Category: Family Law

As one of the most difficult and emotional processes to go through, divorce is not something you should face alone. With an experienced divorce attorney – such as Reinfeld & Cabrera P.A. – who is invested in your personal well being, by your side you can feel secure that the process will be as stress free as possible. As a divorce attorney who truly understands the emotional, financial and personal difficulties surrounding divorce, Reinfeld & Cabrera P.A. are here to walk you through some important things to consider when asking yourself “should I get a divorce?”

Often the desire to rush through the struggles of a divorce leaves little time for couples to truly evaluate the feelings, thoughts, options or consequences surrounding a divorce. In wanting to get through the divorce process as quickly as possible, couples are often completely unprepared for the roller coaster of emotions, life-changing decisions and the complicated legal system that comes with divorce. Without the guidance of an experienced divorce attorney who understands their needs, couples generally find themselves making agreements that they cannot sustain and most often find themselves tangled up in messy court cases. Without a divorce attorney who has your best interests at heart the process of a divorce could become a nightmare on top of an already shattered dream.

In Florida there are 3 options to proceeding with a divorce:

Hiring a divorce attorney: often this is the best option, as a divorce attorney will provide you with any legal protection you may need from your spouse as well as investigate all of the details surrounding the value of material assets and spousal earnings.
DIY Divorce: This is best suited to uncomplicated divorces. It allows you to fill out and file all the legal documents and forms with the court on your own.
Pro-se/Pre-suit Mediation: this is based on a mediator who is trained to guide divorcing couples towards an agreement and an uncontested divorce.

Before deciding on which option you will take, you must think about the various legal intricacies that accompany a divorce. Such things include (but are not limited to):

Residency Requirement: To obtain a divorce in Florida, you or your spouse must have resided in Florida for at least six months before the filing of the petition.
Parental Responsibility: Chapter 61 of the Florida statutes that governs divorce provides for “shared parental responsibility”.
Your MSA: Characteristically there are five specific topics that need to be discussed during divorce mediation and then incorporated into the Marital Settlement Agreement (MSA) – Parenting, Equitable Distribution, Alimony, Child Support, and Everything Else.
Equitable distribution: This complicated process is the fair (but not necessarily equal) division of all marital property, assets, and debts governed by Chapter 61 of the Florida statutes.

Concerns about housing, money, children, child support, child care and custody, and alimony are stressful and intimidating. Therefore it becomes important to have a divorce attorney who cares about your needs (and the needs of your family) represent you with the unique skill and understanding required in such a stressful time.

When it comes down to it, divorce is always a costly endeavour – whether it cost you your family, your time or your money. However, the divorce attorneys at Reinfeld & Cabrera, P.A. want to help you find the least taxing and most cost effective path through this process. With this in mind, many people have asked – “do I hire a paralegal or an attorney for my divorce?” While we do not profess to have all the answers, we do have some information which might help you to decide what is best for your unique case.

Firstly, you may be wondering what the difference is between a paralegal and a divorce attorney. The Florida Bar defines a paralegal as a person with education, training, or work experience, who works under the direction and supervision of a member of The Florida Bar and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a member of The Florida Bar is responsible. This means that while a paralegal may have extensive knowledge of divorce law and can help you fill out divorce forms, they are prohibited from providing legal advice or representing a client in court. On the other hand, a divorce attorney is able to provide legal counsel as well as represent a client in court if needs be.

When it comes to divorce many may say that using a paralegal instead of a divorce attorney will save you time and money. This may be the case is your divorce is simple and uncontested or if the chances for a disagreement are slim to none. However, as every divorce is different and each comes with its own unique set of challenges, hiring a divorce attorney early on in the process can save you the hassle and cost of any possible difficulties needing a court settlement. It is not often that the emotional and contentious experience of a divorce will be easily settled without any legal advice needed.

It is also important to remember that in Florida an independent paralegal does not necessarily require any state recognised qualifications to practice. This could result in a client paying for work which is sub-standard or even non-existent. To avoid this, it is advisable to use either a qualified paralegal or, more reliably, a Florida divorce attorney.

All in all, if you are pursuing a divorce it is advisable to have the comfort and safety of an experienced divorce attorney such as the attorneys at Reinfeld & Cabrera.

We at Reinfeld & Cabrera, P.A. take pride in the fact that we are family owned and operated attorneys in Coral Springs. With so many law firms around, we believe that by being family owned and operated we are able to offer something unique to our clients as opposed to the regular attorney in Coral Springs. Being an attorney in Coral Springs should include a strong focus on what is important to a family. So what exactly does it mean when we say we are family owned and operated, and why should this make us stand out as an attorney in Coral Springs?

Choosing family owned and operated attorneys in Coral Springs means that the attorneys you will be working with are more likely to have greater diligence and understanding of the intricacies behind your family structure. This understanding becomes incredibly important for an attorney in Coral Springs in that they will already be in touch with the nuances that drive each distinctive family as opposed to an attorney who does not have a flair for family dynamics. Bringing this exclusive element into your client/attorney relationship is what sets an attorney in Coral Springs, such as Reinfeld & Cabrera, P.A., apart from most other non-family owned and operated attorneys in Coral Springs.

The attorneys at Reinfeld & Cabrera, P.A. hail from diverse backgrounds that allows us to relate to all our clients needs. While we are confident in representing both domestic and international companies, we are also able to identify with and provide affordable legal representation for everyone including families, children and elders. Choosing Reinfeld & Cabrera, P.A as your attorney in Coral Springs means that you can rest assured that all your legal affairs, from your businesses to your intimate family matters, will be in the best of hands with our family owned and operated attorneys in Coral Springs.

