Category Archives: Divorce
What If I Cannot Afford a Collaborative Divorce in Orlando Florida?
One of the newer types of divorce alternatives that are available to divorcing couples is the collaborative divorce process. A collaborative divorce is one where the parties to the case agree that they will reach a settlement without going to court. The collaborative agreement goes so far as to declare that in the event… Read More »
How Will Filing for Bankruptcy Affect Your Child Support Obligations In Divorce?
Watching your unpaid child support obligations pile up as you are less and less able to afford them can be truly demoralizing. The judge might treat you like you are not serious about parenting when your financial struggles have nothing to do with your level of commitment to your children. Your ex might antagonize… Read More »
Can You Get Permanent Alimony if You are Still Young in Divorce in Orlando FL?
Increasingly, the family courts in Florida see alimony as a last resort. Equitable distribution is the governing principle in dividing a couple’s property when the marriage is dissolved because it means that each spouse gets a fair share of the return on the investments they made during their lives together. If the wife was… Read More »
Imputed Income In Florida Divorce Does Not Have to be Your Enemy
You might think that “imputed income” is a dirty word, especially if the court calculated your alimony and child support obligations by assuming that you make more money than you actually do. In fact, imputed income has been a sticking point in many divorce cases. Maybe the court imputed too little income to your… Read More »
Disagreements Over Financial Support for Adult Children in Orlando Divorce
Even when you are generally happily married, disagreements about parent-child relationships can lead to hurt feelings. It is easy for your spouse to vent jealousy by taking cheap shots about you trying to turn your child into a mama’s boy or a daddy’s girl. Then there are the disagreements about specific incidents and issues… Read More »
The Complete Guide To Filing For Divorce In Florida
My name is Sean Smallwood, and I am an Orlando divorce attorney who has been practicing family and marital law for about a decade. I understand that whether you are a newer attorney or someone who intends to represent themselves in a divorce matter the information in this guide will assist you in the… Read More »
How To Make Sure Your Divorce Goes Uncontested
I have been a divorce attorney for a long time now and in all my years I have witnessed just about every type of argument or allegations that you can possibly imagine. I have heard people accuse their spouse of being alcoholic, violent, having anger management issues, allegations of molesting the kids, and even… Read More »
How To Modify A Child Custody Parenting Plan In Florida
One of the most common types of cases that people contact our office regarding is that of modifying a parenting plan. The parenting plan is a court-ordered document that spells out all aspects of a child custody arrangement including timesharing, parental responsibility, access to school and medical records for the child, holiday schedules, school… Read More »
The Three Most Common Mistakes Made in Divorce Separations
One of the most difficult parts of the divorce process in Florida is the actual separation. The process of transitioning from a single-family unit with one set of bills, bank accounts, and routines to separate households can be downright traumatic. What can make matters even worse is when the parties to the divorce were living… Read More »
How The Coronavirus COVID-19 Outbreak Affect Child Custody Arrangements?
Amid the recent outbreak of coronavirus in the United States several states have issued mandatory stay at home orders and some are calling for the mandatory shutdown of any non-life saving businesses in order to slow down the spread of the virus. One big concern that is not yet receiving much attention in the… Read More »
Should I Wait Until After the Coronavirus Outbreak to File For Divorce?
At this moment pretty much everybody on planet Earth is well aware of the coronavirus also known as COVID 19 and the effects that it is having on the world and the world’s economies. With millions of people suddenly out of work due to the massive shutdowns of certain industries many people are wondering… Read More »
What To Do If The Lawyers Are The Only Ones Fighting
In this video, I answer the question “what should I do if the divorce lawyers are the only ones fighting in my case?” This is actually more common than you may think. It’s a situation where you and your spouse may be getting along pretty well and are possibly agreeing on many of… Read More »
Should I Get Divorced?
In this video, I’m going to speak for a few moments regarding a serious topic that very few, if any, divorce attorneys are actually taking the time to discuss with their clients. That is whether or not the person sitting in their office is sure that they should even be getting divorced in… Read More »
How to Hold Someone in Contempt of a Divorce Agreement in Florida
After the dust settles from an initial divorce action the parties will have a final judgment that operates as a court order dictating the details of the resolution of their case. In some cases, that is where the really difficult work begins This is because usually one of the parties is not happy with… Read More »
How to Deal With Parental Alienation in Divorce
If You Are Faced With Parental Alienation, Here is What You Need to Know One very common and very sad fact about the dissolution of marriage process that divorce attorneys in Orlando Florida are forced to deal with is when a divorce involves conduct by one of the parents that amount to parental alienation…. Read More »
Should I Wait Until After Christmas to File for Divorce
Why Would It Be A Good Idea To Wait Until After Christmas To File For Divorce? As we get closer to Christmas, we always see a steep decline in the numbers of people who are filing for divorce. This will usually be followed each year by a sharp increase in divorce filings after the… Read More »
Does It Matter If I Am The First One To File For Divorce?
