Tampa’s Family Law Advocates

Hire the Right Tampa Area Family Law Firm

Family LawOur Tampa attorneys serve clients throughout the Bay area, including Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Pinellas, and Hillsborough Counties. We are skilled negotiators and litigators, and we offer each and every client the personalized attention and commitment to excellence they deserve in their family law case. We also offer a peace of mind that comes with knowing you are well represented by a caring and experienced attorney on your side.

We begin each new client interaction with a thorough and honest review of your case. We pour over the details, large and small, including the occupations, assets and debts of both parties. If the marriage includes children, we also review the facts and circumstances to help provide an assessment of what a good parenting plan might look like. Once we have a thorough and in-depth understanding of your specific situation, we work to create viable strategies geared towards obtaining the best possible outcome under Florida law. We want to get each case resolved with as little financial and emotional toll as possible and we work hard to be efficient with our clients’ resources.

Many family law matters can be settled without the need to argue in court, but rest assured that if your case requires litigation in front of a judge, the highly experienced attorneys at the Family Law Advocates are ready to aggressively represent your interests in the courtroom. We will fight for your rights, and work hard to obtain the most equitable court orders to protect your future.

Family Law in Florida

In Florida, the majority of family law cases arise in the areas of divorce and child custody. From there, other issues can arise, such as alimony, child support, or the division of marital property. While these are general categories of family law practice, there are nuances or additional issues that flow from them, such as modifying time-sharing, establishing paternity, or enforcing aspects of your final judgment. At the Family Law Advocates, we pride ourselves on helping men and women with all aspects of these types of cases. Each case is different and different laws or rules can apply, depending on the situation you face.

Divorce

Divorce is the process for dissolving or ending a marriage. Some cases may be simple, with both supposes agreeing on the relevant issues and the mere submission of paperwork. Others may entail significant litigation to resolve the issues. Getting the actual “divorce” done, thereby ending the marriage, is really only a small part of what a family law attorney can help with. Depending on the circumstances of your case, you may be dealing with a complex or simple marital estate. In some cases, the marital estate may consist of a house and a couple of cars. However, other families may have significant asset portfolios, such as business interests, multiple properties, retirement accounts, investment accounts, and more. With each case, your Tampa divorce lawyer will look at what property is marital, what values to ascribe, and what makes sense in terms of an “equitable” division of that property. Sometimes this will require the use of experts to arrive at values for the court to consider. If the parties cannot agree, a judge will ultimately determine how the marital estate should be divided. While this may all sound simple, it is not always the case.

In some cases, alimony, or spousal support may also be an issue. Alimony is for support of a spouse and is generally going to be based on income. Under Florida law, there are various factors for the court to assess. Alimony can run for months or years after a divorce case is done and the payment or receipt of alimony can have an impact on monthly cash-flow for both parties.

A court can also deal with the issue of attorney fees and “suit-money” in instances in which one spouse is not able to afford their own legal representation. Even after the divorce is granted, issues can arise related to enforcing orders, actually dividing up property, or modification of support terms.

Child Custody

In any Florida family law case involving children and the allocation of parental responsibilities, whether a divorce, paternity, or other child-related case, statute requires that there be a parenting plan, setting forth a specific schedule for when each parent will have a child in their care and how the parents will share decision-making and executive duties tied into things like medical care, schooling, and more. Child custody orders generally relate to visitation (time-sharing) for each parent and the allocation of the parental responsibilities related to the making of decisions regarding a child. The law also places a duty of financial support on each parent, which generally leads to one parent being ordered to pay monthly child support to the other. In Florida, both parents have a right to take part in the raising of a child, and it is presumed that maximized time with each parent is generally a good thing.

However, there is so much more to the family law practice related to child custody than just establishing an initial parenting plan. Things may change, such that time sharing orders need to be modified. Perhaps paternity has not yet been established. In some cases, one parent may deny time-sharing rights of the other parent. Child custody orders stay in place until a child reaches the age of 18. It’s not uncommon for there to be changes in circumstances after the final divorce or child custody judgment enters, which require the assistance of an experienced family law attorney. Whatever your circumstances, the Tampa attorneys at the Family Law Advocates can help.

Child support also arises in most cases. Statute provides rules and guidelines for determining what duty of support each parent owes for a child, and how much, if any, should be paid. While the Florida child support guidelines may seem simple, arguments can arise over income, or perhaps how time-sharing should be factored in. Child support also includes provisions for extraneous expenses, such as medical costs, day care, and more. Likewise, child support numbers may need to be modified, from time to time, based on a change in circumstances not known at the time the prior order was entered. Thus, statute can provide relief for either parent to ensure proper child support is ordered or paid. When the payor fails to pay, Florida law also gives certain remedies for enforcement and collection.

With the goal of building lasting relationships with our clients, the Family Law Advocates are ready to help with all phases of litigation over the life of your case. By solely focusing on these specific areas of law, we believe our attorneys are able to excel in providing our clients the help they need.

When You Need Help, We Are Only a Phone Call Away

Family LawIf you reside in the Tampa Bay area and find yourself in need of an experienced family law attorney, we encourage you to call our offices to schedule your initial consultation. When your future is on the line, you need a family law firm that you can trust. Call the Tampa divorce attorneys at the Family Law Advocates today, or contact us online to schedule your initial consultation.

Office in Tampa and available by appointment in St. Petersburg.