West Palm Beach Divorce Lawyer
A West Palm Beach divorce is filed in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, which covers all of Palm Beach County, and that detail shapes more of your case than most people expect: which judges hear it, where the paperwork goes, and which local family court practices apply. Williams & Varsegi, LLC is a boutique firm that practices exclusively in divorce and family law, representing clients in Palm Beach County, Broward County, and across South Florida, from high-net worth, high-conflict disputes to uncontested and simplified matters. If you are looking for a West Palm Beach divorce lawyer, the first thing worth knowing is how Florida frames the case.
Florida does not ask who caused the marriage to fail. The ground is that the marriage is irretrievably broken, and the only other ground, mental incapacity, requires that a spouse has been adjudged incapacitated for at least the three years before filing. At least one spouse must have lived in Florida for six months before the petition is filed. Fault does not decide whether you can divorce, but it is not always irrelevant afterward: a court may weigh a spouse’s adultery, and any resulting economic impact, when setting the amount of alimony.
Palm Beach County divorces also tend to carry financial texture that a simple form cannot capture: closely held businesses, investment accounts, executive compensation, real estate, and retirement assets. The sections below walk through how the law handles each of these, and what to do in the first weeks.
Why Choose Williams & Varsegi, LLC for Your West Palm Beach Divorce
Williams & Varsegi, LLC is a boutique divorce and family law firm with over twenty years of experience, serving Palm Beach County and Broward County, including West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Coral Springs, Parkland, and the wider South Florida area. The firm takes cases at both ends of the spectrum: high-net worth, high-conflict litigation and uncontested or simplified dissolutions. The practice is exclusively divorce and family law, which means the attorneys spend their working lives inside the same statutes, the same courthouse routines, and the same financial questions your case will raise.
The attorneys you will hear about from clients are Katie and Emerald Williams, Lawyer. Clients describe the team as responsive and knowledgeable. One client wrote that Katie represented her for more than three years and made the process smoother and less anxious; another said Emerald kept every promise she made at the initial consultation; others praised the staff for being on time and easy to work with. The firm carries a 5-Star Rating in client reviews. You work directly with experienced attorneys who know your case, not a rotating cast.
That matters in a contested West Palm Beach case. The firm has extensive courtroom experience and is made up of skilled negotiators and experienced litigators, so settlement is pursued when it serves you and trial preparation is real when it does not. When a case turns on valuing a business or tracing assets, the firm works with forensic accountants, business valuators, and other experts. The firm also handles divorces involving physicians, federal employees, and police and fire personnel, where pensions, benefits, and professional licenses add layers.
Issues That Define a Palm Beach County Divorce
- Equitable Distribution of Assets: Florida courts set aside each spouse’s nonmarital assets and debts, then start from the premise that marital assets and liabilities should be divided equally, departing from that only with justification. Any division requires written findings identifying and valuing the significant assets. The classification cut-off is the earliest of a valid separation agreement date or the filing of the petition.
- Alimony: The recognized forms are temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, and durational. Permanent alimony was eliminated for cases governed by the 2023 reforms. Length of marriage is measured from the wedding to the filing date, and it drives the ceiling on durational awards.
- Time-Sharing and Parental Responsibility: Florida law now presumes that equal time-sharing is in a child’s best interests, a presumption that can be rebutted. Parenting plans address schedules, holidays, decision-making, and communication between households.
- Child Support: The statutory guideline amount is presumed correct, built from both parents’ net incomes, overnights, health insurance, and child care costs. For combined incomes above the top of the schedule, support adds a set percentage of the excess.
- Business Interests and Professional Practices: Classifying a closely held company as marital or nonmarital, and valuing it, is often the most contested financial question. Legislative amendments in 2024 refined how certain business interests are treated.
- Relocation: A move of at least 50 miles from the prior residence lasting at least 60 consecutive days is a relocation under Florida law, and it triggers specific court procedures when a parenting plan exists.
