Tampa Florida Family Law Blog

Divorce is hard, and the difficult emotions and personal struggles you will go through during this process do not automatically disappear just because the process is final. These feelings can linger, especially if you have to work closely with your former spouse to co-parent together. While co-parenting does work well for many families, it does not necessarily mean that you will not face some difficulties as well.

One of the main reasons why parents choose to co-parent together is because it offers the kids a way to maintain strong relationships with both parents after a divorce. This provides stability and security for the youngest members of the family, but the parents will have to commit to working together. If you choose this parenting plan, it can help to consider ways to make it work smoothly and peacefully for the entire family.

We live in a much more modern world than our parents and grandparents once did. More women have careers outside the home and many fathers take on the role of staying at home with the kids. Living in a modern way also means divorcing in a more contemporary manner. For some, this means declining to accept an offer of spousal support.

As attorneys serving Tampa families, we think it is wonderful when a spouse chooses not to punish the other spouse by demanding alimony out of spite. However, we also feel concerned about this trend in some divorce cases. For example, it is unwise to turn down spousal support when you have even the smallest concern about your financial situation in the wake of your Florida divorce.

When you find love, it is often a head-spinning experience. Most people on the path to matrimony do not stop to think about future financial matters. As such, they do not have prenuptial agreements in place when they get married. If trouble comes along after the wedding, they may regret not taking steps to protect their assets.

Fortunately, there is a highly effective alternative when it is too late to draft a prenuptial agreement. This alternative -- a postnuptial agreement -- works in much the same way as a prenup in terms of protecting your personal assets. As its name suggests, postnuptial agreements are put in place after a couple is already married.

Not many people in Florida would think that a discussion about a prenuptial agreement would be an easy conversation to have, but the fact is that these agreements can be vital for those who take a pragmatic approach to marriage. After all, the common refrain is that about half of all marriages end in divorce, although that may not be as true as it once was with changing societal norms. But, divorce is still incredibly common, so many people in Florida would probably like to know how a prenuptial agreement might help them with their relationships.

So, what do our readers need to know about prenuptial agreements? Well, for starters, it is important to understand what these agreements can legally address, and what they cannot. Prenups are primarily intended to protect one party from the other in financial terms. For example, one spouse may be entering the marriage having already accumulated wealth and assets, and that spouse wants to ensure that those assets remain outside of the marital assets that might be accumulated during the marriage. Or, one spouse may have significant debts prior to the marriage, and the other spouse wants to ensure that those debts do not become jointly-owed debts.