If you have a Custody or Child Support Order which were entered in another state, you will need to have the order accepted by a Florida Court before Florida can enforce the order for you. Florida Courts will recognize foreign orders, or orders of other states, once the foreign order has been domesticated in a Florida Court.

Once this is done, the Florida Court system will recognize the Order and can enforce any orders in the original judgment. Many factors, including where children reside, where the parents reside now and at the time initial pleadings were filed, will affect any issues regarding parental responsibility and time sharing in Florida Family Law Cases.

See Pulkkinen v. Pulkkinen, 36 Fla. L. Weekly D2228.

Patricia Dills is an Attorney with Martin Law Firm, P.L., whose practice
focuses in Divorce, Child Support, Family Law, and Civil Litigation. She
primarily practices in Naples, Collier County, and Fort Myers, Lee County Florida.

The Second District Appeals Court recently heard a case wherein a mother appealed the trial court’s decision establishing paternity of the minor child, ordering shared parental responsibility, and awarding the father majority time-sharing in Pennsylvania, when the mother lived in Florida. The Appeals Court upheld the trial court’s decision, but explained that the mother’s petition for shared parental responsibility and majority time-sharing, and the court’s subsequent ruling, was not subject to the relocation factors set forth in section 61.13001(7)(a)-(k).

The trial court ruled that the statute did not apply because the statutory definition of relocation excluded the situation faced by the mother and father from the requirements of the relocation statute, since the father was not relocating, but already lived in Pennsylvania, where both parties had lived previously.

Relocation is a substantial issue in many divorce cases, especially now that communication and travel options are more readily available to families. Changes in the relocation statute in 2009 take note of this fact, and create additional factors for courts to consider when making rulings on this issue.

See A.F. v. R.P.B., 36 Fla. L. Weekly D2228.

Patricia Dills is an Attorney with Martin Law Firm, P.L., whose practice
focuses in Divorce, Child Support, Family Law, and Civil Litigation. She
primarily practices in Naples, Collier County, and Fort Myers, Lee County Florida.

Yes, but there has to be a legal reason to appeal the order. You cannot appeal an order just because you don’t like the Judge’s decision.  There are several types of appeals depending on the type of order to be appealed.  For example, you could appeal an order of temporary spousal support or alimony, which by its very nature is a nonfinal order.  This type of appeal addresses only the decision being appealed, and the trial court may progress the case while the appeal is pending. Further, when considering a temporary order the trial judge is given great discretion in the decision reached.

Once your case is over you can appeal the entire final judgment, or parts within the judgment.  However, it must truly be a final judgment.  For example, if the case is resolved except that the court is reserving jurisdiction to determine equitable distribution, the judgment is not actually final.  In a recent case the appeals court declined jurisdiction because the case was not final.  This case is another example of the importance of following proper procedure.

When dealing with appeals there are strict deadlines for when an appeal must be filed.  Thus if you feel an appeal is necessary in your case you should discuss this immediately with an attorney as you may lose the opportunity to appeal if the appeal is not timely filed, even if the trial court did make an appealable mistake.

See, Wright v. Wright, 36 Fla. L. Weekly D2423(Fla. 1st DCA 2011).

Dustin Michael Butler is an Attorney with Martin Law Firm, P.L., whose practice focuses in Family Law and Civil Litigation.  He is admitted to practice law in the State of Florida and the Federal Court for the Middle District of Florida. He primarily practices in Lee County Florida in Cape Coral and Fort Myers, Florida.

CAPE CORAL, Fla. (Nov. 1, 2011) Thomas E. Shipp Jr. has joined the attorneys at Martin Law Firm announced firm principal, Steven E. Martin.  An estate planning attorney based in Cape Coral since 1980, Shipp will add his expertise in the services of creating wills, trusts and other estate planning administration to the Martin Law Firm.

“We had been referring clients to one another,” said Martin. “It seemed natural to add his expertise to the services we offer our clients, making it more convenient to them to utilize our attorneys for all of their business and personal needs.”

The addition brings Shipp’s 30-plus years of experience to the firm’s estate planning practice, which also includes expertise in Bankruptcy, Family Law, Corporate and Business Services, and Real Estate Administration.  Shipp earned his law degree from St. Louis University and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1977. He is a member of the Real Property, Probate and Trust section of the Florida Bar.

