Divorce and Family Law Legal Services
Serving South Florida Locations:
St. Lucie/Martin, Palm Beach, Indian River and Okeechobee Counties
Brandt & Feinberg provides effective, aggressive and time-efficient family law legal services. We handle new divorce cases, and we also help clients who have other family law legal concerns — people who need a lawyer to modify or enforce an existing divorce decree, to manage an adoption, child support, or assist with a paternity action. We also represent parents in child dependency cases, or abuse and neglect hearings.
We Keep Our Clients Informed
At Brandt & Feinberg, we believe it is important to keep our clients well-informed about the legal process. This is especially important in divorce cases. Spouses who are undergoing a divorce often have secondhand information from friends or relatives but may know little about how the proceedings will actually progress.
Lack of understanding — or misunderstanding — about the divorce process can increase anxiety or cause a person to make decisions that are not in one's own best interests. Like a good doctor, your lawyer should explain the procedure in advance. You will know what to expect and can concentrate on the healing process.
At Brandt & Feinberg, one of the first things we do is sit down with our clients to describe, in detail, the process of getting a divorce in Florida. We explain the timelines, the stages of the process, and what should be expected in terms of child custody and visitation decisions, division of marital property and debt, and calculations of child support and alimony.
Two Things You Should Know About Divorce in Florida
Mediation is almost always required. Even if you are 100 percent sure that your ex will never be willing to negotiate a compromise position so as to avoid a divorce trial, you will have to attend at least one mediation session before a judge will hear your case. It is only in very rare instances that the mediation requirement will be waived. The divorce mediation requirement does not mean that you must reach an agreement during the mediation session. It just means that you must attend the session and try in good faith to negotiate a compromise on whatever issues prove to be difficult.
Florida is an "equitable distribution" state. In terms of division of marital property and debt, Florida operates via a law known as "equitable distribution." In other words, Florida is not a community property state — no Florida law states that each spouse will receive exactly half the marital assets. Instead, the court will divide assets by trying to do what is fair, taking into consideration the length of the marriage, the other spouses' individual assets, whether child support or alimony are a consideration, and other factors. The rules of equitable distribution leave much greater room for negotiating an acceptable property settlement agreement.
More information about dissolution of marriage in Florida is available via our Divorce Information Center.
Considering Divorce? Get Early Legal Advice
In the best of all possible worlds, a spouse would consult a lawyer as soon as the possibility of divorce first crossed his or her mind. Consulting with an attorney during the early stages will give you information that will help guide decisions — for example about finances and children — that you need to make as you begin the process of ending a marriage.
Schedule a free, and confidential, initial appointment with Brandt & Feinberg.
Call 772-398-4666 or send us an e-mail.
Free Initial Consultations ∙ Credit Cards Accepted
Urgent Calls Returned 24 Hours Daily ∙ Evening and Weekend Appointments
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