Delray Beach Domestic Relations Lawyer

Domestic relations, also known as family law, is that part of the law that focuses on legal issues or disputes that arise between family members.  If you are looking for a family law/ domestic relations attorney, then you are probably experiencing some type of turmoil or upset in your life.  The domestic relations lawyers at Demand the Limits can help you in this difficult time. Divorce, child custody, child support, adoption, and visitation agreements are all areas where the help of a qualified family law attorney can be invaluable. However, it is important to make sure that you are getting help from the right kind of family law attorney.

Family law is a particularly emotional area of law.  Generally, though not always, when people are involved in family law scenarios, emotions are high.  You may be dealing with the dissolution of a marriage, issues of domestic violence, a custody battle, or struggling to make child support or get a deadbeat parent to help support a child.  Any of these scenarios can be extremely stressful, which impacts your decision-making ability.  They can also make you think of your divorce or custody battle as an arena for revenge.  The wrong type of domestic relations attorney takes advantage of those high-emotions and uses them to help foster more bad-feelings.  A good attorney will always encourage you to take a step back and try to view the situation objectively.

That is because these situations are stressful, and you are almost certainly not at your personal best.  Any time there is discord in a family, people are vulnerable to making emotional decisions that may lead to a faster immediate resolution, but only set them up for more fighting down the road.  An experienced domestic relations attorney will make sure that you understand the long-term and short-term consequences of any actions or agreements, as well as explaining all of your rights under Florida law.

These types of disputes can also leave you very vulnerable.  Particularly in divorces, one partner may play on the emotions and expectations of the other partner, in order to try to secure a more favorable divorce settlement.  A good domestic relations attorney will make sure that you know your legal rights and the probable outcome if the court has to determine conditions of your divorce, so that you can make intelligent and informed decisions about any settlement offers.  There are valid reasons for accepting a divorce settlement that is not in your favor, but your attorney should make sure that you understand your rights and are making that choice willingly.

The reason it is so important for attorneys to act as advocates and educate their clients is because many people are misinformed about family law.  For example, many people do not understand Florida’s approach to child custody.  That is because the Florida statutes do not actually speak to custody, and, generally, neither parent is considered the custodial parent.  Instead, custody is joint and what is decided in court is how parents share time with their children.  This is referred to as a parenting plan.  However, a parenting plan does much more than outline the percentage of time each parent will have with the child; it is a comprehensive plan that attempts to predict potential issues that might arise due to parenting differences and resolve them ahead of time.  Typical issues that might be addressed in a parenting plan include the normal time-sharing schedule, holiday-sharing, education and/or child care arrangements, the children’s participation in extracurricular activities, conditions under which a parent can take a child out-of-state or out of the country, how parents can communicate with children, and what type of contact there will be between parents.  Even in amicable divorces, when there are minor children involved, the court will establish a parenting plan.

At Demand the Limits, our legal associates also take their role as counselor very seriously.  No, this does not mean that they provide therapeutic counseling for people experiencing family law disputes.  However, it does mean that they will advise you about the practical, as well as the legal, impact of some of the decisions you may be contemplating.  Just because something is your legal right does not mean it is right, and our attorneys balance compassion and efficacy to ensure that our clients think about all of the possible ramifications of an action before taking it.  All too often, in family law disputes people get so caught up in winning a smaller battle that they do not consider the cost of the victory.  While, ultimately, the client directs the course of a case, our attorneys will make sure that you are well aware of potential consequences.

You may wonder who can hire a domestic relations attorney?  Well, to be a party in a domestic relations lawsuit, you need to have standing.  That means that you need to have a stake in the outcome of the dispute.  In Florida, domestic relations disputes are often pretty straight-forward.  For example, a couple is divorcing and needs to split assets, determine child support, or determine child custody and visitation.  In another common scenario, a couple never married but has a child in common and needs to make legal arrangements regarding that child.  As a result, parties in these types of disputes generally include parents, children, spouses, and co-parents.

However, other parties may be able to establish standing in domestic relations lawsuits.  For example, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or other relatives may seek custody under some circumstances, though statutes that attempted to provide a statutory right to visitation for grandparents have been declared unconstitutional.  In other instances, when there have been allegations of abuse or neglect, the Florida Department of Children and Families may also be involved in the lawsuit.  As South Florida domestic relations attorneys, the lawyers at Demand the Limits are not only familiar with Florida law, but also with how Delray Beach area judges and mediators approach family law issues.

Another complicating factor about family law disputes is that they often overlap with other types of legal disputes.  For example, child abuse allegations or domestic abuse allegations may have a civil impact on divorce settlements, custody arrangements, child visitation, and child support, but they can also have a long-lasting criminal impact.  Even happy events, such as adoptions, could lead to potential future issues if not handled appropriately from the beginning.  Therefore, it is important to have appropriate legal representation from the beginning of any family law matter.

Whatever family law challenge you are facing; it is critical for you to get help from a domestic relations attorney.  Even amicable divorces or other family law agreements can become contentious, so it is important to make sure that you have protected your future interests.  Without legal representation, it can be difficult, if not impossible, for you to fully understand your rights, much less whether a proposed agreement or situation

At Demand the Limits, we know that family troubles are the hardest troubles of all to handle, because your family should provide you with a respite from the troubles of the rest of the world.  We can help you navigate those troubled waters, and handle the legal aspects of those problems, so you can concentrate on establishing your new normal.