At Reinfeld & Cabrera, P.A., we think of our clients as family and strive to provide the very best in legal services. That is we go out of our way to accommodate our clients and their distinctive family dynamics. From home consultations to weekend meetings, we at Reinfeld & Cabrera, P.A. are available or on-call for all your legal needs.

If you are in need of an attorney but have been worried about not being able to find an attorney in Coral Springs who will understand what you and your family require, look no further than the attorneys at Reinfeld & Cabrera, P.A. – family owned and operated attorneys in Coral Springs.

Everyone has heard the criticisms of divorce attorneys, but we are here to debunk those myths and to tell you how a divorce attorney takes the headache out of divorce. Divorce is never an easy thing to have to deal with on a personal level let alone having all the legal strings attached, so the divorce attorneys at Reinfeld & Cabrera, P.A. want to help you to make the right decisions and guide you through this tough time.

This is a list of some of the things a good divorce attorney should do:

• If the case reaches court, your divorce attorney will help you to get a final judgement of dissolution of marriage. They will also fully prepare you for a court hearing – guiding you through possible scenarios, asking you questions they may have to ask you in court, helping understand how you should answer during questioning, guiding you as to the proper courtroom etiquette and appropriate dress codes.
• If problems arise during the divorce process, your divorce attorney should draft settlement agreements to resolve these issues.
• Whenever possible, a divorce attorney should be open to settling the case out of the courtroom through negotiations to avoid the unnecessary stress and expense of court.
• Florida law states that a mediation process must be undertaken by the couple if there are children involved. A divorce attorney should guide you through this process.
• If you have children a divorce attorney should help you through developing the parenting plans which outline the many issues pertaining to the caring and raising of minor children, such as child custody, child visitation rights, and alimony.
• When it comes to the task of property division a divorce attorney will expertly guide you through the issues and processes of this often complex and messy area.
• To assist in a speedy and legal divorce a divorce attorney should ensure that all the relevant divorce forms are properly filled out preventing unnecessary errors from delaying or disrupting your case, make sure there are no unresolved legal issues to ensure that you avoid undue legal actions and pre-empt any legal issues (such as assessing whether or not there will be a need for an expert’s opinion in resolving your case).

Having a divorce attorney who cares about your needs and the needs of your family represent you through this difficult process will certainly be your remedy to removing the headache out of your divorce.

Going through a divorce is hard enough, but you will definitely want to make sure you have a good divorce attorney when there are children involved. Child custody cases can be extremely difficult and stressful, often because of the high level of emotion that is involved, so you need to have a trusted attorney on the case.

Before a child custody case goes to court, your former partner and you should always try to reach an agreement first. In fact, a divorcing couple is required to attend mediation under Florida law, when children are involved. A good divorce attorney will be able to help you through the mediation process. If mediation fails to produce a child custody agreement, a judge will resolve your child custody case, determining the fate of your children.

Knowledgeable divorce attorneys will look at your specific situation and determine if you should argue for sole custody or joint custody. Sole custody means you are the parent that makes the big decisions, such as where your child (or children) will go to school or church. Generally, when one parent is awarded sole custody, the other parent has set visitation times. Joint custody means both parents, together, come to some sort of an agreement about these types of big decisions.

Another important aspect of child custody cases are child support. A divorce attorney will not only help you retain custody in a child custody case, will but will also help you receive the child support needed in order to effectively raise your children.

The divorce attorneys at Reinfeld & Cabrera P.A. will vigorously defend your interests in a child custody case, while remaining sensitive to your family and personal needs. We are experienced at developing parenting plans that contain schedules for divorced parents who are sharing the responsibilities of raising minor children. You want knowledge and experience on your side when it comes to choosing a divorce attorney on a child custody case.

When you have a blended family, it is always best to make sure your estate planning is laid out in legal documents that explain exactly who gets what, before your assets are distributed via intestate succession laws. A blended family is one which may include children from prior marriages or relationship.

In Florida, intestate succession laws will dispense your estate to your relatives when there is an absence of a legal will, or when a will is found to be invalid. Sometimes the dispensing is simple, such as when a decedent only leaves behind a surviving spouse. However, things get considerably more complicated with blended families. A decedent is the person who has died.

All assets in the estate are left to a surviving spouse, when the decedent has no lineal descendants. Within intestate succession laws, if a decedent leaves behind a surviving spouse, and children or other lineal descendants who are shared with the spouse, then the surviving spouse still inherits the estate. However, in blended families where the decedent leaves behind a surviving spouse and lineal descendants who are not shared with the spouse, then half the estate goes to the surviving spouse and the remaining half of the estate is split among the lineal descendants.

When blended families contains adopted children, under intestate succession law in Florida, legally adopted children will receive the same share of your estate as biological children. However, any foster children or stepchildren will not automatically receive a share of the estate. Nor will children who were put up for adoption, and have been legally adopted, receive any share of the estate.

A child who has been conceived by the decedent, but not yet born at the time of death, will still receive a share of the estate under intestate succession law in Florida. Blended families that include children born outside of marriage, will see those children receive a share of the estate under a few legal conditions, such as the decedent having acknowledged the paternity or a court establishing such paternity.

When you have a blended family, or a complicated family situation, it is always wise to make sure you have a will in place formally laying out your wishes upon your death. Otherwise, all assets that can normally be distributed via a will, will then subject to intestate succession law.