Palm Beach County Family Lawyer
Family court in Palm Beach County moves through the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, and the choices you make early, from who files first to what you sign at mediation, tend to stick for years. Williams & Varsegi, LLC is a boutique firm that practices exclusively in divorce and family law, representing clients throughout Palm Beach County and Broward County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Coral Springs, and Parkland.
Anyone searching for a Palm Beach County family lawyer is usually dealing with one of a handful of problems: a marriage that is ending, a parenting schedule that no longer works, a support order that does not match reality, or a planned move that would put a child far from the other parent. Florida’s family statutes have changed meaningfully in the last few years, on alimony, on time-sharing, and on how assets are classified, so advice from a friend who divorced a decade ago may be out of date.
What follows is a practical walk through how these cases are decided in Florida and what each kind of dispute tends to turn on, written the way an attorney would explain it across a conference table.
Where Palm Beach County Family Cases Are Heard
Family matters in Palm Beach County are handled by the Family Court division of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. That division hears divorce, child support, custody and time-sharing, alimony, adoption, and domestic violence cases. New family cases can be opened at the Main Judicial Complex in West Palm Beach, and the clerk’s family intake is also available at the North County Courthouse in Palm Beach Gardens and the South County Courthouse in Delray Beach. Western county residents are served through the West County Courthouse in Belle Glade. Domestic violence injunction petitions can be filed at the North County and South County courthouses as well.
Appeals from Palm Beach County family judgments go to the Fourth District Court of Appeal, which sits in West Palm Beach and also hears appeals from Broward and several other Treasure Coast counties. If your case involves a Broward spouse or child, the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit may be the court that matters, since it covers Broward County alone. Figuring out the right circuit before filing avoids delay and, in contested cases, can shape strategy.
Why Families Choose Williams & Varsegi, LLC
Williams & Varsegi, LLC is a boutique family law firm that handles only divorce and family law, with over twenty years of experience serving clients across Palm Beach County and Broward County. Emerald Williams, a lawyer with the firm, and Katie, who appears by name in many client reviews, work alongside a staff that clients mention repeatedly. The caseload ranges from high-net worth, high-conflict divorces to uncontested and simplified dissolutions, and the firm works with forensic accountants, business valuators, and other experts when a case turns on numbers.
Clients work directly with experienced attorneys who know their case, and that shows up in what former clients write. Reviewers describe the team as responsive and knowledgeable, one says Emerald kept every promise made at the first consultation, and another says Katie represented her for more than three years and made a long process smoother and less anxious. The firm carries a 5-Star rating from client reviews. Because the firm tries cases as well as negotiates them, it has extensive courtroom experience, and opposing counsel know that settlement talks are backed by the ability to go to trial.
That combination matters in this county. Palm Beach County divorces regularly involve closely held businesses, investment portfolios, multiple properties, and professional compensation, and the firm also handles divorces involving physicians, federal employees, and police and fire personnel, whose pensions and benefits raise their own questions.
Family Law Issues We Handle for Palm Beach County Clients
- Divorce and Dissolution of Marriage: Florida requires only that the marriage is irretrievably broken, and at least one spouse must have lived in the state for six months before filing. Cases range from simplified dissolutions to fully contested trials.
- Time-Sharing and Parental Responsibility: Florida law now starts from a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing serves a child’s best interests, so the fight is often about what evidence overcomes that presumption.
- Child Support: Support follows the statutory guideline calculation based on both parents’ net incomes and overnights, and higher-income families in Boca Raton and Delray Beach often land above the top of the guideline schedule.
- Alimony: Only bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, and durational alimony are available for cases governed by current law, and the length of the marriage drives what a court can award.
- Equitable Distribution of Property: Courts begin from the premise that marital assets and debts should be divided equally, then look for reasons to depart from that. Business interests and real estate are the usual battlegrounds.
- Relocation: A parent who wants to move 50 miles or more for at least 60 consecutive days must follow a statutory process, and the other parent has a short window to object.
- Modification of Existing Orders: Time-sharing, support, and alimony orders can be revisited, but each has its own threshold for what counts as enough of a change.
