Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Are Stocks Marital Property?
You might not be the best looking guy around. You have never played in a band, and you don’t have an Instagram account documenting your travel adventures. Instead of spending the money you earned when you were in your 20s on memorable experiences or your image, you invested it in the stock market. Eventually… Read More »
How Difficult Is It to Get Your Unsupervised Parenting Time Back?
Florida courts have long held that it is in the best interests of children to spend ample time with both parents. Therefore, every parent who does not live with the other parent of his or her children has the right to a court-ordered parenting plan that guarantees that the children will spend certain days… Read More »
What the Rest of Us Can Learn From Messy Celebrity Divorces
The tabloid press makes it sound like, not only are celebrities effortlessly more beautiful and successful than you are, but they can also divorce their impossibly perfect spouses without breaking a sweat or losing their tempers. Remember Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin’s “conscious uncoupling?” Remember when the court dissolved Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady’s… Read More »
Spying on Your Spouse During Divorce Is a Terrible Idea
Two wrongs don’t make a right. If your spouse has betrayed your trust by lying to you, having extramarital affairs, or misusing money that was supposed to benefit your family, you will not make things better by going through his phone or computer or otherwise resorting to sneaky means to collect evidence of his… Read More »
Are Insurance Payouts a Marital or Nonmarital Asset?
One of the most difficult hurdles to clear early in the divorce process is that almost all the assets you acquired during your marriage are marital property. In your marital settlement agreement, you can decide that you keep certain assets and your spouse keeps others, but if that would leave one spouse financially dependent… Read More »
What Happens to Your Child Support Obligations If You Have to Retire Early Because of a Disability?
The only thing worse than hearing the amount of child support you must pay each month is knowing that you must keep paying it until your child turns 19 or graduates from high school, whichever happens first. If you have more than one child, the amount will get lower as each child reaches adulthood,… Read More »
Can You Stop a Divorce Case Once It Starts?
You and your spouse hurt each other and got on each other’s nerves for years, and then one day it all boiled over. After one big fight or one too many broken promises, you called a divorce lawyer and said everything that was on your mind. Once you got started, it was easy to… Read More »
Prenuptial Agreements Enable You to Make Your Own Rules
When a new employer presents you with an employment contract, your eyes immediately skip to the part about how much money you get and all the meals, plane tickets, and hotel rooms your employer will pay for. From a legal perspective, though, the most important sentence in the contract is, “The laws of Florida… Read More »
If the Court Overreacts to Your Ex-Spouse’s Hissy Fit, Your Lawyer Can Help You Get Back to a Normal Co-Parenting Schedule
Your ex-spouse’s volatile temper and impulsive decision making are some of the main reasons you are relieved to be divorced. Remember when your ex saw a YouTube video about the dangers of plastic food packaging and abruptly tossed out the mostly full plastic bottles of ketchup, honey, and pancake syrup you had bought from… Read More »
The Court Can Set Conditions on Your Unsupervised Parenting Time
Whenever possible, the family court allows parents to spend their parenting time with their children as they wish. You should not have excessive restrictions on your choice of residence, work schedule, or leisure activities just because you are a divorced parent. When there is proof that the children are unsafe when they are alone… Read More »
