Boca Raton Family Lawyer
A family case that starts in Boca Raton is heard in Palm Beach County’s Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, whose family division handles divorce, time-sharing, child support, alimony, adoption, and domestic violence injunctions. Families in neighboring Broward County, including Coral Springs and Parkland, instead fall under the Seventeenth Circuit. Williams & Varsegi, LLC is a boutique firm that practices only divorce and family law, and it serves clients throughout Palm Beach and Broward counties. Searching for a Boca Raton family lawyer usually means one of several distinct problems is at hand, and each is governed by different rules.
Family law in Florida is not one subject. Dissolving a marriage, setting a parenting plan, calculating support, fighting over a move out of the area, and enforcing a premarital agreement each turn on separate statutes and separate evidence. A person who needs a time-sharing modification has little use for alimony law, and someone whose spouse wants to relocate with the children is in a different posture than someone negotiating a settlement. The sections below separate these issues so you can find the one that matches your situation.
Several of these rules changed in 2023: permanent alimony was eliminated, and a rebuttable presumption of equal time-sharing was created. Advice you heard from a friend or relative who divorced years ago may no longer reflect how a Palm Beach County judge will rule today.
Why Choose Williams & Varsegi, LLC for Family Law in Boca Raton
Williams & Varsegi, LLC handles divorce and family law exclusively, with over twenty years of experience serving clients in Palm Beach County, Broward County, and across South Florida. The caseload runs from high-net worth, high-conflict disputes to uncontested and simplified matters, and the firm has extensive courtroom experience alongside its work as skilled negotiators. When a case involves a business, a professional practice, or complicated investments, the firm works with forensic accountants, business valuators, and other experts. It also handles divorces involving physicians, federal employees, and police and fire personnel, where pensions, benefits, and professional licenses add complications.
Clients work directly with experienced attorneys who know their case. Emerald Williams, Lawyer, and Katie lead the firm’s client work, and reviews describe them as responsive and knowledgeable. One client described a three-year engagement that Katie made smoother and less anxious. Another said Emerald kept every promise made at the first consultation. Reviewers also single out the staff for being prompt. The firm carries a 5-Star Rating in client reviews.
For a family law matter specifically, the value of a narrow focus is practical: the firm sees the same issues repeatedly, from time-sharing disputes to support calculations to asset classification, and builds the case around what the court will actually need to see. Some cases are best resolved through collaborative divorce or mediation, and others require litigation. The firm prepares for either.
The Family Law Issues We Handle for Boca Raton Clients
- Divorce Filing and Residency: At least one spouse must have lived in Florida for six months before filing. Florida requires no proof of fault; the ground is that the marriage is irretrievably broken. The only other ground is mental incapacity, which requires an adjudication lasting at least three years.
- Time-Sharing and Parental Responsibility: Since mid-2023, Florida law presumes, subject to rebuttal, that equal time-sharing serves a child’s best interests. Cases turn on whether the evidence supports departing from that starting point.
- Child Support: Support begins with the statutory guideline amount, which the court is presumed to order. Deviations of more than five percent require written findings, and the number of overnights each parent has affects the calculation.
- Alimony: Florida now recognizes only temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, and durational alimony. Marriage length, measured from the wedding to the filing of the petition, shapes what is available.
- Equitable Distribution: Courts separate nonmarital from marital assets and start from an equal split of the marital portion, departing from it only with justification. Business interests, real estate, and retirement accounts often drive the dispute.
- Relocation: A move of at least 50 miles lasting at least 60 consecutive days, when a parenting plan exists, triggers a statutory process with firm deadlines.
- Modification: Changing a parenting plan requires a substantial and material change of circumstances, and changing support or alimony follows its own standards.
- Premarital Agreements: These must be written and signed, and Florida law sets out specific grounds on which a spouse can challenge enforcement.
