Fort Lauderdale Temporary Relief Order Lawyer
Obtaining temporary relief protection until your dissolution of marriage becomes final
While you are moving through the lengthy dissolution of marriage process, you and your children still have to meet your daily needs. At Vanessa L. Prieto Law Offices, LLC, we have advocated for temporary relief orders for numerous Floridians during their divorce process. Our experienced advocacy can secure a court order regarding alimony, child custody or child support required to clarify your obligations and provide for you until the final judgment. Contact our Fort Lauderdale temporary relief order lawyer today.
Why pursue a temporary settlement agreement?
Divorce can take time, especially if you have extensive property and/or children. Your divorce judgment that sets out orders for child support, spousal support, or child custody may not be finalized for months after you file for divorce. However, if you decide to live separately while the divorce is processing–as many people do–you may experience conflict or financial struggles immediately.
Separation can cause much uncertainty as it can affect almost every aspect of your life and the lives of your children. You may have to cover two housing payments and two sets of bills and will have to decide how to split up expenses that relate to your children. In addition, you may be unsure where your children are going to live or how they will split time between parents. It can help immensely to set out certain guidelines regarding custody and support in writing during your separation until your divorce is granted. Such a document is referred to as a temporary settlement agreement or relief order.
You can seek a temporary relief order during the divorce process for many concerns, including:
- Where you live until the final divorce judgment
- How you support your children
- When you see your children
- Who pays the mortgage on the marital home
- Who pays for the children’s health insurance
- How you pay your bills when you have to take care of the children all day
- How to ensure that your former spouse does not leave the state with your children
You and your spouse may be able to agree how to handle certain matters, such as parenting time. However, few spouses will be offering to pay spousal or child support without an order to do so. Because divorce is emotionally charged and hurt feelings can get in the way of doing the right thing, you may need a court order to compel your spouse to act appropriately. For each of your concerns, an experienced family lawyer can advocate for a temporary relief order to clarify parental and spousal support obligations, including alimony payments and time-sharing.
How to obtain a temporary relief order
In most non-emergency cases, Florida courts require a mediation process before granting a motion for temporary relief. In mediation, you, your spouse, and your respective attorneys will meet with a third party mediator who will oversee discussions regarding the temporary issues and will try to help you reach a solution. If you can agree on resolutions to custody or support matters during separation, you can sign a mediation agreement that will be submitted to the court.
If the issues cannot be resolved at the mediation, then either party may file a motion with the court to request temporary relief. The moving party then has to prove, in court, that the request for temporary relief is appropriate and justified. A temporary order may be justified under many different types of circumstances, including the following:
- You did not work in order to raise children and, without financial support from your spouse, you have no way to cover your bills and expenses;
- Your spouse refuses to contribute to the expenses and needs of your children without a court order;
- Your spouse refuses to abide by a custody or visitation schedule and you disagree how parenting time should be divided.
Even if your temporary relief order is granted, you must always remember that it is not permanent. An experienced family lawyer can then advocate to make your temporary relief permanent. In some cases, if the temporary relief ordered is sufficient and just, can be incorporated into the final judgment for the dissolution of marriage and it can become permanent. In other situations, the temporary agreement may not be appropriate for the long-term and the order may need to be adjusted before it can be a final order. Your attorney can help to advocate for the best situation for your both in the short-term during your separation and in the long-term after your divorce is finalized.
In some cases, your spouse may request an unfair or unjustified order for temporary relief. If this occurs, an experienced divorce attorney can help you challenge the request to the court. We will always work to make sure any temporary orders or settlement agreements are fair so that you have less to worry about during the often complex and difficult divorce process, which can also often make the transition from married to separated to divorced significantly easier.
Contact us today for your free Fort Lauderdale temporary relief consultation
If you are concerned about your future before your divorce is final, visit Vanessa L. Prieto, LLC to discuss a temporary relief order. Our Fort Lauderdale office is open from 8:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and, for your convenience, we offer Saturday appointments upon request. Serving Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties, we are located north of Davie Boulevard, close to Broward Hospital and just three blocks from the county courthouse. Call us today at 954-800-2362 or contact us online.
