Legal Services Offered By The Smith Family Law Center

Premarital Counseling

The decision to marry is often made on the basis of strong feelings of love and the desire to create and raise children. But while these are certainly admirable reasons to marry, they are not the end-all and be-all of marriage. Marriage is a legal institution that carries with it many benefits and some detriment, all of which should be considered before a couple decides to get married. In our current social climate, with divorce rates at or near 50%, it is prudent to understand the legal obligations that one is binding themselves to prior to marriage.

Parents, relatives and friends will discuss with the marrying couple the joys of marriage and raising families, but few will help the couple understand the legal realities and responsibilities of marriage and childrearing. Attorneys with the Smith Family Law Center will help couples or individuals to understand the legal ramifications of their coupling, so that the decision to marry can be made with all of the facts at their disposal. We are fans of marriage, despite what some may think based solely upon some aspects of our profession. Our hope in providing pre-marital counseling is to strengthen the marriage relationship and to avoid the need for future services to help end the marriage.

Prenuptial Agreements

Divorce rates in the United States are at or near 50%, and first marriages have an even worse mortality rate. With the majority of marriages being “unsuccessful”, it is prudent to enter into a prenuptial agreement in which each party can memorialize their understanding of their duties toward one another. Prenuptial agreements (also known as ante-nuptial agreements) are not just for the super wealthy, as nearly everyone has a legal interest that they may wish to preserve or pre-determine at a time when the marital relationship has not yet been established and both parties are in a cooperative mood. Divorce can be devastating on a number of different levels, but when both parties have decided how to handle their divorce ahead of time, much of the expense and emotional trauma can be avoided.

The possibility of divorce is not the only reason to have a prenuptial agreement. Often one or both of the marrying couple will have children from a previous relationship, for whom they wish to provide for in their estate should they die. The marriage may affect the pre-existing children’s inheritance, so it is often prudent to use the prenuptial agreement to alter the legal affect of the marriage on the estates of the parties.

Attorneys at the Smith Family Law Center can assist individuals in determining their need for a prenuptial agreement, and when the determination is made then they can assist in drafting the agreements. Prenuptial agreements have a number of legal requirements that must be followed in order to be enforceable, and the attorneys at Smith Family Law Center can help the parties adhere to those rules. Attorneys cannot represent both sides when drafting prenuptial agreements. The attorneys at Smith Family Law Center are available to review proposed prenuptial agreements drafted by other attorney and to offer advice on whether or not the agreement is one that should be signed.

Post-Nuptial Agreements

Prenuptial agreements must be entered into before the marriage because the marriage itself is often the only consideration given for the agreement. But just because you do not have a prenuptial agreement signed before the marriage does not mean that you cannot enter into agreements with your spouse. Post-nuptial agreements are legal and binding if they are entered into properly. The attorneys at the Smith Family Law Center can advise individuals on the need for such an agreement, draft them for their clients, review post-nuptial agreements drafted by other attorneys, and counsel on the appropriateness of those agreements.

Adoption

One of the most wonderful decisions a person can ever make is to adopt a child that is not their own biological offspring. Adoption has, in the past, been fraught with concern over the finality of the action. We have all heard “horror stories” of biological parents showing up years after the adoption and claiming a right to the child. In recent years, the law has been altered to eliminate such occurrences. The remedy has been to create a method by which consent of both biological and/or legal parents is obtained in advance, or if it cannot be obtained then termination of parental rights is undertaken in a manner that respects the biological rights of parents balanced against the children’s need to have a stable home.

The attorneys at Smith Family Law Center understand the complexities of the adoption law, and can assist their clients through the process.

Stepparent Adoption

When it is desirable for a stepparent to adopt a child, the law creates a scaled-down procedure for doing so. Consent of the other biological or legal parent is still required, but many of the other adoption law requirements are relaxed. When consent cannot be obtained, there is also a method to accomplish the stepparent adoption that is binding for all time. The attorneys at Smith Family Law Center are well-versed in these methods.

Grandparent Adoption and Temporary Custody

We have seen in our society many families where the biological parents have assigned their responsibilities to the children’s grandparents. Whether it is the result of age, inability to parent, drug or alcohol addiction, criminal activity, or abandonment, we often see grandparents in the role of parents once again, and sometimes it is desirable to make that relationship permanent. The attorneys at Smith Family Law Center are familiar with the methods for making this happen.

Sometimes a permanent solution like adoption is not needed, but rather a temporary granting of custodial rights is proper. This type of temporary custody is available for members of the child’s extended family, including siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Our attorneys are able to help.

