Annette Benning and Julianne Moore play Nic and Jules, a married same-sex couple with teenage children, in the fairly recent movie, The Kids Are All Right. This is a story of lesbian marriage, sperm-donor fatherhood, sex, red wine, and teen angst, when two teen-aged siblings track down their biological “donor…
Many parents who are frustrated with dealing with their ex-spouses or child’s other parent consider terminating the other parent’s rights. Parental termination is a legal process in which a parent’s legal rights are taken away. In the eyes of the court, that person ceases to be that child’s parent and…
In a recent article posted on news-press.com, columnist Sam Cook inducts another man to the Deadbeat Dads Hall of Shame. The article titled, “Deadbeat dad easy to locate, loathe,” describes how Joseph K. Bocchino has evaded paying court ordered child support for the past 30 years. A Jacksonville Child…
People often believe that mothers tend to be more nurturing and better caregiver’s than fathers and thus should be the preferred parent in a custody dispute. As a matter of fact, this is a legal concept, termed the Tender Years Doctrine. The Tender Years Doctrine is a legal doctrine in…
As a Jacksonville, family law lawyer, I find that most people do not know that when parties are not married and have a baby that the father is not legally considered to be the father until a Judge signs off on an order saying he’s the father. EVEN IF HE’S…
In the past few days reports have surfaced that Padhma Lakshmi, the host of Bravo’s highly popular show Top Chef, is being sued for child custody by venture capitalist Adam Dell, the brother of Dell founder and billionaire Michael Dell. It is being alleged that Mr. Dell, the father of…
When considering moving with a child to a location outside of Florida, or even more than 50 miles away from your current residence within the state, it is important that you go through the courts to ensure that the relocation is legal. Florida has extremely strict laws that govern child…
Child support is always a sensitive topic. I often deal with parents who want to know exactly where their child support money will be going. They want to control how the parent receiving the child support spends the money. Thus, it is important to know exactly what child support is…
As of Saturday, January 1, 2011, Florida’s Child Abduction Prevention Act became effective. The Act is designed to help those who fear a spouse, ex-spouse or family member will remove their child to a foreign state or country. The Act provides the Florida courts the responsibility to assess risk factors…
As a Jacksonville divorce lawyer, I keep track of trends in the area of divorce and child custody issues. As of December 6, 2010, the divorce rate in Jacksonville, Florida was on the rise. However, there is an even bigger trend for younger couples in having children and waiting to…