Procedures for Mediation in Pasco and Pinellas Counties

The Sixth Judicial Circuit (Pasco and Pinellas Counties) recently released Administrative Order 2011-006 PA/PI-CIR which sets out the following procedures for mediation in family law matters:

Family Mediation:

a. When ordered by the presiding judge, or when automatically referred to mediation in accordance with this Administrative Order, parties must participate in mediation of family cases. Read more

Hillsborough County – New Child Custody Proceedings Administrative Order

Chief Judge Manuel Menendez, Jr., of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit (Hillsborough County) recently entered a new administrative order that pertains to child custody proceedings.  Below is a summary of AO S-2011-014:

  1. For Chapter 751 Proceedings (Temporary Custody of Minor Children by Extended Family):
    1. Uncontested and Contested Proceedings:  Petitions for temporary custody of a minor child by an extended family member (i.e., grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, etc.) must be written and signed under oath, and filed with the clerk of the court.  The case will be assigned to the Family Law/Domestic Relations Division.  An executed Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement (“UCCJEA”) Affidavit must be included with the petition.  If the petition is being filed with the parents’ permission, written, signed, and notarized consents must be provided, unless the parents provide their consents in open court.  If a petitioner is alleging that a parent has abandoned a child, the petitioner must have evidence of abandonment.
    2. Pending Dependency Proceedings:  If a dependency case is pending when a petition for temporary custody has been filed, the Family Law judge may transfer the petition to the Juvenile Dependency Division. Read more

Happy Easter & Happy Passover!

From The Law Firm of Adam B. Cordover, P.A., to you and your family, we wish you a happy holidays!

Equitable Distribution: How to Divide My IRA?

In a divorce proceeding, the court will divide the parties’ marital property and debts in a process called “equitable distribution.”  The court starts with the presumption that property should be divided equally, but it may adjust the distribution based on various factors including (i) the relative economic circumstances of the parties, (ii) any interruption of personal careers or educational opportunities, and (iii) the intentional waste or destruction of assets.

Retirement accounts require special attention during the equitable distribution process.  George Saenz at Fox Business News discusses this:

Not only are you getting separated from your spouse, but also your money. An individual retirement account, or IRA, belongs to the spouse that established it. You generally cannot transfer money from one spouse’s IRA to the other spouse’s account. An exception exists in the case of a divorce.

Read more

Divorce Saloon: Top 10 Things A Gentleman Should Do (Or Avoid) During Divorce

Divorce Saloon offers an interesting top 10 of how a gentleman should act during divorce:

1. Don’t call your soon to be ex-wife and her (female) lawyer by choice names.

2. If you are a public figure, refuse to air dirty laundry and speak about your wife’s private parts (Roseann Barr’s ex Tom Arnold, for example, made some references to her privates that very much were ungentlemanly, to say the least).

3. Don’t respond to violence from your spouse or with violence to your spouse.

4. Gentlemen can curse, but don’t go Mel Gibson.

Read more

Word Cloud: Section 61.13, Florida Statutes

Sometimes I find it helpful to look at family law issues from a different angle, and hopefully gain a new perspective.  I will be experimenting with this concept by creating word clouds from different statutes, rules, or cases.

Word clouds take the most commonly used terms from a text and resize them according to their frequency of use.

The following word cloud, created using Wordle.net, breaks down section 61.13, Florida Statutes, the main law dealing with child custody orders:

Word Cloud - Section 61.13, Florida Statutes

Word Cloud - Section 61.13, Florida Statutes

If you have questions regarding child custody and wish to schedule a consultation with a family law attorney in Tampa Bay, call The Law Firm of Adam B. Cordover, P.A., at (813) 443-0615.

Blog for The Law Firm of Adam B. Cordover, P.A., Featured In News Clip

Website newsy.com has featured a recent article from ABC Family Law Blog, the official blog of The Law Firm of Adam B. Cordover, P.A., in a news video.  The video discusses the website Cheaterville.com.

ABC Family Law Blog Featured in News Video

ABC Family Law Blog Featured in News Video

 

 

ABC Family Law Blog Featured in News Video

ABC Family Law Blog Featured in News Video

 

Around the 1:30 mark of the video, ABC Family Law Blog is mentioned as follows:

A Florida Family Law Blog is also worried about people abusing the site— going so far as to suggest the site could interfere with custody disputes.  “One of the factors in custody decisions is the ability to facilitate a close relationship between a child and his or her other parent, a scathing post on Cheaterville may be seen by a judge as antithetical to a child’s best interest.”

You can see the whole video at the following link:  http://www.newsy.com/videos/welcome-to-cheaterville-cheaters-beware/.

Attorney Cordover Breaks 5K Record

Okay, so I broke a personal record and not a Guinness Book World Record, but nonetheless I’m proud of myself.  This weekend I ran the 2011 Hillsborough County Bar Association Judicial Pig Roast and 5K, and I finished in 26:50.

I also have to congratulate my nephew, Jake, who completed the 5K in less than 25 minutes.

The HCBA Judicial Pig Roast and 5K supports pro bono services in Hillsborough County, Florida.

 

Video: Name Change

The following video from lawinfo.com discusses name changes:

In Florida, name changes are governed by section 68.07 of the Florida Statutes.

A person can file for a change of name in the circuit court of the county where he or she resides.  Within the petition, which must be signed under oath, the person needs to make sure that he or she has provided all of the required information, including the following:

Read more

Polygamy: A Basis for Annulment

Rose McDermott at the Wall Street Journal reports that cases of polygamy are becoming more common in Western countries:

Polygamy—or more specifically polygyny, the marriage of one man to more than one woman—has been widespread in human history. And it is becoming increasingly common, particularly in Muslim enclaves—including in Paris, London and New York.

A 2006 report by the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights reported that approximately 180,000 people were living in polygamous households in France. For decades, France allowed entrance to polygamous immigrants from about 50 countries where the practice was legal. When the French government banned polygamy in 1993, it tried to support the decohabitation of such couples if a wife wanted to move into her own apartment with her children.

In Britain, where immigration laws have banned the practice for longer, there appear to be about a thousand valid polygamous marriages, mostly among immigrants who married elsewhere, such as in Pakistan. Such families are allowed to collect social security benefits for each wife, although the government has apparently not counted how many are doing so.

In the United States, where numbers are more difficult to come by, anecdotal reports indicate underground communities of polygamists in New York City, particularly among immigrant communities from West Africa.

In Florida, one person cannot legally marry someone who is currently married to someone else.  Further, Florida does not recognize polygamist “marriages” that occur outside of the state or country.

So, does a person who has been in such a relationship, either knowingly or unwittingly (i.e., one party did not know that the other party was already married), have legal protections?

Read more