Alimony Under the Current Florida Framework
Permanent alimony no longer exists for cases decided under current law. Awards made before July 1, 2023 remain in force, though they can be modified, and the 2023 modification changes apply only to cases filed after that date.
Length of marriage sets the tier: under ten years is short-term, ten to twenty is moderate, and twenty or more is long-term. Bridge-the-gap alimony is capped at two years and cannot be modified in amount or duration. Rehabilitative alimony runs no longer than five years and depends on a plan for education or retraining. Durational alimony cannot be awarded after a marriage under three years, and its length cannot exceed fifty percent of a short marriage, sixty percent of a moderate one, or seventy-five percent of a long one. The monthly amount cannot exceed the lesser of the recipient’s reasonable need or thirty-five percent of the difference between the parties’ net incomes.
A court may weigh adultery and its economic impact on the amount. Once an award exists, the paying spouse may seek changes in some situations: if the recipient is in a supportive relationship with an unrelated person, the court must now reduce or end alimony, where it previously could. A payor reaching normal Social Security retirement age or the customary retirement age for the profession may also seek relief, and may begin up to six months before retiring if retirement is reasonably anticipated.
Child Support, Time-Sharing, and Moves Out of the Area
For child support, each parent’s net income is gross income less allowable deductions, and the two are added to reach combined net income. When combined monthly net income exceeds the top of the guidelines schedule, the support figure is the schedule’s top amount plus a percentage of the excess: 5 percent for one child, 7.5 for two, 9.5 for three, 11 for four, 12 for five, and 12.5 for six. A parent who exercises at least 20 percent of overnights, roughly 73 nights a year, qualifies for the time-sharing adjustment.
Relocation cases move quickly. A parent objecting to a proposed relocation must file a written response and serve it within 20 days of being served with the petition. A hearing on temporary relocation must occur within 30 days of the motion, and a nonjury trial within 90 days of the notice, unless good cause is shown. Missing the 20-day window can effectively decide the case.
What to Do When a Family Law Problem Arises in Palm Beach County
Start by gathering the financial paper trail before anything is filed: tax returns, pay records, account statements, retirement and brokerage statements, business records, mortgage and deed documents, and any premarital or separation agreement. Florida requires full financial disclosure in a divorce, and a lawyer can do far more with a complete file. Keep copies of everything and do not move money or assets out of ordinary use, since the court looks at the cut-off date for classifying marital property, which is typically the filing of the petition unless a valid separation agreement sets an earlier one.
Palm Beach County family cases are filed with the Clerk of the Circuit Court for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. Family filings are accepted at the Main Judicial Complex in West Palm Beach, and the North County Courthouse in Palm Beach Gardens and the South County Courthouse in Delray Beach also accept new family cases and domestic violence injunction petitions. Clerk offices keep weekday daytime hours. For clients in Coral Springs or Parkland, the case belongs to the Broward family division of the Seventeenth Circuit instead, with filings at the Central Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. Where you live and where the other spouse lives affect where a case belongs, so confirm this before filing.
If there is violence or a credible threat, a domestic violence injunction can be sought whether or not a family case is pending, though any pending action must be disclosed in the petition. A temporary injunction issued without the other party present lasts no longer than 15 days, and the court sets a full hearing at the earliest possible time. Safety comes first and the divorce can wait.
Common mistakes include responding late to a petition, signing a marital settlement agreement without reviewing the financial disclosures, discussing the case on social media, and treating an informal arrangement with the other parent as if it were a court order. If your spouse has already filed and served you, a response is due within twenty days, and a default can follow if you miss it. After filing, a divorce cannot be finalized until at least 20 days have passed, though a court may shorten that if delay would cause injustice.
Premarital Agreements and Dividing Complex Assets
Many Boca Raton marriages involve a premarital agreement, and these are enforceable in Florida when they are in writing and signed by both parties, without needing any consideration beyond the marriage. After the wedding, such an agreement can be changed only by a signed writing. A spouse can challenge enforcement by proving the agreement was not voluntary or resulted from fraud, duress, coercion, or overreaching, or that it was unconscionable when signed and no fair disclosure of the other’s finances was given. A premarital agreement cannot reduce a child’s right to support.