Can You Get A Better Result By Filing For Divorce Before Your Spouse? One of the most common questions that we receive at our Orlando divorce law firm is whether or not it makes any difference who the first person is to file for divorce and whether it would help them get a better… Read More »
Uncontested Divorce in Florida: When Is It the Right Option?
When you hear the word “divorce,” what do you imagine in your head? Is it two soon-to-be-former spouses yelling at each other in court, their children crying, and indifferent judges banging the gavel against a wooden table? Well, it does not have to be this way. More often than not, divorces in Orlando and… Read More »
The Right Time to Contact a Divorce Lawyer Is Now, Not on Divorce Monday
The Internet will tell you that revenge is a dish best served cold, but plotting for months or years to divorce your spouse under the circumstances most unfavorable to them is a bad idea. If you are planning to get a divorce, but you have questions you need to be answered before you file… Read More »
Can You Stop Paying Alimony If Your Ex Moves in With a New Partner?
One of the kinder things that has been said about Florida alimony laws is that they are old-fashioned. Some of the alimony laws still on the books come from a time when women had very limited earning potential and when men were almost always the only source of financial support for their wives and… Read More »
There Are Apps for Everything, Even Divorce
Your phone is probably full of apps of varying degrees of usefulness. There are apps to track your spending, exercise, and food consumption. There are apps to make you and the other people in your pictures look more beautiful or uglier. There are apps to let you identify songs you hear playing on the… Read More »
Yes, You Can Get Your Alimony Obligations Reduced Retroactively
In an era when most Americans, even the wealthiest ones, are in debt, one of the few things more depressing than thinking about your credit card debt is thinking about your alimony obligations. While it is possible to negotiate with many creditors, spousal support obligations are much harder to get out of. The court… Read More »
The Debate Over Permanent Alimony In Florida
Yes, Florida still has permanent alimony as of 2019. Yes, bills appear in Florida’s legislature at least once per year as lawmakers attempt to change alimony laws. Alimony, especially alimony that theoretically continues for the rest of a person’s life, is a sore subject among divorced and unhappily married people. Despite the attention it… Read More »
Don’t Lose Your Pet In A Divorce: Get a Prenup
You might have heard that the term “equitable” in “equitable distribution” means “fair,” but that does not make it hurt any less when the court orders you to sell off property that you had hoped to keep after your divorce, or, worse, to award an asset to your ex when you know in your… Read More »
What If I Need to Relocate With My Kids During My Divorce?
One of the most difficult issues that Orlando divorce lawyers and judges have to grapple with is whenever one of the parties to the divorce action needs to relocate a long distance away and desires to take the children with them. This is because it is impossible for a divorce judge to award equal… Read More »
How To Modify Alimony After A Divorce
One very common issue in divorce cases in Orlando Florida is where one of the parties seeks alimony payments from the other. What most people do not understand is that in most cases alimony is subject to modification down the road after the divorce is finalized. For that reason, it is very important to… Read More »
What Does It Mean That Florida Is A No-Fault Divorce State?
One common question that divorce attorneys in Orlando Florida receive from their clients is regarding the difference between no-fault and fault divorce States and which one of these Florida is. Florida is a no-fault divorce state which is commonly known among attorneys, however, the actual definition of this can be quite complex to explain…. Read More »
What Is A Petition For Divorce And What Does My Attorney Need To Include In It?
The first and most important foundational step in any dissolution of marriage is to map out and prepare the petition for dissolution of marriage. The petition for divorce is the main legal document that someone uses to file for divorce. The petition will contain all of the items which that person is seeking in… Read More »
The All-Important Divorce Financial Affidavit
Anytime two people are going through a divorce in Orlando Florida one of the first documents that their Orlando divorce lawyer will ask them to complete will be a financial affidavit. A financial affidavit is the most basic and necessary piece of financial discovery that is exchanged in a divorce case and is mandatory… Read More »
Lump Sum Alimony Can Help Reduce Conflict During a Divorce
Unless you are trying to negotiate the terms of your divorce, it probably has never mattered to you that Florida has a whopping six types of alimony. If your divorce lawyer tells you that you will probably have to pay some type of alimony to your ex before or after your divorce is finalized,… Read More »