Family Law for Exes Who Were Never Married to Each Other
Some people say that love makes a family, but when love fades, and a couple breaks up, what is left of their family? From a legal perspective, it depends on whether they were ever legally married. The family courts see marriage as an economic partnership. Plenty of unmarried couples have an economic partnership and function as a family unit, but from the court’s perspective, a marriage certificate is one of two things that make a family. The other is legal parenthood, whether by genetics, adoption, or voluntary acknowledgment of paternity. If, during your relationship with your ex-partner, you legally established a parental relationship with the children that you and your partner raised together, your status as a legal parent continues even after you break up. Florida’s laws on child custody do not discriminate between divorced couples and former partners who were never legally married to each other. Property division is more complicated if you and your ex were never legally married. For help establishing court-ordered parenting time with your children after a breakup with your unmarried domestic partner, contact a Boca Raton child custody lawyer.
Florida Law Supports the Rights of Parents, Regardless of Marital Status
Getting court-ordered parenting time if you and your children’s other parent is as easy as it would be if you had been married and then divorced. Simply petition the court for a court-ordered parenting plan. The court will order you to attend mediation with your ex to draft a parenting plan, which addresses parenting time and all other non-financial aspects of co-parenting. If there are points on which you cannot agree, the court will hold a hearing, and the judge will decide on the points of disagreement. Based on the parenting time allocated in the parenting plan and on the parents’ respective incomes, the court will then issue a child support order.
If You Want to Keep Your Nonmarital Former Love Nest, You’re in for a Fight
Divorce cases always entail a division of marital property, but if the couple never married, none of their property is marital. The court assumes that every asset belongs to the person whose name is on the title to it. That means, if you titled property in your ex’s name, it legally belongs to your ex, even if you paid for most of it.
Even worse, the family court will tell you that your property battles with your ex are not its problem; the property did not belong to a family. Instead, you must resolve your disputes in civil court, which will treat them just like any other disputes over money or property. If you are not married to your partner, even if your relationship is going smoothly, you should sign agreements about which of you owns what percentage of which assets.
Contact Schwartz | White About Legal Issues Surrounding the Breakup of Unmarried Couples
A South Florida family law attorney can help you draft a parenting plan to formalize your parenting time with the children you and your ex-partner share. Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.
Source:
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