Paul Shafranski | Artemis Family Law Group PLLC

The Importance of Communication in Family Law Cases: Strengthening Your Relationships Amidst Legal Challenges

August 8, 2023 by Paul Shafranski

Divorce and family law cases can be emotionally challenging, putting tremendous strain on relationships with loved ones. As a collaborative family law firm dedicated to supporting families in Central Florida, we understand the significance of effective communication during these trying times. In this blog post, we delve into the importance of communication in family law cases and offer practical strategies to maintain healthier relationships with your family while navigating the legal process.

The Power of Open Communication

When facing family law matters, open and honest communication is the cornerstone of resolving conflicts amicably. Transparent communication can foster understanding, empathy, and cooperation, which are vital elements for reaching mutually beneficial agreements. We encourage our clients to express their thoughts and emotions openly, as bottling up feelings can lead to unnecessary tension and misunderstandings.

Emotions and Family Law

Family law cases often evoke intense emotions, ranging from sadness and anger to fear and confusion. These feelings can cloud judgment and escalate conflicts, making it challenging to find common ground. By acknowledging these emotions and communicating them to your family and legal team, you open the door to greater empathy and support.

We are here to provide a compassionate ear and guide you through the legal process, ensuring your voice is heard and your feelings are respected. Our goal is to help you approach family law matters with a clear and focused mind, enabling you to make well-informed decisions for your future.

Putting Children’s Best Interests First

For couples with children, prioritizing their well-being is paramount. A child’s emotional and psychological development can be significantly impacted by the divorce process. Maintaining open lines of communication with your co-parent can help create a stable and nurturing environment for your children.

We encourage parents to engage in frequent and constructive dialogue about their children’s needs and preferences. By demonstrating unity and cooperation, you can assure your children that they are loved and supported, even during difficult times.

Tips for Effective Communication

1. Active Listening: One of the most valuable communication skills is active listening. Give your full attention when your family members or legal team are speaking, and avoid interrupting. This fosters mutual respect and understanding.

2. Choose the Right Time and Place: When discussing sensitive matters with your family or co-parent, choose a calm and private setting where you can communicate without distractions.

3. Use “I” Statements: When expressing your feelings or concerns, use “I” statements to avoid sounding accusatory. For example, “I feel hurt when…” instead of “You always…”

4. Stay Focused on the Present and Future: While it’s natural to discuss past grievances during emotional conversations, try to stay focused on the present and future. This approach promotes problem-solving rather than dwelling on past mistakes.

5. Seek Professional Support: If communication becomes too challenging, consider seeking support from a therapist or counselor who specializes in family dynamics. A neutral third party can facilitate conversations and help navigate difficult emotions.

6. Embrace Technology: Utilize technology to stay connected with your family and co-parent, especially if distance is a factor. Video calls or messaging platforms can bridge the gap and facilitate regular communication.

Conclusion

At Artemis Family Law Group, we understand that effective communication is the key to preserving the strength and harmony of your family during challenging legal processes. By fostering open dialogue and empathy, you can navigate family law cases with a more positive and cooperative approach.

Our warm and professional team is dedicated to supporting you through every step of your journey, providing the guidance you need to make informed decisions that serve your family’s best interests. Remember, you are not alone – we are here to help you find resolutions that honor your values and create a brighter future for you and your loved ones.

Reach out to Artemis Family Law Group today to learn more about our collaborative approach to family law and how we can assist you in this important chapter of your life. Together, let’s strengthen your relationships and build a foundation for a thriving future.

Five Crucial Steps You Can Take For Your Children During a Divorce

August 4, 2023 by Paul Shafranski

Divorce can be a challenging and emotionally draining process for both spouses, but it can be even more so for children. As collaborative family law attorneys, our focus is always on promoting the wellbeing of the children involved in the divorce. Here are five crucial steps that divorcing parents should take to prioritize their children’s wellbeing during this difficult time:

