November 2015 - Tampa Full-Service Law Firm

Marian P McCulloch served on the Thirteenth Circuit Nominating Committee

November 18, 2015/in Firm News/by wpadelladmin

Marian P McCulloch served on the Thirteenth Circuit Nominating Committee which is responsible for selection of the recipient for the 2016 Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award. The Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Awards are presented annually in January to recognize individual service by a Florida Bar member in each of Florida’s judicial circuits and among out-of-state members. In addition, the recipients’ nominations are also given to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Florida for consideration for The Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award recognizing extraordinary contributions by a Florida lawyer.

Alimony overhaul bill clears first House panel

November 18, 2015/in Firm News/by wpadelladmin

A House bill aimed at overhauling and streamlining the state’s alimony rules cleared its first panel Wednesday, despite a retired judge telling lawmakers “bad things are going to happen to nice people” if the measure becomes law.

The Civil Justice Subcommittee OK’d the bill (HB 455), sponsored by Republican state Rep. Colleen Burton of Lakeland, along party lines.

It’s the third time in recent years the Legislature has attempted to change Florida’s alimony law.

The attorneys of Allen Dell pride themselves on staying abreast of changes in laws affecting our clients. Marriage affects all couples whether the partners are of the same-sex or opposite sexes, and whether they are addressing a health care crisis, retirement, divorce or death. Keep calm and call us.

Does Florida need a neutral ‘family law reform’ task force?

November 5, 2015/in Firm News/by wpadelladmin

TALLAHASSEE – According to retired Circuit Court Judge Robert M Evans, another dangerously flawed ‘Family Law Reform’ bill has been once again submitted in the Florida Legislature. Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon has introduced Senate Bill 250 which contains “as one of its greatest flaws an equal child timesharing provision” which creates a legal presumption for equal time split between parents. “This legal presumption can only be overcome if the parent challenging the presumption enters into a legal fight and proves with evidence that it is not in the best interests of the child to have equal time with both parents. There is no exception in the proposed statute regarding the age, physical or mental health of the child, or the physical or mental health of the parents.”

“This bill further allows current alimony recipients, who in good faith entered into legal contracts providing for their support; to lose the support they negotiated and agreed upon. If an alimony recipient’s income exceeds a mere 10 percent of that which existed or was assigned to them at the time that the alimony award was made, this fact alone constitutes a “significant change of circumstance” allowing the payor spouse to decrease the amount of support he or she is paying in alimony. Incredibly, this applies even if the recipients’ 10 percent total income increase over time was simply from basic cost of living adjustments made to their minimum wage pay to help them keep up with inflation.”

Judge Evans encourages Floridians to read the bill for themselves and urges us to call our governor’s office to demand legislation that is studied, just and recommended by a neutral, independent expert task force.

The Senate bill can be found here:

http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2016/0250/BillText/Filed/HTML

http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2016/0250/BillText/Filed/PDF

The attorneys of Allen Dell pride themselves on staying abreast of changes in laws affecting our clients. Marital & Family law is an ever changing landscape, affecting all couples in committed relationships whether the partners are of the same-sex or opposite sexes, with children and families, or not.