In property division, a judge must make written findings identifying nonmarital assets, marital assets with significant items individually valued, and marital liabilities, whether the split is equal or not. Recent amendments touched how a marital interest in a closely held business and interspousal gifts of real property are treated, which matters to business owners and families with several properties.
Boca Raton Family Law Questions Answered
How long does a Florida divorce take at minimum?
The court cannot enter a final judgment until 20 days after the original petition is filed, unless it finds that injustice would result from waiting. Actual timing depends on whether the case is contested and how complex the finances are.
Do I need to prove my spouse did something wrong?
No. Florida requires only that the marriage is irretrievably broken. The only other ground is a spouse’s mental incapacity, which requires an adjudication that has lasted at least three years.
Is the marital estate always split 50/50?
The court begins from the premise that marital assets and liabilities should be divided equally, then departs from that if there is justification. Nonmarital property is set aside first, and any ruling requires specific written findings.
Is permanent alimony still available?
No. It was eliminated in cases decided under the 2023 law. Courts now choose among temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, and durational alimony, depending on the facts.
How is the length of marriage measured for alimony?
From the date of the wedding to the date the dissolution action was filed. A marriage under ten years is short-term, ten to twenty is moderate, and twenty or more is long-term.
Does Florida favor equal time-sharing?
Yes, there is a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing is in the child’s best interests. A parent seeking a different arrangement must present evidence to overcome it.
What if my spouse cheated?
Fault is not needed to divorce, but a court may consider adultery and its economic impact when setting the amount of alimony. Adultery by itself does not decide time-sharing or property division.
What counts as a relocation under Florida law?
A move of at least 50 miles from the prior residence that lasts at least 60 consecutive days. Temporary absences for vacation, education, or a child’s health care do not count.
Can the other parent reduce support if my income rises or falls?
Support can be modified when a substantial change in circumstances exists, and that is presumed when a fresh guideline calculation differs enough from the current order. Higher or lower income alone does not change an order until someone petitions the court.
My ex lives in Coral Springs and I live in Boca Raton. Which court hears our case?
Palm Beach County cases go to the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit and Broward County cases to the Seventeenth. Filing location depends on residency and the history of any existing case, so confirm it with a lawyer before filing.
Can I still change a settlement or parenting plan after it is entered?
Modifying a parenting plan requires showing a substantial and material change in circumstances, and the Legislature removed the requirement that the change be unanticipated. Support and alimony each have their own modification standards.
Is a collaborative divorce right for high-asset couples?
It can be, when both spouses are willing to disclose fully and resolve issues outside court, often with financial and child specialists. If one side is hiding assets or refusing to negotiate, litigation may be the safer path.
Serving Family Law Clients Across Palm Beach and Broward Counties
Williams & Varsegi, LLC represents families in Boca Raton and throughout Palm Beach County, including Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Highland Beach, and the communities near the county’s South County Courthouse. Clients also come from the northern part of the county, including West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, and Wellington, as well as Royal Palm Beach and Lake Worth.
In Broward County, the firm serves Coral Springs, Parkland, Coconut Creek, Deerfield Beach, Margate, Pompano Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Plantation, and Hollywood. Whether the case is filed in Palm Beach or Broward, the firm works across South Florida on divorce, time-sharing, support, alimony, property division, and relocation matters.
Talk With a Boca Raton Family Law Attorney
The right time to speak with a Boca Raton family law attorney is before a deadline passes or an agreement is signed. A first conversation can clarify which court has your case, which deadlines apply, and what outcome the evidence supports. Call Williams & Varsegi, LLC to schedule a consultation and talk through your situation with attorneys who handle only divorce and family law.
