FAMILY LAW AND MEDIATION SERVICES 

Florida’s term for divorce is dissolution of marriage.  The main issues that arise during a divorce revolve around your children, your property and your debt.

Equitable Distribution is a fancy phrase that means dividing up all of your marital property and marital debt in a fair manner, which is usually equally but may not be depending on certain circumstances.  Your property consists of real estate, personal property and intangible property (such as money, retirement accounts and investments).

Parenting Plans are required to be filed under Florida Law, and they detail how decisions will be made regarding the children’s welfare, the time-sharing schedule, how exchanges will be conducted, and many other details and rules of how the parents are to parent the children together, while living apart.  To see a sample Parenting Plan form click below.

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Parental Responsibility is another fancy phrase that replaced “custody” in the Florida Statutes, and it refers to who has authority to make decisions in the children’s lives.  Most often parental responsibility is shared, and only on rare occasions will a parent be awarded sole parental responsibility.  With shared parental responsibility, the parents are expected to co-parent the children by jointly making decisions regarding all major issues including, but not limited to medical care, education, religion, and discipline.

Child Support is the children’s right and cannot legally be waived by a parent.  The amount is determined by the Florida Child Support Guidelines, using a math formula that plugs in the parents’ net incomes, cost of health insurance and cost of child care. To see the Florida Child Support Guidelines click below.

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Spousal support is commonly called alimony.  The starting points are one party’s need for support and the other party’s ability to pay. The circumstances of the parties and marriage, including the length of time married and the earning capacities of the the parties, are key in determining the type of alimony that is appropriate, as well as the length of time alimony should be paid. For a Florida Statute addressing alimony click below.

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Attorney Lee Mercado can lead parties to settlement of all the above issues, plus she can draft the settlement agreement and Parenting plan, if desired.

As a mediator, Attorney Mercado can help you reach an agreement as to all paternity issues, as well as draft the settlement agreement and required Parenting Plan. Paternity refers to a type of case where the Court is making a determination of who is the father of the child.  Likewise, a paternity lawsuit contains all of the same issues pertaining to children that were detailed under "Divorce".  This includes issues of parental responsibility, time sharing, and child support.  This type of case also requires a Parenting Plan, which as a mediator, I can help create and draft. 

Sometimes you and your spouse already know exactly how you wish to end your marriage, and simply want an attorney to draft and file the appropriate documents and get a Final Judgment signed by the judge expeditiously, and without error or acrimony.  Attorney Lee Mercado has provided this service from start to finish for dozens of divorcing couples, saving them a lot of time and money in attorney fees.