Hollywood 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 Hollywood families understand their options, protect what matters most, and move forward with confidence.
Courtrooms are like hospitals. We know they’re there to protect us, but we’d rather avoid them at all costs. Unfortunately, when a family dispute depends on a judge’s ruling, you can’t avoid court, and you’ll want an experienced Hollywood family law attorney beside you when you get there.
Davis & Associates has helped Hollywood families with a wide range of family law issues, from filing for divorce to protecting a father’s rights. Hollywood cases are heard at the Broward County Courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale, and our Broward office sits just down Southeast Sixth Street from it. Before you stand in front of a judge, you should understand exactly what you’re asking for and what the possible outcomes are. Our attorneys bring two decades of family law experience to that conversation, so you can make informed decisions about your future.
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.
Strong Legal Advocates for All Your Family Law Needs
The dedicated, experienced family law attorneys at Davis & Associates bring over 20 years of experience to every case. Our primary goal is to secure the most favorable outcome possible in your personal family law matter.
Here’s what we can help you with:
Filing Your Divorce
The decision to file for divorce is deeply personal. It should never be seen as a failure but as an opportunity for a new beginning. Before that can start, you need to work out issues involving property division, child support, and child custody.
Florida refers to divorce as a dissolution of marriage, and you have three options.
Collaborative Divorce
In a collaborative divorce, both spouses and their attorneys sign an agreement to work out every issue outside of court. It works best for couples who already agree on most things, and no one can be forced into it. The process usually involves several joint meetings, and once everyone signs the final agreement, it goes to the judge for approval.
There’s one catch. If the collaborative process breaks down, the collaborative attorneys and their firms generally can’t represent either spouse in the court case that follows. Both of you would have to hire new lawyers for litigation.
Mediation
Mediation works for couples who disagree on some or even most issues, and Florida judges can order contested family cases into mediation before trial. A mediator is a neutral third party who helps the spouses find common ground and may suggest options, but the mediator doesn’t decide anything. You can bring your attorney into the room, and our attorneys represent clients through mediation. What’s said in mediation is generally confidential under Florida law.
Litigation
Every dissolution of marriage has to be approved by a judge. Most couples present the judge with a signed settlement agreement. When a couple can’t agree on the fundamental issues, the judge assigned to the case decides them after each side presents its evidence, including financial records.
Litigation usually costs more and takes longer than the other two paths. Your timeline is at the mercy of the court system. It also puts more of your life on display, because most documents filed with the court become public record.
Property and Asset Division in a Florida Divorce
When you divorce, you separate your possessions as well as your households. Some assets will matter more to you, and others will matter more to your spouse, which is where good negotiation begins.
If the judge divides your property, the starting point is an equal split. The court can adjust that ratio when the circumstances justify it, such as a big difference in the spouses’ economic circumstances or one spouse wasting marital money.
First, though, the court separates what belongs to each spouse alone. Nonmarital property includes what you owned before the marriage, gifts and inheritances made to you alone, and anything a valid prenuptial or postnuptial agreement sets aside. Nearly everything acquired or earned during the marriage is marital, including cars and homes titled in only one spouse’s name. The judge then assigns a value to the marital assets and debts and decides who gets what.
You’ll usually get a better result by reaching an agreement before the judge has to decide. We help you inventory the shared assets, identify which ones are subject to division and which may be protected, and build a strategy to keep the property that matters most to you.
- 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.
Parental Responsibility and Time-Sharing in Hollywood
Florida law replaced the terms “legal custody” and “physical custody” with parental responsibility and time-sharing.
Parental responsibility is the authority to make major decisions for your child, including which doctors your child sees, which school your child attends, and how your child is raised in matters of religion. Florida courts order shared parental responsibility, so both parents keep that decision-making power, unless sharing it would be detrimental to the child.
Time-sharing is the schedule for when your child is with each parent. Since 2023, Florida has presumed that equal time-sharing is in a child’s best interests. A parent who wants a different schedule has to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that equal time isn’t right for the child. Either way, the court needs a parenting plan, a written document that sets the time-sharing schedule and spells out how the parents will share daily tasks and responsibilities.
