Author Archives: Jay Butchko
How Do I Change My Name?
There are many reasons to want to change either your first, middle, or last name. Individuals and parents alike may want to change their name or their children’s names due to personal preference, to take a spouse’s name, or to return to a previous name following a divorce. While Florida courts are often persuaded… Read More »
Supreme Court Rules States Cannot Ban Same-Sex Marriage: Obergefell v. Hodges
In a 5-4 ruling on June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court held that same-sex couples can marry nationwide. Specifically, the Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires the states to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and recognize a marriage between two people of the… Read More »
New Grandparents’ Rights Bill Took Effect July 1
Michelle Parker, the mother of two young children, suddenly disappeared after she appeared on an episode of “The People’s Court” with her ex-fiancé, who was also the father of her children. Parker was reported missing sometime after dropping the children off at her ex-fiancé’s house in 2013. Her body has not been discovered and… Read More »
How Does Mediation Work?
If you are involved in a contested divorce in Hillsborough County or other Florida jurisdictions, you will be required to attend mediation prior to judge hearing your case, unless there is a substantiated emergency. Outside of emergencies, the Florida Rules of Family Law Procedure require both parties to go to mediation before either temporary… Read More »
Can I Enforce or Modify My Out of State Divorce in Florida?
Because divorce is state specific, it is difficult to know how to “transfer” your divorce when you move. If you and your children have moved or relocated after a divorce, paternity, or other family law proceeding has terminated, you might be wondering if Florida will enforce those orders. If you have received a final… Read More »
Military Divorce In Florida
Divorcing a spouse who is on active duty in the military can present difficulties that would not otherwise be present in civilian divorce proceedings. Although the grounds for divorce are the same, several special issues of service of process, default, custody orders, support orders and property division are unique to a military marriage. Florida’s… Read More »
Circumcision Provision in a Parenting Plan?
Heather Hironimus has recently made headlines for refusing to allow her child’s father, Dennis Nebus, to take their four-year-old son to be circumcised. The paternity suit was initiated in 2010, when the couple originally agreed, via their parenting plan, that their son would be circumcised at the father’s expense. Two years later, Hironimus changed… Read More »
Domestic Violence Injunction vs. No Contact Order
Florida Governor Rick Scott recently signed into law Senate Bill 342, further clarifying the specifics of a “no contact order” and what types of communication it prohibits. No contact orders have long been used to protect victims of domestic violence and prevent the abuser from intimidating the victim. The new law’s clarifications use broad… Read More »
Can Trustees Go After Children’s College Tuition Payments?
A recent trend in bankruptcy law is for trustees, the individuals responsible for collecting money for creditors, to go after tuition payments parents made to their children’s undergraduate institutions. As the trustees see it, the funds parents sent to those institutions should have instead been used to pay off the parents’ debt. Since 2008,… Read More »
Same-Sex Adoption Ban Stalled in Florida Senate
Adopting a child is one of the most complicated and heartwarming ways to expand your family. Adoptions in Florida include adoptions within and outside the immediate family. The Florida legislature, however, recently threatened to limit the rights of gay couples seeking to adopt children. The bill, entitled “Conscience Protection for Actions of Private Child-Placing… Read More »
