Fort Lauderdale
Our Fort Lauderdale office serves clients throughout South Florida and Southwest Florida and nearby communities.
Fort Lauderdale Family Law Attorneys
Facing a divorce, child custody dispute, support matter, or another family law issue can bring difficult decisions. Davis & Associates provides experienced legal guidance to help Fort Lauderdale families understand their options, protect what matters most, and move forward with confidence.
Most family decisions get settled at the kitchen table: screen time, vacation plans, who drives to practice. Divorce, custody, and support are different.
Once those questions land in a Broward County courtroom, a judge gets the final word unless you and the other parent resolve them first, and that’s the point where a Fort Lauderdale family law attorney earns a seat at the table.
For over 20 years, Davis & Associates has helped Florida families resolve all manner of family law issues. Our approach is simple: What is in the best interest of our client? That includes our client’s children.
Whether you’re facing a divorce, child custody, property division, spousal support, or you’re a father whose rights are being infringed upon, we can help. Here’s how:
Get the Family Law Help You Need
Without the Fear of High Bills
No High Hourly Billing
Most firms charge by the hour, which means every call, email, and update can increase your bill. Our approach is built to give you more clarity and control.
Custom Monthly Pricing
Your monthly rate is tailored to your case, so you know what to expect, plan ahead with confidence, and avoid surprise costs.
Less Stress, More Access
You should not have to hesitate before reaching out to your lawyer. Our pricing model keeps representation clear, approachable, and realistically affordable.
Our Office Locations in Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale
Our Fort Lauderdale office serves clients throughout Broward County and nearby communities.
Experienced Family Attorneys
The dedicated, experienced family law attorneys at Davis and Associates, Attorneys at Law assist with all aspects of your family law case. Our primary goal is supporting you in effectively obtaining the most favorable outcome possible for your unique family law matter.
As your dedicated family law firm, we provide the support you need, guiding you through your case and helping to protect you and your rights. Whether you need compassionate assistance or an aggressive partner to fight for you, our family attorneys have the experience, legal knowledge, and proven ability to get the best possible results for your family law case.
Divorce Attorney
You call it divorce. Florida calls it dissolution of marriage. Either way, it is the end of the union you once thought would last a lifetime. Florida has specific statutes for dissolving a marriage, starting with no-fault grounds.
That means you can file for the dissolution by simply declaring the marriage is irretrievably broken. You don’t have to give any reason other than that or assign blame.
There is also a residency requirement. One spouse must have lived in Florida for 6 months before filing. There is also a 20-day waiting period. In most cases, even if you come into court with all your issues worked out, the court cannot enter a final judgment until at least 20 days after filing.
If you have minor children, each parent must complete a Parent Education and Family Stabilization Course of at least four hours and file proof before the court will enter a final judgment. The petitioner generally has 45 days after filing to finish it. The course covers:
- The legal side of deciding issues involving your children
- How divorce affects parents and children emotionally
- Family dynamics
- Financial responsibilities to your children
- Spousal and child abuse and neglect
- Relationship skills for co-parents
The course isn’t legal advice or therapy, and the state keeps a list of approved course providers. Don’t skip it. A court can hold a parent who fails to attend in contempt, or deny that parent shared parental responsibility or time-sharing.
You’ll also need to resolve property division, spousal support, time-sharing, and child support. A Fort Lauderdale divorce attorney at Davis & Associates can help you work through each one and build a clear path to your life after divorce.
Property and Asset Division
Dividing property is a crucial aspect of a divorce that often leads to the most contentious issues between the couple. Florida is deemed an equitable-distribution state. That means it awards property fairly, starting from a 50/50 baseline. The court classifies property as marital or nonmarital, with the wedding date as the dividing line.
Marital assets include real estate and vehicles acquired after the marriage regardless of whose name is on the title. All income, retirement accounts, and other funds acquired after the marriage are also considered marital assets.
Property can also be considered commingled. That typically applies to savings or other funds that go into a joint account.
Debt is another issue to resolve, no matter whose name is on the title or credit card. Things get even more complicated if a couple started a business together while they were married.
You need a strong advocate in your corner who protects your interests and helps secure your financial future. Davis & Associates can be that advocate.
- 20+Years of PracticeStrategic family law experience you can rely on.
- 50,000+Clients ServedProven results across divorce and custody matters.
- 50+Locations NationwideWe are local, everywhere.
- 120+Family Law AttorneysFind the right match for you.
Meet Our Attorneys
Child Custody Lawyer
Ending a marriage is hardest on the kids, which is why every custody decision in Florida turns on the children’s best interests.
Florida law doesn’t actually use the word “custody.” It divides the issue into parental responsibility, meaning who makes major decisions about school, health care, and religion, and time-sharing, meaning the schedule for when the children are with each parent. Shared parental responsibility is the default unless the court finds it would be detrimental to the child.
Since 2023, Florida has started from a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing is in a child’s best interests. A parent who wants a different schedule must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that equal time-sharing isn’t in the child’s best interest.
