Sarasota Family Law And Criminal Defense Law Blog

Being charged with a traffic violation for the first time can be a scary experience. However, when you are faced with multiple charges, it's likely that you will expect the worst and wonder whether you will ever be able to drive again. It is important to not underestimate the seriousness of traffic violations, especially when you are faced with several. However, by taking action from the outset and understanding the rights that you have, this does not need to define your future.

If you have been convicted of multiple traffic offenses in the state of Florida, in is important that you understand exactly how the law works in that particular state. The laws surrounding traffic ticket charges, as well as your right to fight the charges and defend yourself, also varies between states.

The divorce process can decimate the financial standing of both parties. However, there are certain actions Florida residents can take to limit the impact that a divorce will have on their finances.

Each spouse should open checking and savings accounts in their own name if they currently do not have any. Individuals who do so should also advise their partner that they are opening separate accounts and how much money is being deposited. This is so that there can be no accusations of stealing or hiding marital funds.

Divorcing Florida parents should know the days of a father automatically being relegated to every-other-weekend parenting are no more. All across the nation, legislators and judges are pushing a trend toward shared parenting. Fully integrating each parent into the lives of children has shown to benefit child development along with easing the pain of parents who would have been forced to spend more time separated from children under previous standards.

While shared, or joint, custody may be the goal, it is not an automatic conclusion for judges presiding over divorces and child custody disputes. The guiding principle in determining temporary or final parenting plans is the best interests of the children involved. In seeking to ascertain the best arrangements, judges consider the total circumstances including residential, work, and behavioral factors. Parents with histories of inappropriate aggression or abusive behaviors will likely have to prove themselves over time and under supervision before being fully trusted with children in their sole care for extended periods. If parents live far apart, school commute times may become a factor in determining parenting schedules. If one parent would require extensive outsourcing of childcare while the other would not, it could be a factor for a judge.

Unpaid child support and delinquent parents can be a major financial burden for many families in Florida, especially when that support is necessary to pay the bills and make ends meet for the children. Because unpaid support can have such a detrimental effect on children's lives, child support enforcement is a priority for federal and state agencies. One system that has successfully improved the collection of delinquent child support has been the use of automatic payroll withdrawals to support a child support obligation. The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) oversees this process among state agencies involved.

During fiscal year 2016, nearly $33 billion in child support payments were successfully collected using these kinds of automated systems; of that amount, a full three-fourths was collected by using payroll withholding. In order to further enhance and improve this system, the OCSE is working with payroll companies, employers and state child support agencies to boost effectiveness.