- Premarital Agreements: A written, signed agreement is enforceable without consideration beyond the marriage, but it can be challenged for involuntariness, fraud, duress, coercion, overreaching, or unconscionability coupled with lack of fair financial disclosure. It cannot adversely affect a child’s right to support.
- Domestic Violence Injunctions: A petition can be filed whether or not a divorce is pending, and the court sets a hearing at the earliest possible time. A temporary order issued without the other party present lasts no longer than 15 days.
What to Do in the First Weeks of a West Palm Beach Divorce
Start by confirming residency. If neither of you has lived in Florida for at least six months, the petition cannot be filed here yet. Then gather the paper trail before anyone changes behavior: tax returns, bank and brokerage statements, retirement account statements, mortgage and deed records, business financials, credit card statements, and any premarital or postnuptial agreement. Florida requires full financial disclosure in a divorce, and having organized records early shortens everything that follows.
Family cases in Palm Beach County are heard by the Family Court division of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. For a West Palm Beach resident, the main courthouse in downtown West Palm Beach, named the Judge Daniel T. K. Hurley Courthouse in the circuit’s own judge directory, is where the Clerk’s family filing office sits. The county also has courthouses in Palm Beach Gardens, Delray Beach, and Belle Glade; the North County and South County courthouses accept new family cases and domestic violence injunction petitions. Clerk locations are open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., except designated holidays. Appeals from family judgments go to the Fourth District Court of Appeal, which sits in downtown West Palm Beach.
Once a petition is served, the responding spouse has 20 days to file a response, and a missed deadline invites a default. No final judgment can be entered until at least 20 days after the original petition was filed, though a court can act sooner on a showing that waiting would cause injustice. Do not treat that 20 days as a realistic finish line for anything but the simplest case.
Common mistakes are practical ones. Moving money or running up debt after filing draws scrutiny. Posting about the divorce online hands the other side material. Signing a marital settlement agreement without understanding what the alimony and property terms will mean in a decade is hard to undo. Speak with a West Palm Beach divorce attorney before agreeing to anything in writing, and if safety is a concern, an injunction can be pursued separately and quickly.
How Florida Alimony Works After the 2023 Reforms
Alimony is where many West Palm Beach divorces are won or lost financially, and the rules changed materially in July 2023. Permanent alimony no longer exists for cases governed by the reform. Awards entered before that date remain in effect but can be modified under the modification statute, and the 2023 modification changes apply only to cases filed after the effective date.
A marriage under 10 years is presumptively short-term, 10 to 20 years moderate-term, and 20 years or more long-term, counted from the wedding to the petition’s filing. Durational alimony cannot be awarded after a marriage lasting under three years, and it is capped at 50 percent of the marriage’s length for short-term marriages, 60 percent for moderate-term, and 75 percent for long-term. Bridge-the-gap alimony runs no more than two years and cannot be modified in amount or duration. Rehabilitative alimony is limited to five years and requires a plan, and it can be modified or ended if the recipient abandons the plan or finishes early.
The monthly figure is also capped: it cannot exceed the lesser of the recipient’s reasonable need or 35 percent of the difference between the spouses’ net incomes. After the divorce, the amended modification law requires a court to reduce or end alimony upon finding a supportive relationship with an unrelated person, and it allows an obligor to seek relief upon reaching retirement age, with a request permitted up to six months before an anticipated retirement.
Contested, Uncontested, and Simplified Paths Compared
An uncontested divorce means you agree on everything: property, debts, support, and any parenting plan. A simplified dissolution is narrower still. It is available only when there are no minor children, the wife is not pregnant, all assets and debts are agreed upon, and both spouses waive alimony. A contested case involves discovery, depositions, experts, and possibly trial. Mediation is usually attempted first, and collaborative divorce offers a negotiated route using financial and child specialists. Williams & Varsegi, LLC handles each path, and the right one depends on what is in dispute, not on how the marriage feels.
West Palm Beach Divorce Questions, Answered
How long do I have to live in Florida before filing for divorce?
