Jacksonville Family Law Blog

The things that Elin Nordegren has to say about her ultra-high-profile divorce from celebrity golfer Tiger Woods are interesting because she has been silent on the topic for so long. But Florida divorce attorneys are finding that what she has to say is not that different from the reactions of non-celebrities who find themselves considering or getting a divorce.

Nordegren has broken a nine-month silence on the subject of her marriage in an exclusive interview with People magazine.

She says, "I have been through the stages of disbelief and shock, to anger and ultimately grief over the loss of the family I so badly wanted for my children." The Florida divorce was finalized just days ago. 

Nordegren is a 30-year-old mother of two. She says:

Every year, many Florida parents exercise their right to take time off under the Family Medical Leave Act. But adults who care for their children but are not legal or biological parents did not used to have the same parental rights. The U.S. Department of Labor recently changed that.

The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides job protection for parents who take time off to care for seriously ill children or at the adoption or birth of a child. A parent can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12 month period of time. 

Jacksonville family law attorneys are aware of the fact that groups like Americans for Divorce Reform say that anywhere from 40 to 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce. Divorce comes about for a variety of reasons, but financial problems are frequently cited as one of the main factors in the in the failure of a marriage.

Frequently, divorced couples say that financial difficulties were a cause of the breakup of their marriage, but divorce can also create financial problems itself. If ex-spouses are not careful, they can make mistakes in the divorce process that can affect them for years to come. If the financial difficulties are serious enough, bankruptcy may be the only realistic option.

In 2009, over one million people filed for bankruptcy and the numbers are expected to be even higher this year. The American Bankruptcy Institute predicts...

Reports are saying that Tiger Woods will be moving into a new home under construction in Jupiter, Florida, soon. His divorce with Elin Nordegren is coming closer. The divorce settlement is almost complete, according to Florida divorce lawyers.

What will be the final negotiations of the divorce? Will both of them remain in Florida?

Elin Nordegren to Keep Marital Home

Elin will retain the marital home in Windmere, Florida, near Orlando as part of the divorce settlement. It is not yet known if she will move back to the marital home or stay in the home she has been renting since she left the house where she lived with Woods.

Nordegren made her decision to move to the rental home quite suddenly after Tiger's SUV crash. Thus, after the divorce, when she may be calmer she may make a new decision about where to live and raise her children.

One of the women Tiger was allegedly involved with is a...

In June, a paternity suit was filed against Tiger Woods by an adult film star named Devon James, also known as Melinda Jannette. James claimed that her nine-year-old son Austin was Tiger Woods' child. She also claimed that birth records naming another man as the father were wrong. Her suit demanded back child support from Woods.

Family law attorneys in Florida noted that the suit was thrown out yesterday. James did not appear in court. Attorneys for Mr. Woods moved for the dismissal on the grounds that Devon James did not have legal standing to file the suit because she had terminated her parental rights a month earlier. Woods' attorneys said that the adoption proceedings were underway even as James made a public statement about her allegations on television in June.

The judge, Marc Gilner, agreed with Woods' attorneys. "I believe your motion is well-founded and I will grant your motion to dismiss the action with prejudice."

The child's grandmother said...

Those seeking a divorce in Florida should know that alimony has undergone some recent changes. A new Florida state law providing guidelines for alimony took effect on July 1. Before the enactment of the law, Florida judges relied on previous cases in making alimony determinations.

The new law provides exact requirements for how long you must be married in order to be entitled to long-term alimony. The law also sets up different types of alimony for everyone else who does not qualify for long-term alimony.

One positive aspect of the law is that it sets out what type of alimony a divorcing spouse is entitled to, which can be especially beneficial for attorneys or those representing themselves. However, there is no absolute value of alimony available to everyone who falls into a certain category. Judges must still take the spouse's need and the other spouse's ability to pay into account.

The new law sets up four types of alimony: permanent, durational, rehabilitative, and bridge-the-gap.

A woman who wants to move to Florida with her two children was ordered by a New York court to have Skype available in her home so that her ex-husband can video conference with the children three times a week. Florida divorce lawyers said it was the first case they knew of where Skype, a computer program that allows people to telephone or videoconference over the computer, was ordered to be used by the parties.

The mother, Debra Baker, asked the court for permission to move to Florida. Her parents live in Venice Beach. The family home, where she lived with the two children, is in foreclosure. The Bakers have a nine-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter.

Neither party suggested that Skype could be an option. The father, James Baker, is a construction worker. His attorney was not sure his client would even be able to use Skype. Debra has no problem with the webcam.

In other family law news, a court has said that a lesbian must pay child support... 

Add one more concern for families with children on the autism spectrum: divorce.

Any parents of young children are usually stressed and strapped for time, leaving them with little energy to devote to their spouses. As such, divorce rates are highest when a couple has young children. However, once the children enter their teens and become more self-sufficient, the divorce rate tapers off.

However, a child with an autism spectrum disorder requires extra attention, not only throughout their childhood, but also into their teens and even adult lives. These children also tend to have communication difficulties and engage in repetitive behaviors, which can add even more stress for the parents. Their parents are never given that "break" that other parents experience as their children grow up. This is probably why parents of an autistic child are sometimes told that the divorce rate for couples in their situation is as high as 80%.

To see if this extreme statistic held any truth, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Georgia State University and Boston University examined 391 families participating in the Adolescents and Adults With Autism study. These families were compared to other families with children whose development was considered normal. The study matched the families based on the age, sex and birth order of the child with autism and the age, education and ethnicity of the mother.