Family Law

Pérez-Calhoun Law Firm can help you navigate your divorce.  You can have an uncontested (both parties agree to everything) or a contested divorce. Our lawfirm can help you in either type of divorce.  Having a well prepared plan and making wise decisions prior to the start of your divorce can be crucial to its successful resolution.

If you have a pending divorce case, please contact our office immediately for your free initial consultation.  Unfortunately, we see cases where people waited to long to retain an attorney, believing they could handle it themselves.  However, since they do not know the law, they make many mistakes like signing bad agreements, not complying with discovery, not asking for discovery (documents/evidence) or failed to have temporary hearings on child support or timesharing.   This ends up costing them far more then it would have had they hired a divorce attorney from the start of the case, and in many cases the mistakes they made may be impossible to correct.  

There are many complicated issues during a divorce.  Among issues that can be technical and complicated is the fact that in the state of Florida, there is a presumption of any child born during an intact marriage to be the child of both parents. However, in some rare cases, the legal father may not be the biological father to the child. If you are married and have discovered a child may not have your genetic ties, contact Perez-Calhoun Law Firm for your free initial consultation as there are many legal steps you must take in order to disestablish paternity and be removed as legal father to a child. 

When unmarried couples have children under Florida Stat. § § 744.301(1) “The mother of a child born out of wedlock is the natural guardian of the child and is entitle to primary residential case and custody of the child unless a court of competent jurisdiction enters an order stating otherwise.”  That is why  when a child is born to an unmarried couple one or both of the parents must petition the court in order to have the rights and responsibilities of being a parent granted to them via order of the court. These include; time-sharing, child support, parental responsibility, decision making authority to name a few. . Call us now to set your free initial consultation on how to establsh paternity attorney and have your rights to custody or support set by a court order.

Whether you are in the need of establishing child support, modifying child support or enforcing child support, Pérez-Calhoun Law Firm can represent you in what can be a frustrating process.  Florida law provides for a formula to establish child support.  Among the factors taken into consideration in calculating child support is the number of overnights the minor child spends with each parent.  Therefore, if you have not establshed by Court a timesharing schedule, your monthly child support obligation may be higher than hat it ould have been if you have a Court order that sets the number of overnights with your child.  On the other hand, if you are trying to secure child support for your child you may encouter complicated issues (for example, if the other parent is hiding income) that Attorney Gina R. Pérez-Calhoun can help you navigate and work side-by-side with you to make sure you receive an appropriate child support order. 

 In many ways, military divorces are similar to other divorces. As the spouse of a service member, Attorney Gina R. Pérez-Calhoun is personally familiar with the issues that affect families involved in a military divorce.  With a military divorce in Florida, the same general laws regarding child custody, child support, property division, and alimony will apply to the case. At the same time, there are also some unique laws that impact military divorce cases.

Perhaps most notably, a federal law called the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) prevents military members from facing divorce cases while they are on active deployment. To be clear, this law will not stop a military spouse from getting a divorce. Instead, it will temporarily halt their case so that their partner does not have to deal with the divorce until their deployment is over.

Special Issues relating Military Divorces:

• Where to File A Divorce: Military members could live in many different states over the course of their career. State laws have been adjusted to give military families additional options while filing for divorce. In Florida, the state’s residency requirement is somewhat less strict. If at least one member of the couple was stationed in Florida for at least 180 days prior to the divorce, they have the right to file for divorce in Florida. Where you file may also determine the military pension is considered a marital asset subject to equitable distribution.

• Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act (USFSPA): under this law a military spouse could potentially be entitled to a portion of their partner’s pension benefits.

• Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA): prevents military members from facing divorce cases while they are on active deployment as further explained above.  Further, individual states can and do pass SCRA laws that go above and beyond the federal SCRA. Therefore, it is critical to stay informed of these local statutes to avoid violations.

• If you are a victim of domestic violence or the Respondent (the person accused of the domestic violence), the entry of a Final Order can have a long lasting impact in the life of the Petitioner (the person asking for the injunctions) and the Respondent.   An Injunction for Protection is a Court Order, often referred to as a restraining order, that places restrictions on an individual who has allegedly committed acts or made threats of violence against another individual.   A restraining order may include requirements that restrain the Respondent from further acts of violence; order the Respondent to leave a shared dwelling; prevent the Respondent from coming to your home, school or place of employment; and/or award temporary custody of minor children.
•  The entry of a restraining order against you can affect your employment, ability to volunteer at your child's school,  ability to secure and/or keep your secret clearance, etc.  There are many types of restraining orders as follows:  (1)  Domestic Violence'; (2)  Stalking Violence ; (3)  Repeat Violence ; (4)  Sexual Violence ; and (5)  Dating Violence.  If you petition for the wrong type of restraining order, your case can be dismissed (thrown out).
• If restraining order is entered and the Respondent violates that order, you must notify the police and file papeork with the Court informing the Court of the violation.  If the restraining order is for a limited time, the Court will take into consideration violations of the order in determing whether to grant an extension.  
• If a restraining order has been entered against you, you can ask the Court to modify the restraining order.  ALSO, THE VIOLATION OF A RESTRAINING ORDER IS A CRIME!   v

•   Prenuptial Agreements: If you are planning to get married and have assets that you want to protect you must consider a prenuptial agreement. Florida Prenuptial Agreements (also called “premarital agreements”) are written contracts that couples enter into prior to marriage. Prenups in Florida are expressly allowed by Florida’s Uniform Premarital Agreement Act (§61.079 of the Florida Statutes). The Premarital Agreement Act sets forth the requirements for entering into a legally enforceable Florida Prenuptial Agreement, including the content that can and cannot be included in a premarital contract.
• Post-nuptial agreements: Post-nuptial agreements ultimately help couples anticipate changes that may occur in a marriage, address those changes, and provide a measure of comfort as relationships change over time. Because these types of marital agreements generally focus on financial concerns, spouses can place the focus on building a stronger emotional relationship rather than placing the focus on assets, debts, property one spouse or the other owned prior to the marriage, and other issues that can cause dissention.