What Is Florida’s “Deadbeat Dad” Law, and How Can It Affect Your Family?

Alan R. Burton Attorney at Law — Fri, 24 Nov 2017 11:43:02 GMT

Child support obligations, on the one hand, and the failure to fulfill them, on the other, are among the biggest sources of conflict and resentment among divorced couples. Florida has laws to protect the rights of the parent ordered to pay child support and the one who receives child support payments on behalf of the children. The laws surrounding the enforcement of child support orders and the measures that Florida family courts can take to collect late child support payments are popularly known as the Deadbeat Dad Law, although this is something of a misnomer. First, not all parents who are required to pay child support are men. Second, not everyone who falls behind on child support payments does so as a means of intentionally evading parental responsibility. Except in the direst financial circumstances, Florida courts hold parents to the responsibility to provide financial support for their biological and adopted children. Thus, it is much easier to fall behind on child support obligations than it is for a court to absolve you of responsibility for them.

The Lengths to Which Courts can Go to Collect Child Support Payments

The court system can go to great lengths to collect overdue child support payments. These are some of the ways that courts can take money from you and apply it to child support if you do not pay:

Garnishing wages
Seeking bank accounts
Selling assets from your estate (even death cannot get you out of the obligation to pay child support)
Additionally, the court can impose the following non-financial punishments for failure to pay child support:
Contempt of court
Suspension of driver’s license
Suspension of passport

The Courts Generally Treat Child Support and Visitation as Unrelated

If you do not keep up with child support payments, the court can interfere greatly in your finances and in other aspects of your life, such as your right to drive and travel. What it cannot do is take away your right to spend time with your children. Parenting plans deal with every aspect of raising children after divorce except financial ones. For example, they specify which days, including which holidays, the children spend with each parent, and they specify which parent has the right to make certain decisions regarding the children’s education and health. The idea is that money comes and goes, but parent-child relationships are forever. Besides, the courts generally hold that it is in the best interest of the children to spend a substantial amount of time with both parents, regardless of financial circumstances. Conversely, having little or no visitation time with the children, even being estranged from them completely, does not erase child support obligations.

Contact Alan Burton About Enforcement of Child Support Orders

It can be frustrating if your former spouse does not make the child support payments that the court ordered as part of your divorce. Contact Alan R. Burton in Boca Raton, Florida to help get the child support money that is owed to you.

Does a Stepparent Have Visitation Rights?

Alan R. Burton Attorney at Law — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 13:13:44 GMT

Imagine the following scenario: A woman with a one-year-old daughter marries a man who is not the biological father of her child. The stepfather takes an active role in parenting the little girl and considers her to be his own child. The biological father does not play a significant role in his daughter’s life. After twelve years of marriage, the woman decides to get a divorce and wants to cut all ties with her former spouse. The stepfather wants to seek visitation rights of the child he has considered to be his own for many years.

With the constant blending of families in recent decades, a stepparent’s right to visitation with a stepchild is a common issue that arises in divorce cases. Many people seek legal advice asking the following question: Do I have visitation rights regarding my stepchild following a divorce? Unfortunately, in Florida, the short answer to this question is no. Florida is actually one of four states that provide no rights to stepparents for visitation or parenting following a divorce. Though a stepparent will not have any legal rights regarding stepchildren on which to fall back, there are certain steps that a person can take to have a better chance of preserving the ability to visit with stepchildren after a divorce.

Work for an Amicable Divorce

Just because a stepparent has no legal rights to visitation does not mean that the divorcing spouses can never agree to visitation on their own terms. There are many tools that allow couples to decide their own fate in divorce and leave the decision-making power out of the hands of a judge. If you work to keep the peace with your spouse and engage in positive problem-solving techniques such as mediation or cooperative divorce, there is a better chance your spouse will recognize your honest desire to continue a relationship with your stepchildren and will agree to visitation.

Consider an Adoption

If the biological parent is truly not in the parenting picture and is willing to give up parenting rights, you may be able to adopt your stepchild as your own during the course of the marriage. Once you adopt a child, you will have the full rights and responsibilities of a biological parent, including rights to visitation and shared custody following a divorce. Though stepparent adoption is not an option in every case, it is always an option worth pursuing to ensure you retain access to your stepchildren should your marriage relationship sour.

If you are a stepparent who wishes to make sure you preserve a relationship with your stepchildren should you face divorce, it is a good idea to explore your options well before marital problems start, if possible. If you wish to pursue an adoption or simply want advice for an amicable divorce, experienced Boca Raton family law attorney Alan R. Burton can help you. We work for creative family law solutions that are the best result for everyone involved, so please do not hesitate to contact our office for help today.

Boca Raton visitation attorney - Alan R. Burton Attorney at Law