Surrogacy

Surrogacy refers to the agreement that parties enter into where a woman will carry and deliver a child for a couple who will raise the child as their own. The law of surrogacy is sometimes confusing, but the attorneys at Smith Family Law Center understand how it works, and can help either the Surrogate or the adopting parents with the agreement. Attorneys cannot represent both sides of the agreement, but they can and often do review the agreements drafted by another attorney for the other side, and advise their clients accordingly.

Re-Adoption

It is often desirable for a child adopted in a foreign country to be “re-adopted” by their parents in the United States. One of the most tangible benefits of a “re-adoption” is the issuance of an America birth certificate. “Re-adoption” does not bypass naturalization in order to make the child a U.S. citizen, though, but an American birth certificate can be a great help to parents and eliminate a potential source of embarrassment. The attorneys at Smith Family Law Center are familiar with the legal requirements of a “re-adoption”, which is known legally as the domestication of a foreign adoption.

Paternity Establishment

When a child is born to a woman who is not married, the child does not have a legal father until one is established. The easiest way this is done is when the biological father is present at the birth of the child and he signs the form that the hospital submits to the Bureau of Vital Statistics that results in the issuance of a birth certificate. This is not always possible, however, and so the law has created a legal way for paternity to be established. Paternity can be established by either the mother or the prospective father, and the attorneys at Smith Family Law Center are quite familiar with the methods in either situation.

Paternity Disestablishment

A recent change in the law has made it possible for paternity to be disestablished in appropriate circumstances where the legal father is not the biological father. Oftentimes this is the result of fraudulent misrepresentation by the mother, and in some instances it is allowable for the defrauded “father” to be relived of the obligations that were wrongfully thrust upon him. The attorneys at Smith Family Law Center have made themselves familiar with the requirements of the law, and can assist either side with the procedure.

Establishment or Modification of Parenting Plan

Sometimes paternity is established for a child, but the father is not granted any rights to share in the raising of the child. Other times a parent has been separated from their spouse and children for whatever reason, and while they are absent a divorce is entered in which shared parental rights are not described. In either of these or other similar situations, it is possible to have parental responsibility and a parenting plan established by the court or by agreement of the parents. The attorneys at the Smith Family Law Center are familiar with the many methods available for doing so, and can assist either side of the argument.

After parental responsibility for children has been established, circumstances change that make the present parenting plan unworkable or undesirable. The law proscribes a method for modifying existing parenting plans when there is a disagreement between the parents on the appropriateness of the requested change. The law is sometimes confusing, but our attorneys have handled hundreds of such cases for both sides of the dispute.

Establishment or Modification of Child Support

When parental responsibility and/or paternity is established, but the financial support for the child is not set, either parent may petition the court to perform a calculation of child support under the guidelines established by law. There is a program through the Department of Revenue that will help a parent to establish child support to be paid by the other parent, but that program is not available to everyone, and many times it is more desirable to use a private attorney instead of a free government program to establish the child support requirement. The attorneys at the Smith Family Law Center have assisted hundreds of clients in establishing reasonable child support. They have successfully handled cases on both sides of the dispute.

Relocation of Minor Children

Our society promotes mobility, on the one hand, and the active participation of both parents in the lives of their children, on the other hand. So what do we do when those two values clash, such as when one parent desires to move to a distant location for better opportunities? A recent change in the law has set up a method for handing such situations, and the attorneys at the Smith Family Law Center have made themselves familiar with that law so that they can help either the relocating parent to relocate or the non-relocating parent to prevent the relocation.

Pre-Divorce Counseling

As with marriage, it is important to consider all of the legal, social and financial realities of divorce prior to making the decision to end a marriage. Counseling of clients, prior to making their decision to dissolve the marriage, is available. Such counseling includes the exploration of ways to strengthen the marriage relationship to avoid divorce.

If it is determined by the client that divorce is inevitable then the attorneys at Smith Family Law Center will assist their clients in developing a divorce plan, which may include a cooperative approach toward ending the marriage. Each situation is analyzed individually, and a plan that is appropriate and practical for each client is developed.

Establishment of Support Irrespective of Divorce

Sometimes spouses choose to live separately from one another while continuing to maintain the marital relationship. This is certainly allowable, but the duty to support one another continues while the marriage is still in existence, so if one spouse requires support from the other spouse, a written agreement or court order is often necessary. Attorneys at the Smith Family Law Center can work with either spouse to develop a plan for financial support that works for both sides.

Divorce

The ending of a marital relationship is often a difficult experience for the spouses and the children of the marriage. An experienced family law attorney is essential to assist the spouses in ending the relationship in a manner that preserves the family’s wealth and parental relationships while providing for each party to be able to support themselves.