- Premarital Agreements and Domestic Violence Injunctions: Prenuptial agreements are tested for voluntariness and disclosure, and injunction petitions move on an emergency timetable that can affect a parallel divorce.
What to Do First When a Family Law Problem Lands in Palm Beach County
Start by gathering paper. Tax returns, pay records, bank and brokerage statements, retirement account summaries, mortgage documents, business financials, and any prenuptial or postnuptial agreement should be copied and kept somewhere your spouse cannot access. Florida requires full financial disclosure in a dissolution, and the party who has already organized their records negotiates from a position of strength.
Next, pay attention to dates, because several of them lock in your position. The date a petition is filed, or an earlier valid separation agreement, generally fixes the cut-off for classifying what is marital property. Once you are served with a petition, you have twenty days to respond in writing, and ignoring it invites a default. If a spouse has served a petition to relocate with your child, your written objection must be filed and served within twenty days of service, and the court is expected to hold a temporary hearing within thirty days of the motion and a nonjury trial within ninety days of the notice, absent good cause.
If safety is the concern, a domestic violence injunction can be pursued whether or not a divorce or custody case is pending, though any pending case must be disclosed in the petition. A temporary ex parte injunction lasts no more than fifteen days, and the court sets a full hearing at the earliest possible time. Petitions are accepted at the North County Courthouse in Palm Beach Gardens and the South County Courthouse in Delray Beach, among other locations.
Common mistakes are predictable. People move out of the marital home without a plan for the children, post about the case on social media, transfer or hide money (which carries real penalties once disclosure begins), or sign a mediated agreement without understanding how it treats a business or a pension. Mediation is a normal stage in Palm Beach County contested cases, and many resolve there, but an agreement signed at mediation is binding, so talk with counsel before you arrive, not after.
How Florida Courts Decide Alimony and Property Division
Alimony changed substantially in 2023. Permanent alimony no longer exists for new cases, and the court now chooses among bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, and durational support. Bridge-the-gap alimony helps with the transition to single life, cannot exceed two years, and cannot be modified in amount or length. Rehabilitative alimony supports retraining or education under a defined plan and is capped at five years. Durational alimony runs for a set period, cannot be awarded after a marriage of less than three years, and is capped at a share of the marriage’s length: fifty percent for a short-term marriage, sixty percent for a moderate-term marriage, and seventy-five percent for a long-term one.
Those categories depend on how long the marriage lasted, measured from the wedding to the filing of the petition. Under 10 years is short-term, 10 to 20 years is moderate, and 20 years or more is long-term. The monthly amount cannot exceed the lesser of the recipient’s reasonable need or thirty-five percent of the difference between the spouses’ net incomes. A judge may also weigh adultery and its economic impact. Earlier permanent awards remain in place but can be challenged under the modification statute, and recent amendments make termination mandatory, not discretionary, when a court finds a supportive relationship with an unrelated person.
Property division follows a structured sequence. The court first sets aside each spouse’s nonmarital assets and debts, then values the marital estate and starts from an equal split, departing only with justification and written findings. Recent legislative changes affect how a marital interest in a closely held business and interspousal gifts of real property are treated, which is why a South Florida business owner needs analysis tailored to the current statute and not a rule of thumb.
Time-Sharing, Child Support, and Moving a Child
Since mid-2023, Florida’s time-sharing statute presumes that equal time with each parent is in a child’s best interests, though that presumption can be rebutted. Courts then build a parenting plan covering the schedule, holidays, school and medical decision-making, and communication between homes. Changing an existing plan requires showing a substantial and material change in circumstances; the Legislature has removed the older requirement that the change have been unanticipated.
Child support starts with the guideline amount, which the court is presumed to follow. Each parent’s net income is calculated, the two are combined, and the result is adjusted for overnights, health insurance, and child care. When combined net income exceeds the top of the schedule, support is the schedule’s top figure plus a percentage of the excess, which is 5.0 percent for one child, 7.5 for two, 9.5 for three, 11.0 for four, 12.0 for five, and 12.5 for six. A parent exercising at least twenty percent of overnights, about 73 a year, qualifies for the time-sharing adjustment. Deviating from the guideline by more than five percent requires written findings explaining why.
