Florida Family Lawyer Blog

Many children in South Florida are born out of wedlock, and it is important for unmarried mothers and fathers to protect their legal rights. In this series of blog posts, we will explain the legal problems that unmarried mothers and fathers in Miami and Fort Lauderdale face everyday. Specifically, these blogs will cover: (1) how an unmarried father can obtain legal parental rights, (2) how a father can establish paternity and prevent the unmarried mother from placing the child up for adoption, (3) how a mother can obtain child support from the father when the parents are not married, and (4) what a man should do if a default support judgment is entered against him and he believes he is not the child’s biological father.

The family law attorneys in our Fort Lauderdale and Miami offices often receive calls from unmarried fathers who mistakenly believe they have parental rights because their names appear on the child’s birth certificate or because they have taken financial and emotional responsibility for their child. Florida law differentiates between paternity and parental rights—signing a birth certificate may establish paternity and the obligation to pay child support, but unmarried fathers must establish their parental rights by obtaining an adjudication of paternity from the courts.

If a father is not married to the child’s mother at the time of the child’s birth or conception, he must petition the court for an order granting parental rights. Establishing parental rights gives an unmarried father the legal right to: (1) seek a court order for visitation rights, (2) request a change or modification in custody, (3) request child support if he has custody of the child, and (4) be involved with important decisions that concern his child, including choices regarding their schooling, medical treatment and religious upbringing.

Even if an informal custody arrangement between unmarried parents works in the short term, obtaining a formal court order is in the best interests of both the father and the child. Without this type of order, the father does not have a legal right to intervene if he disagrees with the mother’s decisions. If an unmarried father is not listed on the child’s birth certificate or registered with the Florida Putative Father’s Registry, the child’s mother has the legal right to place the child up for adoption without the father’s consent.

If you are an unmarried father in the Broward, West Palm Beach or Miami-Dade area, the family law attorneys at Koch & Trushin can help you obtain parental rights over your child. Please feel free to contact us for a free initial consultation.

Posted by Douglas Schapiro | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: Establishing Paternity

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Next time you update your Facebook status, post pictures on MySpace, or Twitter about your day, remember that the things you post on social networking sites might be used against you during your divorce. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter are amazing tools that help us stay in touch with old friends and connect with new acquaintances, but they are also evidentiary gold mines for divorce attorneys. If you aren’t careful, your spouse, their friends, or their attorneys can comb through your networking pages and find valuable information to use against you during your divorce.

For instance, if you publish pictures of yourself after partying at a Fort Lauderdale nightspot, such photos may be used against you. Pictures of lavish vacations you have taken or gifts you have given to a new love-interest may affect the distribution of assets in a divorce. If these luxuries were purchased with marital funds, a judge may even decide that your portion of the divorce settlement should be lowered. If you utilize social networking sites, it is important for you to monitor what you post and what others post about you—your spouse’s lawyers might be searching posts made by your friends, your girlfriend, or your family members to find information they can use against you.

Child custody can also be influenced by what can be found on Facebook. Photos and posts can be offered as evidence to prove that granting custody to one parent is not in the best interests of the couple’s children. Pictures that show a parent drinking heavily, acting irresponsibly or using recreational drugs can greatly influence the judge’s decision on custody. Think twice before posting any questionable pictures online and err on the side of caution—an innocent night of adults grabbing drinks can easily portrayed as something else by your spouse’s attorney.

Websites like Facebook are extremely popular because they allow their members announce their opinions to the world. Groups like “I hate my ex-husband” are abundant and offer angry spouses a forum to vent their frustrations. There's little that you can do to stop your spouse from complaining about you online, unless there are children involved. Family-law courts routinely issue restraining orders to prevent one parent from disparaging another to a child. Because children often use the same social networking sites as their parents, courts often view public disparagement via social networking site as a violation of these orders.

Even if you block your spouse from viewing your networking pages, assume they can view your information through a mutual friend or family member. Play it safe and don’t post anything online that might hurt your chances in divorce court.

Posted by Daniel Louis Koch | Permalink | Email This Post

Posted In: The Internet and Divorce

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