Communicate Openly and Honestly: It is essential for parents to communicate openly and honestly with their children about the divorce. While it may be difficult to have these conversations, being transparent about the changes that will occur can help reduce confusion and anxiety. It is important to use age-appropriate language and assure the children that the divorce is not their fault. Parents should encourage their children to express their feelings and concerns and be prepared to provide comfort and reassurance.
Maintain a Stable Environment: Stability is crucial for children during a divorce. Maintaining a consistent routine as much as possible can provide a sense of security amidst the changes happening around them. This includes keeping the same school, extracurricular activities, and maintaining contact with supportive family members and friends. Minimizing disruptions in their daily lives can help children adapt better to the new circumstances.
Avoid Conflict in Front of Children: Divorce can lead to heightened emotions and disagreements between parents, but it is vital to avoid exposing children to ongoing conflict. Children can be deeply affected by witnessing their parents argue or speak negatively about each other. Collaborative divorce and alternative dispute resolution methods can be beneficial in reducing conflicts and creating a more respectful and cooperative environment for the entire family. When parents are in control of the process, they are more likely to focus on finding solutions that work best for the children.
Prioritize Co-Parenting: Co-parenting involves working together as a team to make decisions in the best interest of the children. Even though the marriage is ending, the role of being parents will continue. Collaborative family law encourages parents to foster a cooperative co-parenting relationship, emphasizing shared responsibility and regular communication about the children’s needs. Maintaining a positive co-parenting dynamic can provide children with a sense of security and support.
Seek Professional Support: Divorce can be an emotionally overwhelming experience, not only for the parents but also for the children. Engaging the services of a mental health professional, such as a family therapist or counselor, can be immensely helpful for both parents and children. These professionals can provide emotional support, guidance, and coping strategies to navigate the challenges of divorce successfully. Additionally, collaborative family law attorneys often work closely with mental health professionals to ensure the emotional wellbeing of the entire family is considered during the process.

In conclusion, divorcing parents must prioritize their children’s wellbeing throughout the divorce process. By communicating openly and honestly, maintaining a stable environment, avoiding conflict in front of children, prioritizing co-parenting, and seeking professional support, parents can create a smoother transition for their children and help them cope with the changes that come with divorce. Collaborative family law and alternative dispute resolution methods can play a significant role in fostering a more amicable and child-focused approach to divorce, promoting the children’s emotional and psychological health during this challenging time. Remember, putting the children first is not only a legal responsibility but also an act of love and care towards their long-term care.

Why Collaborative Divorce Is Better for Families Than Traditional Divorce

July 31, 2023 by Paul Shafranski

The team moves at your pace.

Whether you’re motivated to move quickly through the process, or you are seeking a slower, deliberate process, the team is able to accommodate your needs. In a traditional divorce, the timeframe is set by one-size-fits-all statutory deadlines that may not be appropriate for your family.

Your goals and priorities are central to the process.

At the start of a collaborative divorce, each client is asked to compile a list of their goals for the process and after. Some examples include developing co-parenting skills together, maintaining financial security, or ensuring that you receive a fair split of the marital assets. Your goals help the professional team that is supporting you in the process understand what is important to you when exploring various options and scenarios. In a traditional divorce, your marriage is treated more like a business dissolution than a unique set of emotionally-charged circumstances and history.

Your family’s privacy is safeguarded.

Because the conversations and negotiations in a collaborative divorce occur in a private, non-litigation setting, people feel free to have some of the awkward conversations that are necessary to resolving underlying issues in a divorce. Further, collaborative divorces typically occur with minimal filing of court documents, which helps to protect your family’s privacy. In a traditional divorce, extensive personal and financial documents are often filed with the court and are accessible to the public.

Your children are not weaponized.

In a collaborative divorce, parents work with a collaboratively-trained licensed mental health neutral who facilitates co-parenting conversations and helps parents develop a parenting plan and timesharing schedule that is best for the children. Unfortunately, in a traditional divorce, children often end up being treated like objects to fight over and “win.”

Your family’s finances are protected.

Each family in a collaborative divorce is guided by a collaboratively-trained and licensed financial neutral, who gathers all of the necessary financial information to create an overall picture of the family’s finances. This allows the team to explore financial options more efficiently than in the traditional divorce, where each side’s attorney, who rarely has any financial education, spends countless hours poring over financial documents and fighting with the other side to make sure everything is disclosed, and nothing is hidden.

You have the final say in what your future will look like.

At the conclusion of a collaborative divorce, you will decide what your future looks like. In a traditional divorce, your entire family’s history will be condensed into a brief hearing, where a judge who is a stranger to your family will hear minimal evidence and testimony and then decide your future for you. Instead of handing over your family’s future to a stranger, collaborative divorce allows you to stay in control of your family and your future.

Am I responsible for my spouse’s medical bills?

November 16, 2023October 17, 2019 by Paul Shafranski

Unfortunately, during a marriage, one or both of the spouses may incur significant medical debt. A main concern is whether one spouse will ultimately have to pay the medical bills of the other. The answer to this complicated question is nowhere near straight-forward.

