DIVORCE INFORMATION CENTER

In any divorce in which children are involved, it is important to get an early idea of the parents' plans for child custody and visitation agreements. If the parents can either agree on all time sharing issues or at least, most of the major issues, then your divorce has a better chance of proceeding in a smooth manner. With knowledgeable counsel advising you of how a court may rule, you can make more informed decisions. As issues relating to the children are usually the most significant in a divorce, a disagreement regarding time sharing can make your divorce more difficult and time consuming. In any case, getting early legal representation in a divorce where children are involved can be a great help. At Brandt & Feinberg, our family law practice is led by attorney Lee Feinberg, who has more than 17 years' experience as a Florida family law attorney. Brandt & Feinberg serves clients throughout South Florida in the counties of: St. Lucie/Martin, Indian River, Palm Beach and Okeechobee. Our law firm operates on the principle that a well-informed client is a happy client. We can never guarantee a particular result to our clients, but we do promise to fully explain the divorce process and what our clients can expect based on Florida's laws regarding child support and visitation.

In October 2008, Florida's child custody and visitation laws underwent significant changes. Florida removed the titles given to the parents e.g. primary residential parent, and replaced them with more neutral terms so that both parents feel that they stand on equal footing when it comes to child related issues. Florida's new child custody law removes the concept of "primary custodian" or "primary residential parent." Instead, parents who divorce are required to create a parenting plan that spells out a timeshare arrangement between the two parents. One effect of this change is to make it easier to change the parenting plan in the future, if the parents' circumstances change and one parent wants to assume more responsibility for the child. With the requirement of a parenting plan, the parents can have a clear idea or roadmap for dealing with issues such as time sharing, responsibility for transportation, holiday time sharing and the responsibilities of each parent. With the new law, it is clearly stated how, in most cases, both parents now have the right to attend doctor's appointments, get medical information from a child's physician, attend school meetings, and get information about the child from teachers. Additional general information about divorce and child custody in Florida is available via our Family Law Information Center.

Unmarried parents have the same rights and obligations under Florida law as married parents do. Unmarried parents are entitled to child support payments, as well as visitation rights with the child. However, the concepts of child support and time sharing/visitation rights are separate and must be specifically addressed. In some proceedings, child support can be ordered by the court, but time sharing may not be addressed. This may occur when one party utilizes the services of the Florida Department of Revenue to establish child support. The significance of a Department of Revenue proceeding can be discussed further, during a consultation. In order for unmarried parents to get child support, visitation rights or custody, the first step is to file a formal paternity action with the court. The goal of a paternity action is to formally establish who the child's father is. Once the child's paternity is on file with the court — either through the father's admission, a DNA test, or other evidence of fatherhood — then the parents may demand their rights to child support, child custody or a visitation arrangement with the child. The law firm of Brandt & Feinberg offers a full range of family law legal services, including helping unmarried parents with paternity actions. With the advanced knowledge that comes from decades of legal practice, we are able to offer our clients efficient and effective legal services in the area of family law. We are available to assist unmarried mothers and fathers with paternity actions, both in straightforward cases and in circumstances where the process will be more difficult. If you are an unmarried mother/father who wants child support from your child's father or an unmarried mother/father who wants visitation or custody of your child — the first step is to file a formal paternity action with the court. We can help you with that, as well as with the legal process of obtaining child support, visitation or custody.

A divorce decree is a formal legal document that sets forth rights and obligations that the former spouses have to abide by. If the former spouses want to change the agreement, they must undergo a formal legal process. Many times, parents will alter the terms of a Final Judgment with an oral agreement. Unless this is addressed through the courts, the oral agreement can cause a significant amount of problems. Brandt & Feinberg is a professional and well-established law firm that provides family law legal services to residents of South Florida's Treasure Coast. Our family law practice is led by attorney Lee Feinberg. Mr. Feinberg has more than 17 years' experience as a Florida family law attorney, and he has advanced experience helping clients with new divorces and with modifications and enforcement of existing divorce decrees.

