West Palm Beach Family Lawyer

If you have ever been involved in a family law matter, you know how emotionally taxing it can be. Few legal issues are harder fought than those involving divorce, property division, and child custody. All of these matters fall under the broad umbrella of Florida family law. If you are involved in a situation where you need a family law attorney, contact William Wallshein, a knowledgeable West Palm Beach family lawyer. I serve clients in Palm Beach County, Broward County, and throughout South Florida.

Experienced Family Law Attorney Serving South Florida

Family law issues can vary, and so should the legal representation used to resolve them. Whether you are involved in a heated or amicable divorce, or are looking to modify a custody or child support order, the type of representation and skills necessary differ. I have been assisting clients with all types of Florida family law issues since 1990, and have helped thousands of clients achieve favorable results.

I have successfully represented clients with regard to legal matters including but not limited to:

Divorce (including high-net-worth divorces)
Child custody, visitation, and joint parenting plans
Child support orders (including modification of child support orders)
Property division
Modification and enforcement of child support, custody, and spousal support orders
Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements
Establishing paternity
Securing restraining orders in domestic violence situations

Dedicated and Specific Representation in all Child Custody Matters

An issue common to many family law cases is child custody. In Florida, the guiding principle in all child custody matters is what is in the best interest of the child. It is generally a court’s preference to implement a joint parenting plan, as long as that is in the best interest of the child. Even if a joint parenting plan is not possible, the court will generally allow the non-custodial parent visitation, which can take a number of forms.

When one parent has primary custody of the child, the non-custodial parent may be responsible for child support payments, payable to the custodial parent. While the child support payments are made to the custodial parent, they are for the benefit of the child, and therefore can generally not be negotiated as a part of a divorce settlement or prenuptial agreement. In cases where one party wishes to change or modify the child support order, that parent can petition the court to do so, but must show that there has been a substantial change in circumstances since the origination of the order.

Legal Methods to Protect Your Family Unit

Over the last decade, the concept of the traditional family has been modified, amended, and redefined to espouse and encapsulate the various types of families that are now becoming the new normal. With the redefinition of traditional families, Florida law, along with the laws of the other states, must be flexible to tackle the major issues that come from the new normal where the actual parents and guardians of the children may not be one and the same as the biological parents. If your marriage or familial rights are being threatened, it is important to speak with an experienced family law attorney.

Legal Marriage

Though the law is slow to change, generally, there are administrative ways to ensure that your family is legally recognized and ensure that if there is a major issue that occurs in the future, your family unit will be protected from interlopers. The first way to ensure that your family is protected is through traditional marriage. When two people decide to start a family, the best way to ensure that the family is legally recognized beyond just through biological ties (especially where everyone is not necessarily related by blood) is through traditional marriage. For a marriage to be recognized, there must be a valid marriage certificate and the two parties must be of age (or have consent if they are minors), must not be currently married to another person, and must voluntarily enter into the union.

Legal Relationship Between a Parent and Child

For the children to be legally recognized, this can be done either through biological relationship or through legal adoption. At any one time there can only be two parents per child. This means that if the biological parents divorce, and one of the biological parents remarries, the child is still the child of the biological parents and has no legal relationship with the stepparent. If a stepparent wants to have a legally defined relationship, the other biological parent must terminate his or her parental rights so that the stepparent can then adopt the child.

How a Stepparent May Gain Legal Rights to a Child

The termination of parental rights of the other biological parent can be difficult depending on the circumstances. If the biological parent is a constant figure in the child’s life, unless it can be proven that this biological parent is unfit to be the child’s parent, the stepparent will have an impossible time gaining parental rights. This is because Florida law holds sacred parental rights and believes that the best interest of the child is to have a relationship with both parents. Even if the stepparent is married to one of the biological parents and has a good relationship with the child, the Court will protect the rights of the other biological parent to not be pushed out of his or her relationship with his or her child.

If the Other Biological Parent is Abusive or Has Had No Contact With the Child

However, if the other biological parent is abusive or has had no contact with the child and has abandoned the family, the termination of the biological parent’s parental rights is more likely. To terminate the biological parent’s rights who is abusive, proof of abuse may satisfy the requirement to show that not only is the biological parent unfit to parent, but that it is in the best interest of the child that there is not a continued relationship, whether custodial or through visitation, between the child and the abusive parent.

If the biological parent has disappeared and there is no contact in order to terminate the parental rights of that parent, if the family can show that that biological parent has not contributed to the health and well-being of the child nor provided financial support to maintain the child and also have filled out an affidavit of diligent search and inquiry, the biological parent’s rights may be terminated by the court. The affidavit of diligent search and inquiry is to ensure that all reasonable methods were used to track down the parent and notify him or her of the pending proceedings to terminate his or her parental rights. If the parent is not found after reasonable efforts were made, his or her parental rights can be terminated and the stepparent may petition the court to gain parental rights to the child.

Rely on Experienced West Palm Beach Family Law Counsel

If you are involved in any sort of Florida family law issue, you should contact an experienced West Palm Beach family lawyer as soon as possible. No matter what kind of family law issue you are facing, I will provide you with the upfront, honest, and sincere advice that will give you good idea as to what kind of legal landscape you are facing. From there, we can work together to ensure that you have the best possible chance to reach the result that you desire. My offices are conveniently located in both West Palm Beach and West Palm Beach. Contact us online or call 561-533-1221 to schedule your free initial consultation today. I accept credit cards.

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