There are many ways that a divorce can be conducted. Methods include a cooperative approach, mediation, arbitration, and litigation. Some cases are complex, involving detailed financial or difficult child-related issues, while others are simple and straightforward. Different methods and tactics are needed for each case, and sometimes multiple methods are appropriate for any particular case

The lawyers at the Smith Family Law Center are familiar with and employ many different techniques and methods in obtaining divorces for their clients. Included among the attorneys at the Smith Family Law Center are those that have been Board Certified in Marital and Family Law. Board certification evaluates attorneys’ special knowledge, skills and proficiency in various areas of law and professionalism and ethics in practice. Certified attorneys are the only Florida lawyers allowed to identify or advertise themselves as specialists or experts. To become Board Certified in Marital and Family Law, a lawyer must demonstrate proficiency both in and out of the courtroom. It is a mark of true proficiency in the law of marriage and family relationships, at the heart of which is divorce.

Marital Torts

The law allows spouses to sue one another for wrongs (torts) that are committed during the marriage relationship. At one time this was not allowed because of the belief that any such wrongs could be addressed in divorce, but because divorce law was often inadequate to address certain egregious circumstances, the law has evolved to allow spouses to claim physical and financial injury against the other spouse. Such lawsuits are often tried before a jury, as opposed to most family law cases that are heard only by the judge. Spousal torts include battery, negligence, fraud and abandonment, and can range in variety as can lawsuits that do not involve married spouses. The attorneys at the Smith Family Law Center have experience in trying cases before juries and obtaining compensation for injuries.

Alimony Modification

An award of alimony is the judicial determination that a former spouse is required to pay an amount of money to assist in the support of their former spouse. There are a number of different types of alimony, and sometimes more than one type is awarded in individual situations.

Sometimes circumstances change, making it impossible for a former spouse to pay the alimony that has been awarded. Other times, new circumstances arise that make the type or amount of alimony that was originally ordered inappropriate. Occasionally, a former spouse that is receiving alimony begins to cohabit with a member of the opposite sex in a manner that simulates a marriage for the express purpose of continuing the flow of alimony. In appropriate circumstances, it is possible to modify upwards, modify downwards or eliminate alimony altogether, or to convert the type of alimony awarded into another type that is better suited to the new circumstances.

The situations involved in the modification of alimony types and amounts are complex, and usually require the services of experienced family law attorneys to help to unravel them. The attorneys at the Smith Family Law Center are experienced at modifying alimony awards, and in defending modification lawsuits.

Enforcement of Family Court Orders

Orders entered by family courts, including those that ratify agreements of the parties, are sometimes not followed for a variety of reasons. Sharing of parental responsibility may be abused, timesharing may be disallowed or unilaterally modified, financial obligations like child support and alimony can be ignored, and orders to preserve or dispose of marital asset or debts can be avoided by fiat or bankruptcy. Most marital awards are enforceable by the court that entered them, and there are a variety of methods available which depend upon the type of order that is being violated. The attorneys at the Smith Family Law Center are well-versed in those methods, and have a great deal of experience with enforcing all types of orders entered by the family court.

Dependency and Termination of Parental Rights

Dependency is that area of law that concerns itself with the protection of children who have been abused, neglected or abandoned, or are in imminent danger of being abused, neglected or abandoned, by their parents. The Department of Children and Families (DCF) generally becomes involved in such situations, although Dependency and the Termination of Parental Rights can occur without the input of DCF in certain circumstances. Children who have been determined by a court to be dependent upon the state for protection are sometimes removed from their parents’ homes and placed with relatives or in foster care. Parents are usually given tasks by DCF that they must accomplish in order to be reunified with their children. When the tasks are not followed, or when the abuse, neglect or abandonment is egregious, parents’ rights can be involuntarily terminated so that the children become available to be adopted by deserving families and sometimes other relatives.

Families that find themselves in this situation need legal advice and representation. The state provides attorneys free of charge to parents that have become involved in the system, but other family members, including the children themselves and relatives with whom the children have been placed, who need legal representation must hire their own attorneys because the state does not provide lawyers to them. Sometimes a parent is dissatisfied with the free attorney that was assigned to them, or they feel that a second opinion is warranted. The attorneys at the Smith Family Law Center have extensive experience with the dependency system, representing parents, children and relatives.

Estate Planning

Life-altering events like adoption and divorce usually indicate a time for people to re-examine their estate plans. The Smith Family Law Center is not an estate planning law firm that involves itself in the complex financial estates of their clients, but they do provide “light” estate planning services. These include the drafting of simple wills, revocable trusts, power of attorney contracts, designations of health care surrogate, designations of pre-need guardians, and advance directives, also known as living wills. The attorneys at the Smith Family Law Center have drafted hundreds of such simple estate planning documents for their clients. Typically the documents are prepared and signed the same day that the client first meets with our attorneys to discuss their needs, and when the initial interview reveals that the client needs more robust estate planning advice, referrals are made to more appropriate professionals.