Sarasota Family Law Blog

When a judge in Sarasota is asked to make the decision of which parent or guardian should have legal custody of a child, that judge needs to think about what is in the best interests of the child in question. While it would be hoped that every child comes from a loving home and parents only want what is best for that child, such is not the case in every child custody dispute. In some cases, a parent may be found to have exposed the child to an environment that is unsafe or unhealthy, or the parent simply may not be able to properly care for the child. In other instances, one parent may use a child custody issue to retain their control over the other.

In an effort to protect the victims of sexual crimes, many states have passed legislation to prevent convicted sex offenders from having any claim on a child conceived from their crime. Now Florida stands poised to join those states as lawmakers recently gave their approval for a similar law. If Gov. Scott signs the bill into law, those convicted of incest, sexual assault, sexual battery, or rape will have no parental rights.

Many former and current soldiers live in Sarasota, trying to resume their daily lives and leave the horrors of the Iraq war behind them. However, sometimes, an ex-spouse or partner will attempt to use the soldier's interior struggles as evidence against them in a military family law case involving custody of their children. In some custody issues, soldiers may have to prove that they are capable mentally and emotionally of caring for their children.

However, for one father, a veteran of two tours in Iraq, the government is unwilling to help him in his child custody challenge and the case has stalled. The U.S. Attorney's office has taken the stance that the government should not be drawn into a private case and has taken action in a federal court to prevent it from happening. The difficulty began when the father asked his psychiatrist at the VA hospital to testify on his behalf to show that he was fit to be a parent, despite his diagnosis of having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Some people are very successful in their business lives but not very successful in their love lives. When such people go through a divorce, there can be many disputes regarding the division of property and finances. An amicable parting can soon turn into a complicated divorce that can stretch on for months and even years as spouses argue over everything from alimony to financial settlements.

After it was announced that a wife had filed for divorce from her billionaire husband, speculation began to fly over how much money the woman would receive. It is unknown whether the couple signed a prenuptial agreement when they married 25 years previously. The wife has accused her husband of having premarital affairs and it is unknown whether that could be used as a weapon against him.

Florida has a large population of immigrant families that have their own cultures and unique backgrounds but sometimes, this can cause problems with the law. For example, parenting techniques and practices can be quite different and this can result in a child custody dispute between parents and county agencies. Due to their lack of understanding when it comes to local laws, these parents may struggle to understand that what they are doing is not considered to be in the best interests of the child.

One case is a good example of this problem. An immigrant mother says that the removal of her children by a county agency is unfair. The agency took the children after finding the younger child home alone. The mother, who is from Iraq, did not realize that leaving the sleeping child at home for a short amount of time was against the law. To prevent the 22-month-old child from hurting himself, she created a sort of tether so that he could only go a certain distance from the TV, which she set to a children's program network.