Tampa Florida Family Law Blog

During their divorce, Florida parents want to take steps to ensure that their children do not experience unnecessary complications and emotional stress. For this reason, you and the other parent may be able to set aside your differences and work on a parenting plan that will work for every member of the family. The primary goal in any custody arrangement or parenting plan is to provide the children with security and stability for years to come. 

When drafting your parenting plan, you will need to consider what will actually work best for your children. This can be difficult, especially when you are dealing with the difficult emotions that often come with divorce. It's not always easy, but if you decide to resolve custody issues out of court, it may require you to set these feelings to the side and focus on what will be best long term.

Florida residents who are planning on getting married usually only focus on the positives that will occur after the ceremony is over. There is always a good reason for this sort of optimism, but, in some respects, it is also a good idea to be cautious. Some residents will consider how a prenuptial agreement may be applicable in their upcoming marriage.

How will a prenuptial agreement effect one's life? Well, for starters, these agreements are intended to help protect the individuals, primarily from a financial standpoint, when they are about to get married. Granted, the agreement will only become applicable in the worst-case scenario, but having a prenuptial agreement in place can help with the property division process of a divorce, should such an end to the marriage occur.

Many of our readers in the Tampa area know that a divorce can result in a significant impact on finances, for both spouses who go through the process. In fact, the financial aspect of a divorce is why many couples try very hard to work through their marriage issues. However, some people may not realize that the financial impact of a divorce can be greater for those who are older - the so-called "grey" divorces.

A recent report analyzed the impact of divorce on older Americans, specifically those who are age 63 or older. Nearly 27 percent of women over that age who went through a divorce later in life qualified as "poor" under the applicable criteria. For men, the percentage stood at just over 11 percent. In broader terms, the recent report noted that the divorce rate for Americans age 50 and over has doubled in the last thirty years or so.

When celebrities and wealthy people get divorced, details about those legal proceedings usually make the news headlines. And, one term that often comes up in those cases is "prenuptial agreement." Our readers in Florida probably know that the point of these documents is to protect assets and keep them separate in the event that a marriage ends in divorce. But, could bad drafting and negotiating in the lead up to signing the document actually invalidate a "prenup"?

The short answer is yes. While every prenup will be unique to the realities of each individual relationship that is the subject of the document, there are certain requirements that need to be met or, in the worst-case scenario, a court may invalidate the document if and when it is set to be enforced. Florida residents should be mindful of these requirements if they want to have the best chance to have their prenups enforced when they are needed.