Following the Martin Law Firm’s history of commitment to community service, Shipp is a member and past president of the Lee County Planning and past President of the Lee County Chapter of the International Association for Financial Planning. He has served on Executive Council of the Lee County Bar Association and is the President of the Cape Coral Bar Association. He is a Director and past Chairman of the Cape Coral Chamber of Commerce. He is also a member of the Investment Committee of the Cape Coral Community Foundation and past President of the Rotary Club Cape Coral Goldcoast.

Martin Law Firm is a group of attorneys founded by Steven and Eviana Martin, a husband and wife team focusing on estate planning, civil litigation, corporate and
business planning, family law, personal injury and real property law. Their offices are located in Cape Coral, Fort Myers and Naples. Members of the firm are admitted to
practice in the state of Florida and in the Federal Court for the Middle District of Florida.

Time-sharing is a very delicate subject and obviously of the utmost importance to both parents and the child.  It is very important that attorneys, judges, and the parties take this subject very seriously.  Florida law places the priority on the “best interests” of the child.  Specifically,

The best interests of the child are always the paramount concern in child custody and time-sharing matter.”

For this reason when one parent refuses to comply with time-sharing, while the aggrieved parent’s interest will absolutely be a consideration, the best interests of the child will still be the priority. Thus the Court must always make findings that their orders are in the best interest of the children.

However, there are several sanctions the Court can impose.  First the Court can always order the offending party to pay the other spouse’s attorney’s fees and costs in enforcing the time-sharing.  Second, the Court may

after calculating the amount of time-sharing improperly denied, award the parent denied time a sufficient amount of extra time-sharing to compensate for the time-sharing missed, and such time-sharing shall be ordered as expeditiously as possible in a manner consistent with the best interest of the child and schedule such tune-sharing in a manner that is convenient for the parent deprived of time-sharing.”

This remedy requires the careful balancing of awarding necessary make up time-sharing while doing so in a manner which is in the best interests of the child.  For example, it may be inappropriate for the Court to order an immediate full custody change in the middle of the school year.  However, if it is in the best interest of the child, this is a remedy which the Court may impose.

Finally the Court can find criminal contempt and impose a sanction of incarceration.  In a recent case the Court ordered five (5) days incarceration for the willful disregard for the Court’s time-sharing order.

Even in an unpleasant divorce it is crucial that both parents maintain the goal of achieving what is in the best interest of their child. 

See, Cheek v. Hesik, 36 Fla. L. Weekly D2378 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011).

Dustin Michael Butler is an Attorney with Martin Law Firm, P.L., whose practice focuses in Family Law and Civil Litigation.  He is admitted to practice law in the State of Florida and the Federal Court for the Middle District of Florida. He primarily practices in Lee County Florida in Cape Coral and Fort Myers, Florida.

Florida Statute § 61.075 provides for an equitable distribution of marital assets.  Absent findings of fact to support an unequal distribution of assets, the division should be relatively equal.  In many marriages the major, and sometimes only, asset is the marital home.  This often causes problems in equitable distribution because it is not possible to actually divide the home in half.  If the parties do not have other assets equal to the value in the marital home to offset awarding the home to one party it may be necessary to sell the marital home.

Recognizing that the division of marital assets sometimes requires an equalizing payment in excess of the liquid funds available at the time of divorce, Florida Law provides that this payment may be made in installments.  See Fla. Stat. §61.075(10) (2010).  However, in a recent case the trial court awarded the marital home to the husband, attempting to award the wife her share of the assets through installments payments of $300 a month.  At this rate, she would not have received her full share for eighteen (18) years.  The Second District Court of Appeal found this effectively deprived her of her share of the equitable distribution in violation of Florida Law.

It is important to note that the court may justify and unequal distribution as an award of alimony.  However, the court in this case did not make the requisite findings to justify this distribution.

See, Fotinos v. Fotinos, 36 Fla. L. Weekly D2287 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011).

Dustin Michael Butler is an Attorney with Martin Law Firm, P.L., whose practice focuses in Family Law and Civil Litigation.  He is admitted to practice law in the State of Florida and the Federal Court for the Middle District of Florida. He primarily practices in Lee County Florida in Cape Coral and Fort Myers, Florida.