Every case involving children needs a parenting plan that sets the time-sharing schedule, divides day-to-day responsibilities, and spells out how the children and parents will communicate. Week-on, week-off schedules are a common way to split time equally, and most plans also address holidays, often alternating by year. When parents can’t agree, the court can send them to mediation, and Broward County runs a family mediation program for cases both before and after divorce.
When you approach custody as a continuation of your parenting, you increase your chances of a smooth transition. If the court has to decide, a Fort Lauderdale child custody attorney at our firm will make sure the judge understands your commitment to your children and the value of your role in their lives.
Child Support
Both parents are financially responsible for their children. However, one parent is often responsible for making regular child support payments to the other.
Florida’s guidelines start with each parent’s gross monthly income, then subtract allowed deductions such as income taxes, FICA, mandatory retirement contributions, health insurance premiums (other than coverage for the children), and court-ordered support for other children. The two net incomes are added together, and the combined figure and the number of children determine the basic obligation on the state’s guidelines schedule.
Each parent is responsible for a share that matches his or her percentage of the combined income. The court then adjusts for child care, the children’s health insurance and, when each parent has at least 20% of the overnights, the time-sharing schedule.
Our attorneys handle child support in Fort Lauderdale from start to finish, including initial support orders, modifications, and enforcement when payments stop. A modification generally requires a substantial change in circumstances, such as a new guideline amount that differs from the current order by at least 15% or $50, whichever is greater.
Practice Areas
- Divorce
- Estate Planning
- Child Custody
- Child Support
- Father's Rights
- Domestic Violence
Find the Help You Need Near You
Spousal Support
Alimony may also be part of your divorce, and Florida’s rules changed significantly in 2023.
Permanent alimony is gone. A court can now award temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, or durational alimony.
Durational alimony has firm limits. It can’t last longer than half the length of a marriage under 10 years, 60% of a marriage of 10 to 20 years, or 75% of a marriage of 20 years or more, except in exceptional circumstances. The spouse asking for alimony has to prove both the need for support and the other spouse’s ability to pay.
Our attorneys can help you understand whether you may qualify for spousal support or what you may be expected to pay. Negotiating those amounts fairly can keep the rest of the case from becoming a war.
Father’s Rights
Unmarried fathers often struggle to build a legal relationship with their children, especially when they’re no longer with the children’s mother. Under Florida law, the mother of a child born outside marriage is the child’s natural guardian and has primary residential care unless a court orders otherwise.
A father gains the same rights and responsibilities once he legally establishes paternity, either through a voluntary acknowledgment or a court order. That’s the step that opens the door to time-sharing and a say in major decisions. Our attorneys help fathers establish paternity and protect their father’s rights in Fort Lauderdale, including their right to meaningful time with their children.
Domestic Violence
Protecting your family sometimes means protecting it from another family member. If you or someone in your household no longer feels safe, Florida law allows you to petition for an injunction for protection against domestic violence. There’s no filing fee. If there’s an immediate danger, a judge can issue a temporary injunction without waiting to hear from the other side, good for up to 15 days until a full hearing.
Domestic violence also affects parenting decisions. A parent convicted of a first-degree misdemeanor or higher involving domestic violence faces a legal presumption that shared parental responsibility would be detrimental to the child. Our domestic violence attorneys in Fort Lauderdale act quickly to help protect you and your children.
Frequently Asked Questions
A family law attorney can help you address the major legal issues involved in a divorce, including property division, child custody, child support, and alimony. Davis and Associates works with clients to understand their priorities and develop a strategy focused on achieving the best possible outcome for their situation.
Child custody matters can involve parenting plans, time-sharing arrangements, enforcement, and modifications. Courts generally focus on the child’s best interests, and Davis and Associates helps clients present their circumstances clearly while working to protect their relationship with their children.
Yes. Child support may be modified when circumstances or financial needs change. Davis and Associates can assist with child support modifications and enforcement when an existing support obligation is not being fulfilled.
Yes. Unmarried fathers may need to establish paternity before pursuing certain parental rights. Davis and Associates helps fathers with paternity matters, time-sharing, and other legal steps intended to establish and protect their relationship with their children.
Finding the Right Support from a Fort Lauderdale Family Law Attorney
Deciding to end a marriage is only the first of many decisions. From the moment you file, you’re in a holding pattern until the property, support, and parenting issues are resolved, and every one of them will shape the life you’re building next.
The family law attorneys at Davis & Associates can be part of that process from the very first conversation.
At your consultation, you can share your concerns and your vision for life after divorce, and our firm will work to make that vision real, whether that takes negotiation with your spouse’s attorney or a hearing in front of a judge.
If children are involved, we’ll help build a parenting plan that lets them keep thriving. We also offer custom monthly pricing instead of high hourly billing, so you know what to expect.
Bring your questions, and we’ll give you straight answers. Schedule your consultation today.
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