Many people are under the impression that they will not have to pay for their spouse’s medical bills by simply refusing to sign any documents that would make them a responsible party to the medical bills; however, this is not a complete shield in every case. In essence, you may not have to directly pay for your spouse’s medical bills, but you can still be affected by them.

For instance, if the medical bill was paid with a credit card that is joint or that you co-signed for, the credit card company would not care that you did not sign off as being a responsible party. The credit card company will most likely hold you and the spouse incurring the medical bills jointly liable for the debt.

If your spouse should die, pursuant to the laws of Florida involving estates, you as a surviving spouse would not be held responsible for the medical debt incurred by your deceased spouse; this medical debt would be paid from the deceased spouse’s estate. However, this means that if your estates are combined, the medical debt is still, in reality, being paid in some manner by you.

If you and your spouse decide to divorce, the medical debt may be in the other spouse’s name, but because it was accrued during the marriage, it would be considered marital debt. Thus, this medical debt would be included in the distribution of all the assets and debts accrued during the marriage Further, although this medical debt may be in one spouse’s name and on that spouse’s side of the marriage’s asset and debt “balance sheet,” it would affect the overall division of the assets and debts (i.e., there would have to be a balance of assets and debts to each person so that the two parties are essentially walking away from the marriage in fairly equal positions).

One spouse in a marriage may believe that they will not have to be responsible for medical debts incurred by the other spouse. By refusing to be made a responsible party to the other spouse’s medical debts, at first glance, this may hold true. Further, in certain circumstances, a spouse may not be held directly responsible for the other spouse’s medical bills. However, based on the discussion above, in actuality, your spouse’s medical bills will ultimately affect you in some manner.

Who is a child’s legal father in Florida? Does it matter?

November 7, 2019October 11, 2019 by Paul Shafranski

The issue of paternity is one we find generates a great deal of confusion. Many fathers in Florida operate under the incorrect assumption that biological fatherhood is the same as legal fatherhood, or that being the biological father supersedes being the legal father. It may seem counterintuitive but when it comes to who has the rights and responsibilities of being a father, being the legal father is all that matters.

It is perhaps easiest to explain paternity using examples:

If John and Annie have a baby while they are married, then John is both the biological and legal father. This is the simplest scenario.
If John and Annie have a baby but are not married at the time and remain unmarried, John is the biological father but not the legal father. This is true even if John is listed on the birth certificate. If John and Annie later marry, then John can become the legal father through a process known as legitimation, which involves updating the child’s birth records.
If Annie becomes pregnant by John while they are unmarried and Annie marries Steve before the baby is born, then even though John is the biological father, Steve is the legal father.

If you are not the legal father, regardless of being the biological father, you have no rights to your child. You have no parental responsibility or decision-making authority. Instead, the mother has exclusive rights to make all decisions regarding the child, which can impact your ability to exercise time sharing (custody) or see your child. This is not an uncommon scenario in Florida.

The legal method by which a biological father may seek to be declared the legal father is called a paternity action. Some paternity actions, however, are brought by the mother, in order to establish the father’s obligations to pay child support. By the end of a paternity action, if paternity is established, there should be a parenting plan in place which declares the parental responsibilities of both parents as well as a time-sharing schedule, in addition to child support obligations.

At Artemis Family Law Group, our attorneys are well-versed in paternity matters, having represented both mothers and fathers, and are ready to help you bring some stability and peace of mind to your situation. Please contact us to discuss your paternity matter and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Big Changes Coming to the World of Alimony

November 7, 2019August 20, 2018 by Paul Shafranski

Of the many changes to our tax laws in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “TCJA”), one of the most important has a direct impact on family law, particularly those in the midst of a recent divorce. Under the current rules, those who make alimony payments are eligible to have those payments deducted from their federal income taxes. (There are requirements that must be met to establish eligibility under this rule, which is not the focus of this article.) Likewise, those who receive alimony payments must declare it as income for federal income tax purposes.

This is all about to change. Under the TCJA, for any divorce which is finalized in 2019 or later, the payor of alimony is no longer eligible for a federal tax deduction. Similarly, the payee of alimony will no longer be required to include it as income. This is a substantial change in the law and will directly impact both the payor and payee’s yearly federal tax burden. For those in the middle of a divorce currently, this is an important factor to consider when trying to reach a resolution before the end of the year.

It is also important to note that the TCJA also contains a provision making pre-2019 divorce judgments subject to the new changes if a modification judgment is entered in 2019 or later. However, the modification judgment must state that the newer TCJA tax laws will apply to alimony payments going forward.