida divorce attorney to discuss these, and other issues.

Child support in Florida does not always end when you think it will.   Florida law requires that, in general, the obligation to pay child support ends when the child reaches the age of eighteen.   That is not, however, always the case.

Any expert Tampa divorce lawyer will tell you that the most notable exception to that rule applies to situations where a child is scheduled to celebrate the eighteenth birthday while still in high school.   The law gives the courts the option to extend the child support obligation to when the child graduates.   In my opinion, this part of the law is poorly written.   It allows the child support to continue until graduation only if the child is expected to graduate before the age of nineteen.  If a child turns eighteen the week before the end of her junior year and is expected to turn nineteen the week before the end of her senior year, the child support will stop at her eighteenth birthday because she has no expectation of graduating before age nineteen.   It would seem more fair to allow child support to continue to high school graduation or age nineteen whichever occurs first.

Child support will also end when a child becomes emancipated.   There are certain situations where a court will order the emancipation of a child in order to remove the child from the control of the parents before the age of eighteen if it is in the best interests of the child.

The other ways that child support will end before age eighteen is if the child marries, joins the armed services or dies.

Finally, if a child is dependent, (for example, because of mental retardation or some other debilitating condition), the court may extend the requirement to support the child indefinitely.

Bottom line:   Ask your expert Florida divorce lawyer if any of these exceptions to the rule apply in your situation.

In cases where one parent is activated to military service, and timesharing and child support are at issue, the activated parent may worry about parental rights.  What will happen to the children during my time away?  Does the activation alter my rights to my children permanently?

The Florida divorce courts will not permanently alter timesharing or child support while one parent is deplo yed on active duty in the military.  The courts are specifically not allowed to modify any issues relating to the parties' minor children, except on a temporary basis.  If the court does temporarily modify timesharing or child support, the court is obligated to reinstate the previous time sharing order when the parent returns from active duty or deployment.

The rules of Florida divorces regarding temporary changes to timesharing or child support, as stated above, do not apply to permanent change of station moves by military personnel.

Bottom line:  If you, or your ex-spouse is facing a move due to military reasons, you should contact an expert Tampa divorce attorney to discuss your issues.