When reviewing a parenting plan, the judge decides what’s in the best interest of the child. Florida’s statutory list of factors includes:
- Each parent’s willingness to encourage a close relationship with the other parent
- How workable the plan is geographically, especially for school-age children
- Each parent’s moral fitness and mental and physical health
- Any evidence of domestic violence, child abuse, or neglect
- How long the child has lived in a stable environment, and the value of keeping that continuity
Our Hollywood child custody attorneys help build a parenting plan that holds up to those factors.
Practice Areas
- Divorce
- Child Custody
- Child Support
- Father's Rights
- Guardianship
Find the Help You Need Near You
Frequently Asked Questions
Hollywood residents typically have their cases heard at the Broward County Courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale, which serves as the 17th Judicial Circuit. Some specialized hearings or filings may be handled at the South Regional Courthouse in Hollywood.
Florida follows the principle of ‘equitable distribution,’ meaning marital assets and debts are divided fairly, though not always equally. When dividing property in Hollywood, the court considers factors like the marriage’s duration and each spouse’s economic circumstances.
Florida does not have a formal legal status for ‘legal separation.’ However, Hollywood residents can file a ‘Petition for Support Unconnected with Dissolution of Marriage’ to address financial support and child custody without officially ending the marriage.
How Florida Calculates Child Support
Florida’s child support guidelines look at both parents’ incomes together. The court starts with each parent’s gross income from work, benefits, and other sources, then subtracts allowable deductions, including taxes, health insurance premiums, and court-ordered support already being paid, to find each parent’s net income. The combined net income and the number of children set the basic support amount, which is then split between the parents based on their share of the income.
Time-sharing can change the number. A parent who has the child for at least 20 percent of the overnights in a year, or 73 nights, can receive an adjustment that lowers the payment.
Support generally ends when the child turns 18. It can continue until 19 if the child is still in high school and on track to graduate, and it can continue longer for a child with a disability that began before 18. When a parent stops paying, the Florida Department of Revenue’s Child Support Program can enforce the order by withholding income, suspending driver’s and professional licenses, taking federal tax refunds, and placing liens on vehicles and boats. Our child support attorneys can help you establish, modify, or enforce an order.
Father’s Rights in Florida
Unmarried fathers have rights, but Florida law requires them to establish paternity before they can use them. Until a father does, the mother of a child born outside marriage is the child’s natural guardian and is entitled to primary residential care unless a court orders otherwise.
If you’re ready to take on financial responsibility for your child and pursue time-sharing, we can help you establish paternity and fight for a real relationship with your child. Our father’s rights attorneys pursue your legal rights as a father.
Domestic Violence Injunctions
Protecting your family sometimes means protecting it from someone inside the household. Fights and heated tempers can turn into violence, leaving family members afraid in their own home.
If you or someone in your family no longer feels safe, our domestic violence attorneys can help you seek an injunction for protection against domestic violence, Florida’s version of a protective order. We can also handle the related matters that often follow, including divorce and changes to a parenting plan.
Meet Our Attorneys
Compassionate Legal Advice From a Hollywood, FL Family Law Attorney
Family law disputes can reach nearly every part of your life, from your finances and your living arrangements to how much time you spend with your children. The decisions you make now, whether you’re considering divorce, working through a parenting plan, or facing another family matter, can have consequences for years.
At Davis & Associates, we know no two families face the same circumstances. Our attorneys take the time to understand your priorities, explain your legal options, and build a strategy that fits your situation. Whether your case settles through negotiation or mediation or goes to a judge, we’ll advocate for you throughout the process. We also help clients change time-sharing schedules and support orders when their circumstances change.
Instead of billing by the hour, we charge a monthly rate tailored to your case, so you know what to expect. Contact us today to schedule a free consultation with a Hollywood family law attorney. We’ll discuss your situation, answer your questions, and help you decide on the right path forward for your family. Change starts with a conversation.
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