Recent Posts in Paternity 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.

Florida family law is very clear on how much each party will be responsible for in child support based on both parents' income and the number of children.  However, we have recently discussed that the court can deviate from the normal payment schedule for certain unusual circumstances like the care of an elderly parent.

What if the children are enrolled in private schools which can cost thousands of dollars per school year these days?  Are these expenses meant to be shared using the normal child support schedule laid out in the law?  Expert Florida divorce lawyers know that the answer is, "Not necessarily."

While the guidelines for payment are calculated using a clearly defined formula, the law states that the court can adjust one or both parents' share for a number of factors, one of which is extraordinary "medical, psychological, educational, or dental expenses".  Private school tuition fits under this exception and should be handled outside the normal guidelines.

Bottom line:  Speak with the best Tampa family law attorney you can find if your children are subject to expensive private school tuition costs and you are involved in a divorce or paternity case.

In a Florida divorce or paternity proceeding, the best Tampa family law attorneys often use guardians ad litem for the benefit of the children.  A guardian ad litem should not act as an attorney or advocate for the child, but rather as next friend of the child in seeking the child's best interests.  Once appointed, this person has fairly wide-ranging powers, many of which require the assistance of a lawyer.  For example, the guardian ad litem has investigatory powers that allow the interview of the child, witnesses, or any other person having information concerning the welfare of the child.  The guardian ad litem may also assist in seeking impartial expert examinations as necessary or, with the assistance of counsel, may ask the court to compel examination of the child or the parents by doctors or mental health professionals.   

A guardian ad litem is entitled to attend any court proceedings that affect the child and also must submit a written report containing recommendations to the court within 10 days of any stipulation or agreement.  The guardian is able to make oral or written recommendations directly to the court.

While these are some of the powers and duties specifically laid out in Florida family law, the law is also clear that this list of powers is not meant to be exhaustive. 

Bottom line:  The best St. Petersburg child custody lawyer will tell you that the purpose of a guardian ad litem is to act in the best interests of a child and that the law provides fairly extensive authority to assist in the pursuit of this goal.

The court system uses guardians ad litem to assist in cases involving children.  In order to be appointed by the court to perform this task, you must meet one of three qualifications.  You must be officially certified by the Florida Guardian Ad Litem Program, certified by a not-for-profit legal aid organization or be an attorney who is a member in good standing of The Florida Bar.

There are a number of specific criteria within the Florida Guardian Ad Litem Program and within any not-for-profit legal aid organization which we will discuss in a later blogpost.  All of the requirements are geared toward obtaining guardians ad litem who will dedicate their time to diligently representing the best interests of the children they are appointed to represent.

If you have questions about these qualifications, contact an expert Tampa family law attorney.

Bottom line:  A guardian ad litem can be appointed to represent a child in a child custody dispute.

In a Florida divorce or paternity case, there will be a child support guideline calculation to determine how much will be paid from one parent to the other.  These calculations are pretty precise and inflexible.

What if you are one of the many people in this country who are financially subsidizing an elderly parent who does not have sufficient funds to meet the monthly bills?  You should contact the best child support lawyer in Tampa to ask what the effect of that situation is on your child support obligation.

Florida law allows for certain exceptions to the child support guideline calculation.  One of these is for just such a situation as we just described.  If you can show that the payments for your parent have been regularly paid and that they are legitimately an ongoing necessity, the court may deviate from the Florida child support guidelines.

Bottom line:  Ask your expert Florida custody lawyer how this exception applies to you.

In a Florida child custody case, if the court sets a parenting plan designating timesharing rights for each parent and there is a reasonable and foreseeable risk that one parent may violate this plan or remove the child from the state or country, the court can take certain measures to ensure that this does not happen.

One of these measures is requiring the parent who is presenting the threat of violation to put forth a security or a bond.  This bond can be cashed in, either in part or in whole, upon the parent's violation of the parenting plan, depending on the decision of the court.  A family law court will first determine whether or not there is a need for a bond.  If there is a need, then the court will set the amount for the bond.   In Florida, a number of factors are taken into consideration when deciding this. 

One of these considerations is whether or not a parent has taken or threatened to take a child out of Florida or any other state in violation of an agreement.  For example, if a parent has previously violated a parenting plan by taking a child out of Alabama in a previous custody matter, there is a good chance that a judge may require a bond in the current Florida case.

Bottom line:  Your expert Florida family law attorney can guide you through the process of requiring a bond to protect your children.

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.

In every family law case involving parenting, there will be a timesharing plan ordered by the court.  That plan will include a time schedule for when each parent will be with the children.  What do you do if you find out that the other parent may be planning to take the children out of state, in violation of the plan?

The Florida statutes provide a way that you can ask for help before the other parent is already gone for parts unknown with your children.  They set up a procedure where you can present "substantial competent evidence" to the court that there is a risk of the other parent violating the court order by removing the child from the state.

