If you are about to file for a Divorce in Florida or you have a pending Divorce that has already been filed, you will want to have a complete understanding of Florida's Alimony law. In many states, this area of th...
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How to Avoid Going to Divorce Court
A lot of clients that come in talk about how to reach agreements in a good way to avoid going to court. Many people feel, and probably rightly so, that the court system is not a very good place to air out your differences when you're going through a divorce or dealing with the issues of your chil...
Employment Assessment
In many cases where parents or parties are going through a divorce, there's been a history of one party being the primary bread winner or the one that has worked the majority of the time during the course of the marriage, while the other parent hasn't. That's typical where we see a stay-at-home m...
Abduction
What happens when a parent takes children out of Florida with the intent not to return them to Florida? I'm not talking about vacations or plans to see grandma over Christmas vacation, I'm talking about a parent who is sharing custody with the other parent and puts the kids in the back of the c...
Age Of Children When Determining Custody
A lot of moms and dads ask us, “Well, when do the children get to decide where they're going to live and which parent they're going to spend parenting time with?” A lot of these cases involve children that, at the time of the divorce were maybe eight, nine, or 10 years old, and years later, in a ...
Court Appearances vs No Court Appearances
A lot of times, clients or folks that call us want to know, “Well, what kind of court appearances am I going to have to make in my case?” So, let me give you a couple of examples. If you're a client that does not live here in Florida but your divorce case was here in Florida and your ex-wife an...
Survivor Benefits
I want to discuss a big issue that usually comes up in marriages that have been in progress for five, 10 years or more, and that is the issue that deals with survivor benefits, what kind of survivor benefits and how do those come into play in a property division situation. Survivor benefits mean ...
Enforcing Parenting Orders
A lot of parents come to us, and they tell us that the other parent is not following the Parenting Orders, and they want to know what their options are to protect their rights. In Florida, one of the features of our law says that both parties shall encourage and foster a loving relationship betw...
Step Parent Adoption
A very common type of adoption process in Florida is called a step parent adoption. Step parent adoption occurs when usually one of the parents, after a divorce, or a type of custody case has now remarried. So you can have the primary parents, such as mom who is now remarried, and her new spouse...
Attorney And Client Relationship
So, I want to talk a little bit about the role that clients have when they hire an attorney and how clients and attorneys interact during the course of a family law case. Once again, keep in mind that there are a lot of examples of the types of family law cases that are in the system. Without the...
What Is A Pro Se Client?
The legal term for a party, a parent or a spouse, that's going through a divorce, that represents themselves and does not have a lawyer, is called a pro se litigant. A pro se litigant is going to be treated the same way as a party who has a lawyer. So what does that mean? That means that if you d...
Family Law Employment Assessment
In many cases, where parents or parties are going through a divorce, there's been a history of one party being the primary bread winner or the one that has worked the majority of the time during the course of the marriage while the other parent hasn't. And that's typical where we see a stay at ho...
Why An Experienced Attorney Matters
I want to discuss with you some of the questions that have come up regarding the hiring of an attorney in a divorce or family law case, such as a child custody case. The differences between hiring an attorney who has a lot of experience, and hiring an attorney who doesn't have a great deal of exp...
Re-Unification Or Re-Integration in Family Law
Let's discuss for a few minutes Re-unification, or Re-Integration. Main that topic comes up when we're talking about children, and children that have been alienated form one parent or the other, or where a parent has been away for a prolonged period of time. What the role is of experts and therap...
A Paralegal’s Role In Family Law
I have found that one of the most important facets of being able to offer clients legal representation in their particular family law case involves our paralegals, and the role that our paralegals have in supporting our clients and assisting our clients through a minefield of all kinds of hurdles...
Court Appearances To Expect During Your Case
Often times clients want to know what kind of court appearances they are going to have to make in their case. Let me give you a couple of examples. If you're a client that does not live here in Florida,, but your divorce case was here in Florida and your ex-wife and the children still live here ...
Financial Responsibility For College Trade School Expenses After Divorce
I want to talk to you about an issue that's come up a lot and that is that sometimes parties, parents go through a divorce when the children are young and then years later the issue of college or vocational school expenses comes up and parents want to know, “Well, this is going to be a huge expen...
Domestic Abuse Violence Charges
In Colorado, there are certain types of crimes that could affect a child custody case. One of the most common is where there's been a restraining order entered against the parent, or a parent has been charged with domestic abuse. Domestic abuse would include domestic violence. Another example wou...
What is Evidence?
In all family law cases, one of the most important jobs that a lawyer does with a client is make an assessment of the evidence. The stronger the evidence in one party's favor, the more likely that the outcome is going to go the way that the client wants. Evidence can be in different forms. Eviden...
Modifying Parenting Time
I want to discuss with you motions to modify parenting time, and one of the biggest issues in motions to modify parenting time occur when a parent, who is the primary parent, wishes to relocate with the children to another state. In the law that kind of relocation is called removal, and it takes ...
Introduction to The Law Office of Gordon N. Shayne
Hi. My name is Gordon Shayne. I'm an attorney, and practice family law in the State of Florida, in Fernandina Beach. I represent clients all across the state of Florida, and my specialty is in family law. And family law involves divorce cases, legal separations, and mainly we...
What Should I Know About a Divorce Lawyer Before Hiring Them?
Your divorce lawyer is a big part of your divorce process, whether your divorce is relatively simple or complicated. This is the person you will be trusting to handle a very important and sensitive case during a trying and emotional period of your life.
How do you Financially Prepare for Divorce?
In addition to divorce being a complicated process, it is also financially challenging. While no two divorces are the same, there are some universal steps you can take to Be prepared How Much Does Divorce Cost? There is a very broad cost range for divorce because of all the different factors inv...
Does Florida Have a No-Fault Divorce Policy?
Florida, like all others states, followed California's lead in 1969 and embraced a no-fault system for divorce. This means that you don't have to prove that the marriage was broken due to cruelty, desertion, adultery, lack of support or any other grounds that you would have to provide under a fa...
Can Divorces Happen During Military Deployment?
If you're deployed, your life is still going on both where you are and at home. Unfortunately, this may mean some relationships are still beginning or ending, including your relationship with your spouse, even though you're not physically present with them. Naturally, you may feel as if you canno...