I am a member of the Family Law Section of both the Florida Bar Association and the American Bar Association. I am committed to safeguard my clients' interests and defend their rights in the best manner possible under Florida law. As one of my clients, you will benefit from the most thorough investigation of your case, the competent representation of your rights and interests, and the peace of mind that your reputation and livelihood are in good hands.

I could go on and on about why you should hire my firm to represent you in your family law case. However, I believe that attorney websites should be more than a sales pitch for why you should hire this or that law firm. In fact, what will be most valuable to you at this time is comprehensive information about Florida family law, so please click on the tabs above to explore the main topics that my law firm deals with, namely Divorce, Child Custody, Child Support, Alimony, Paternity, Child Relocation, and Family Law Appeals. On the right side of the website, you will find a breakdown of more in-depth and detailed topics which might be relevant to your case.

To start off, please familiarize yourself with the basics of family law:

Divorce (dissolution of marriage), child custody, child support, alimony (spousal support), child relocation and paternity cases start with the filing of a petition, which can be either an initial petition (when there has been no previous legal action in the matter) or a supplemental petition for modification (where there has been a previous final order entered by a Court). The party filing the petition is called Petitioner and the party being served with the petition is called Respondent.

If your case involves only issues of child support, your case will be most likely handled by a child support hearing officer. If your case involves any other issues, it will be assigned to a Circuit Judge, who has the option of referring the case (except for domestic violence cases) to a general magistrate. You can object to the appointment of a general magistrate for your case (you do not have to provide any reason for your objection), but you only have 10 days after the issuance of the Circuit Judge's order of referral to do so.

The next step in Florida family law cases is for the parties to exchange mandatory disclosure information such as financial affidavits, income tax returns, paystubs, and bank statements. The parties then engage in discovery, such as by sending subpoenas and deposing each other and/or third parties that may be called as witnesses in the case and may ask for additional information from each other, and everybody must comply with certain deadlines throughout this process.

Most family law cases in Florida are then referred to mediation, which is a process by which a certified family mediator attempts, in the presence of all parties, to arrive at a compromised settlement that solves all or part of the issues in the case. This process is confidential in the sense that, whether the parties settle or not, only the outcome of the mediation is reported to the general magistrate and/or judge. If the parties arrive at a settlement, the Circuit Judge still has to sign an order adopting the settlement, which most of the time (but not always) is a mere formality.

If there are still open issues in your case after mediation, the case will proceed to trial. A pretrial hearing will be held where the Court sets deadlines for all parties to disclose to each other all the evidence they intend to use at trial. Florida family law courts are "courts of equity," which basically means that they have broad discretion to fashion orders that aim to achieve general fairness between the parties. However, general magistrate and judges do have to conform their judgments to Florida family law, and part of the attorney's function in a family law case is to attempt to convince the Court what statute and legal precedent is appropriate to apply to the specific facts of the case.

After the Court issues its final order in your case (and even temporary child custody or child support orders), your attorney will review the order for any possible errors of law and/or fact. Child support hearing officers, general magistrates and Circuit Judges are prone to make mistakes just like any other human being, and a lot of times the facts, the law, or both are far from clear-cut, and the Court's order may differ, sometimes substantially, from your expected outcome of the case.

Lastly, you may decide to challenge the validity of a child support hearing officer or general magistrate's recommended order by filing exceptions with the Circuit Judge. The deadline for doing so is very short, only 10 days from the filing of the proposed order. If it is a Circuit Judge's own order that you take issue with, you may file a motion for reconsideration of a non-final order, a motion for rehearing of a final order (which has a deadline of 15 days after the rendering of the final order) and/or an appeal of the case to the District Court of Appeal (a strict 30-day deadline from the date of rendering of the Circuit Judge's final order applies).

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