At least one spouse must have lived in Florida for six months before the petition is filed. If you recently moved here, filing too early can get the case dismissed.
Do I have to prove my spouse did something wrong?
No. Florida requires only that the marriage is irretrievably broken. The only alternative ground is mental incapacity, which requires an adjudication of incapacity at least three years earlier. Adultery can still matter to the alimony amount.
Is there a minimum waiting period?
A final judgment cannot be entered until at least 20 days after the original petition is filed, unless the court finds injustice would result from the delay. Most cases take much longer than that.
Is Florida property divided 50/50?
The court starts from an equal division of marital assets and liabilities, then may depart from it with justification and written findings. Nonmarital assets are set aside first, so what counts as marital matters a great deal.
What date decides which assets are marital?
The cut-off is the earliest of the date of a valid separation agreement, any other date that agreement sets, or the filing of the dissolution petition.
Can I still get permanent alimony?
No. Permanent alimony was eliminated by the 2023 reform. The available forms are temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, and durational. Older permanent awards remain in force but can be modified.
My marriage was nine years and eleven months. Does that matter?
It can matter a great deal. A marriage under 10 years is presumptively short-term, which lowers the durational alimony ceiling to 50 percent of the marriage’s length. Length is measured to the filing date, so timing is worth discussing with your attorney before filing.
Does Florida favor 50/50 custody now?
Florida law now carries a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing serves a child’s best interests. A parent can overcome it with evidence, and courts still decide each case on the child’s best interests.
Can my ex move away with our child?
A move of at least 50 miles lasting at least 60 consecutive days is a relocation requiring either agreement or court approval. An objection must be filed in writing and served within 20 days of service of the petition to relocate, and the court then moves quickly: a temporary hearing within 30 days of the motion and a nonjury trial within 90 days of the notice, absent good cause.
How is child support calculated for high earners?
The guideline schedule tops out at a set combined net income. Above that, support equals the schedule’s top amount plus a percentage of the excess: 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. Deviations beyond five percent from the guideline require written findings.
Does overnight time change the support amount?
Yes. When a parent has at least 20 percent of overnights, roughly 73 nights a year, a time-sharing adjustment applies to the calculation.
Can a prenup be thrown out?
Only if the challenging party proves it was not signed voluntarily, was the product of fraud, duress, coercion, or overreaching, or was unconscionable when signed and that party lacked fair disclosure of the other’s finances. Terms cannot reduce a child’s right to support.
Can I file for a domestic violence injunction while the divorce is pending?
Yes. An injunction can be sought whether or not another case is pending, though the pending case must be disclosed in the petition. A temporary order issued before the other party is heard lasts no more than 15 days, and the court sets a hearing at the earliest possible time.
Serving West Palm Beach Divorce Clients Across Palm Beach County and South Florida
Williams & Varsegi, LLC represents divorce clients throughout West Palm Beach and the surrounding Palm Beach County communities. That includes families in Palm Beach Gardens, Lake Worth Beach, Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Jupiter, Riviera Beach, North Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton, along with Belle Glade and the western communities of the county. Because the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit hears family cases at courthouses across the county, we routinely work with the judges and procedures that apply wherever your case is filed.
We also serve clients across the county line in Broward County, including Coral Springs and Parkland, and throughout South Florida. Whether your case involves a business owner’s valuation dispute, a physician’s practice, a federal employee’s benefits, a police or fire pension, or an uncontested dissolution, the firm’s exclusive focus on family law applies the same way.
Speak With a West Palm Beach Divorce Attorney
The choices made in the first weeks of a divorce, about filing, disclosure, temporary support, and parenting schedules, tend to set the course for everything after. A West Palm Beach divorce attorney at Williams & Varsegi, LLC can review your finances, explain how Florida’s alimony, time-sharing, and property rules apply to your situation, and recommend whether negotiation, mediation, or litigation fits. Call to schedule a consultation and learn where you stand before you decide what to do next.
