South Florida Family Law Blog

Especially if you and your spouse have been married and living in Florida for 10 years or more, you have likely disagreed at some point on issues related to your children. Perhaps, one of you is more lenient than the other. Maybe your kids know they can talk one parent into things more than the other one, so they use those "skills" to their advantage, which winds up causing friction in your marriage.

While those may not be the exact issues that prompted your decision to file for divorce, child-related problems may indeed be a factor. Most marriages have ups and downs, particularly concerning parenting. However, if you are concerned about your children's well-being because you believe your spouse to be unfit parent, that's an entirely different issue and one that warrants definite attention during divorce proceedings.

Establishing legal paternity in Florida benefits the entire family. It's especially important when seeking child support after the demise of a relationship which produced one or more children. To help you make the best possible decisions for your family, the Florida Department of Revenue offers the following guide. 

First and foremost, establishing legal paternity ensures that the child in question is privy to certain rights. For instance, legal paternity allows a child access to health insurance if a policy is possessed by the father. It also ensures the child has access to important medical information, which is crucial to provide the right sort of healthcare and diagnostic testing. Without legal paternity established, an ex-spouse or partner will not be able to seek child support on behalf of the child, which can result in serious financial instability. Additionally, if the father's name is not on a child's birth certificate, he will have a difficult time gaining visitation or custody. 

Relationships fall apart for a myriad of reasons, but some can be especially painful from an emotional angle. For example, when someone is neglected by their spouse, they may reach the conclusion that divorce is necessary, even though the divorce process may seem like one of the last things they want to deal with. If you are in a marital relationship and you want to move on because your spouse has been neglecting you, it is vital to make sure that you approach your divorce correctly in order to avoid additional hardships such as unmanageable stress or even depression.

Spousal neglect may take many forms. Someone may be financially neglected by their spouse, who refuses to support them even though they have the means to do so. Or, someone may be emotionally neglected by their husband or their wife, and they may decide that it is time to end the relationship. Neglect may also involve a lack of intimacy and some people may want to end their marriage because their spouse is neglecting the kids.

When people fall in love and decide to get married, they hope it’s a relationship that will last forever. Unfortunately, every four out of 10 marriages in the U.S. ends in divorce, and Florida ranks in the top 10 for states with the highest divorce rates.

If you and your spouse decide it’s best to part ways, there will be strong emotions involved and concern over your future, especially about who will get custody of the children, and financial issues, such as how you and your spouse will divide assets.