If the court agrees that the risk exists, an order can be entered that the other parent may not remove the child without a notarized written permission statement from you.  In addition, the court can require the posting of a money bond which will be forfeited if the child is removed.  The court can also require the surrender of the child's passport.  Your expert Florida custody lawyer can help you through the process.

Bottom line:  Talk to your Florida divorce attorney about the steps you can take to ease the worry of your children being taken out of state without you knowing about it.

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.

Suppose that a Florida family law court has ordered that the other parent of your child must pay child support to you until your child reaches the eighteenth birthday.  What if the other parent, over the years, has steadily become farther and farther behind in payments and your child is approaching age eighteen?  Is it time to worry that you will never get your money?

In Florida, the law allows you to continue to collect child support from the other parent if there is a delinquency in the support due when the normal child support period ends.  Your expert Tampa family law attorney can ask the court to order the full amount to be paid from funds available to the other parent or order that the monthly regular payments must continue.

If there is a court order that the regular child support payments should be paid out of the other parent’s paycheck, the court can even order that the paycheck deduction continue until the child support arrearage is made up.

Bottom line:  Just because your child reaches age eighteen before all of the child support is paid doesn’t mean that you can’t collect it.

When there is a court order requiring someone to pay child support or alimony in a Florida divorce or paternity case, there are consequences for non-payment.  If you are involved in a court proceeding of this type, the first thing to keep in mind is that a court order is not just a suggestion.  It is a binding obligation requiring that the order be followed or that consequences shall occur.

If there is a delinquency in the payment of court ordered child support or alimony in your court proceeding, a paper will typically be filed with the court asking that the delinquent person be required to live up to the obligation or face those consequences.  If the person is not paying, the court will typically order the person to pay or to suffer a punishment.  If the person still does not pay, then the court can order that the person funds be garnished or that the person go to jail until the delinquent amount is paid.  In addition, the court can assess a further penalty against the person by requiring that the attorney’s fees of the enforcing party be paid.

Not all cases are subject to incarceration, however.  In order to send someone to jail for non-payment, the court must have proof that the person actually has the money to pay the amounts ordered.  So if someone is required to pay, but has no income or assets from which the order can be paid, then the court will fashion an enforcement order that persuades the delinquent person to pay what is available but which falls short of jail time.

Bottom line:  If there are alimony or child support payments which have not been made, contact your expert Florida family law attorney to ask what can be done in your case.

In a Florida divorce or paternity case, sometimes the person required to pay child support fails to pay.   When that happens there are a number of ways to punish the non-paying parent and inspire that parent to resume payments and make up any past missed payments.

In previous blog posts, we have discussed suspension of driver’s licenses and suspension of professional licenses as a means of punishing someone for non-payment of child support.   Of course, the most direct influence to pay child support is an order of contempt of court and requirement that the non-paying spouse go to jail by a certain date if the arrearages are unpaid.

The Florida Statutes provide that someone who is behind in child support payments may have that reported to a credit reporting agency.   It provides that, before reporting it to such an agency, the state would give the delinquent parent notice ahead of time and an opportunity to pay the delinquency current.   If it is not then paid current, then the agency of the state which keeps track of child support arrearages is free to notify all credit reporting agencies.

As with any unpaid debt, notification to a credit reporting agency has the effect of changing your credit rating and reducing your chances of obtaining a loan of any kind.   Before that happens, you may wish to consult your Tampa family law attorney to find out what you can do to avoid the harm you may be causing yourself.

Bottom line:   Failure to pay child support can seriously affect your lifestyle and may affect your freedom and your ability to borrow money.

There was a time in history when the mother of a young child had an absolute right to be the full-time, custodial parent of the child.  The father would see the child now and then and would pay child support.  The mother made all the decisions regarding the child.

Then times changed and the mother no longer was considered to be the presumed custodial parent.  The Florida legislature created the umbrella of “Shared Parental Responsibility” which covers all child custody matters.  Under that umbrella, there is no presumption in favor of moms and the parents jointly make the major decisions regarding the child (Who will the pediatrician be?  Where will the child go to school?, etc.).  Also under that umbrella, one parent would be named the “Primary Residential Parent” and the other would be the “Secondary Residential Parent”.  On rare occasions, there would be an order by the court naming them “Joint Primary Residential Parents”, but it was very rare.

Times changed again very recently.  Now we still have “Shared Parental Responsibility”.  There, however, are no longer designations of “Primary Residential Parent” and “Secondary Residential Parent”.  Today, we merely have a “Parenting Plan” in each Florida child custody case which has either been worked out by the parents or ordered by the judge.  No one gets to leave the courthouse and brag to friends about being named the “Primary Residential Parent” while the other parent leaves with a title that says that parent is second best.  The idea was that the parents will work together better for the benefit of the child if the divisive titles were removed.

Bottom line:  Talk to your expert Tampa divorce lawyer about the standards for determining what should be in a Florida divorce parenting plan.