Palm Beach County Family Law Questions We Hear Often
How long does a divorce take in Palm Beach County?
Florida bars a final judgment until at least twenty days after the petition is filed, unless the court finds that injustice would result from waiting. A fully agreed divorce can finish within weeks, while a contested case with business valuation or custody disputes commonly runs a year or more.
Do I have to prove my spouse did something wrong?
No. Florida is a no-fault state, and the ground is that the marriage is irretrievably broken. The only other ground, mental incapacity, requires that the spouse has been adjudged incapacitated for at least three years.
Is Florida a 50/50 state for property?
Courts begin from the premise that marital assets and debts should be divided equally, then decide whether any factor justifies an unequal split. Nonmarital property, such as certain inheritances and assets owned before marriage, is set apart first.
Can I still get permanent alimony?
Not in a new case. Permanent alimony was eliminated for cases filed under the 2023 law. Awards entered before that date remain in force, though they can be modified under the statute.
How is the length of my marriage measured for alimony?
From the date of the wedding to the date the dissolution petition is filed. That calculation sorts the marriage into short-term, moderate-term, or long-term, which sets the ceiling on durational alimony.
Does equal time-sharing mean child support goes away?
No. Support is calculated from both parents’ net incomes and the overnight split, so a more even schedule changes the number but rarely erases it, especially when incomes differ.
What counts as a relocation I need court approval for?
A move of at least 50 miles from the child’s prior residence that lasts at least 60 consecutive days, excluding temporary absences for vacation, education, or health care. Where a parenting plan exists and the parents do not agree, the relocating parent must follow the statutory petition process.
What if my ex retires and wants alimony reduced?
An obligor who has reached normal Social Security retirement age, or the customary retirement age for the profession, may seek reduction or termination if retired or taking real steps to retire and the retirement reduces the ability to pay. Under the amended statute, the request can be made up to six months before an anticipated retirement. These amendments apply only to cases filed after the 2023 effective date, so older orders may be governed by different rules.
Can a prenuptial agreement be thrown out?
It can be, but the challenger carries the burden. A premarital agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties, and it is unenforceable if it was not voluntary, was the product of fraud, duress, coercion, or overreaching, or was unconscionable when signed and the challenger did not receive fair disclosure of the other’s finances. It also cannot reduce a child’s right to support.
My spouse owns a business. Can I still get my share?
Yes, to the extent the business or growth in its value is marital. The classification rules for a closely held business were amended recently, so valuation and characterization often involve a business valuator and a careful reading of the current statute.
Do I need a lawyer for an uncontested divorce?
You can file without one, but an agreement that overlooks a retirement account, a debt, or the structure of alimony is difficult to fix after judgment. A review before you sign is usually inexpensive compared with the cost of repairing a mistake.
Serving Family Law Clients Across Palm Beach County and Broward County
The firm represents families throughout Palm Beach County, from Boca Raton and Delray Beach in the south through Boynton Beach, Lake Worth Beach, Wellington, and Royal Palm Beach, to West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, and Riviera Beach in the north, and out to Belle Glade and the Glades communities in the west. Residents of Highland Beach, Greenacres, and Lantana are also part of that footprint.
Across the county line in Broward County, the firm serves clients in Coral Springs and Parkland, and in neighboring communities throughout South Florida. Whether the case belongs in the Fifteenth Circuit or the Seventeenth, the same exclusive focus on divorce and family law applies, from high-net worth property disputes to straightforward uncontested filings.
Talk With a Palm Beach County Family Law Attorney
If you are weighing a divorce, facing a custody or support dispute, or need an existing order changed, Williams & Varsegi, LLC will sit down with you, learn your circumstances, and build a plan around them. A Palm Beach County family law attorney who knows how the Fifteenth Circuit handles these cases can tell you early where your position is strong and where it needs work. Call to schedule a consultation.