Most frequently, people seek a divorce decree modification when they want to change child support payment amounts or alter the child custody or visitation agreements (now known as timesharing and parenting plan agreements). If the parents agree on the terms of the modification, then your lawyer will formalize the agreement in writing and submit it to the court for approval. When an agreement cannot be agreed upon, one parent may ask the court to intervene and order the modification. The parent who seeks the modification — whether to child custody or child support amounts — must demonstrate that there has been a "substantial change in circumstances," such that the modification is in the child's best interests. While the “substantial change in circumstances” is necessary, there are additional considerations to be addressed before a modification can be ordered. Examples of substantial changes in circumstances include:

• One parent's income changes dramatically, through no fault of his or her own
   
• One parent's lifestyle or living situation changes in a way to endanger the child's best interests
   
• One parent intends to move out of state and wants to change the child custody or visitation plan

If a divorce decree is violated, then the other former spouse may formally request that the court enforce the divorce decree by filing a motion for contempt of court. An enforcement motion may be filed if any term of the divorce decree is violated — nonpayment of child support, nonpayment of alimony, or disregard of the custody and visitation agreement. At Brandt & Feinberg, we are available to help clients on either side of a divorce decree enforcement action, whether you want to file an enforcement action or if you have had an enforcement action filed against you.

Formal adoption can be necessary in many different family situations. The process can be complicated, and legal help from experienced family law attorneys can help smooth the way. As this is an important decision to make, the assistance of knowledgeable counsel can make the process easier and quicker. Brandt & Feinberg has a family law practice led by attorney Lee Feinberg, who has more than 17 years' experience as a Florida family law attorney. We provide adoption services and other legal help to clients along South Florida's Treasure Coast. We handle all types of adoption cases, including families in the following circumstances:

• Stepparents who want to adopt their spouse's child: In this type of adoption situation, the most complicated part of the process is that the child's other biological parent must formally relinquish his or her parental rights. Perhaps the other parent has stopped paying child support and has abandoned the child. Or, for other reasons, the other parent has become unfit to maintain his or her parental rights. In simpler cases, the other biological parent willingly gives up his or her parental rights so that the stepparent can adopt the child and assume formal legal responsibility for the child.
   
• Non-relative adoptions or foster care adoptions: In some adoption cases, a foster care family may wish to adopt their foster child — for example, if the child's biological parents are declared unfit or if they abandon the child. In other non-relative adoption cases, we help adoptive parents through the process of a private adoption.
   
• Family adoptions: In some circumstances, a biological parent wishes to give up his or her child to another family member via formal termination of parental rights and then adoption by the other family member. This type of adoption gives the family member the same legal rights and obligations with the child that the biological parent had. For example, a grandparent or a sibling may adopt a child if the parent is no longer able to care for the child. Father’s Rights

The attorneys at Brandt & Feinberg represent both mothers and fathers in disputes over their legal rights as parents. However, we recognize that in the past fathers have not enjoyed the same rights as mothers. There was a concept called the Tender Years Doctrine which assumed that a mother is always a better choice over the father. That has changed. Under Florida law, there is no presumption either way about whether the mother or father is the better parent for a child. Fathers' legal rights have changed in other ways, too. Brandt & Feinberg is a small, professional law firm with a major focus on family law, especially on fathers' legal rights with regard to their children. Our family law practice is headed by attorney Lee Feinberg, who has more than 17 years' experience as a Florida family law attorney. We take professional pride in our extensive knowledge of family law in Florida, as well as in our ability to serve as advocates for fathers who wish to assert their legal rights under Florida law. If you are a father with any of the following questions or issues, our law firm can give you practical advice as well as aggressive legal representation to help you solve your problems:

• You are considering divorce and are concerned that your children's' mother will try to prevent you from visitation time with your children
   
• You are considering divorce and believe that you — instead of the children's mother — are better suited to have primary custody of your children
   
• You are a father being asked to pay an unreasonable amount of child support
   
• Your ex is denying you visitation privileges or parenting time under a parenting plan or timesharing agreement
   
• You believe that your ex should be paying you child support
   
• You are an unmarried father and want to get a court order allowing you visitation time with — or custody of — your children