Kenny Leigh & Associates exclusively represents men in the area of family law in the State of Florida. We have nine offices all across the state that service clients in all aspects of this particular area. Below are some results. Individual cases with different fact patterns from yours could vary.
Our client got divorced from his former wife several years ago and got the basic local guidelines. Basically every other weekend every other holiday and half of summer. Less than a month after the divorce, the former wife moved to Tampa. The mother and daughter were having issues and the mother actually called the police on the daughter because of a claim the daughter was battering her. At depositions, our Tampa attorney was able to get the mother to admit to driving without a license, not being able to physically stop her daughter from doing what she wants to do (smoking pot, drinking and having a sexual relationship), and that the daughter would never act that way if she was with the former husband because she is “scared to get out of line with him”. The result of the case was our client got the daughter 100% of the time unless mutually agreed on by the parties, our client no longer paid child support, our client claims the child on taxes and then gets to use that to pay any arrearage.
In a different case, one in Gainesville, a 20 year marriage where the husband earns approximately $50,000.00 a year and the wife is on permanent disability. The wife wanted to keep the marital home and give the husband two pieces of junk property, she wanted $900.00 a month in permanent alimony, half his retirement and attorney’s fees and split the estimated value of other property. At the end of the day, our Gainesville attorney got no alimony, no attorney’s fees and no retirement.
In another case in Ft. Walton Beach, the wife filed a domestic violence injunction against our client prior to a dissolution case. That was dismissed. She changed the locks and would not let our client back into the home. The wife moved her mother into the home and allowed the mother to sleep in a bed that our client bought prior to the marriage. Both parties moved for temporary relief in the divorce case. Our client makes about three and a half times more than his wife. She asked for temporary support of $1,500.00 a month, that he continue paying expenses on the house, attorney’s fees of $10,000.00 and child support. We asked the court to allow our client to enter the home and get his non-marital property, including a table, a recliner, a bed, and his personal items, and agreed to guideline support. The wife claimed that her need was $4,100.00 a month. We introduced bank statements showing that she only spent about $1,200.00 a month. At the end of the hearing, the Judge found that our client should only pay temporary support of $500.00 a month and is no longer responsible for utilities at the marital home. He was allowed to go get all of his personal property out of the home including the bed his mother-in-law was sleeping on, and he did not have to pay any attorney’s fees.
In a different case, one from St. John’s County, our family law attorney had a temporary needs hearing for a long-term marriage, the wife requested exclusive use of the home, temporary spousal support and temporary attorney’s fees. Long story short, exclusive use of home was denied, temporary spousal support was denied, and temporary attorney’s fees denied! In a Clay County case, one of our Clay County attorneys settled a case where the parties were married for six years, our client made approximately $3,600.00 a month and the wife earned approximately $1,400.00 a month. There were three children, our client got majority time-sharing. The wife was asking for $9,000.00 from back disability payments that our client received and $2,500.00 to pay half the marital debt. She also wanted $500.00 a month for two years of alimony and for him to pay the mediation costs. Result: No alimony, he pays her $2,500.00 over a year’s time and each pay their own attorney and mediation costs.
In a different case out of Pensacola, our Pensacola divorce attorney attended a Motion for Temporary Relief where our client was separated from his girlfriend when his child was only four months old and had not seen his child in eight months. Our Pensacola divorce attorney was able to show that the mother was continuously violating a safety plan implemented by the DCF, Department of Children and Families, for her oldest child, that she was recently arrested for marijuana possession, she was evicted, and currently pregnant again. The Judge found that our client was more stable even though he was a convicted felon and awarded our client majority temporary time-sharing. Mother now only gets weekends.
In a completely difference case, one of our attorneys from Boca Raton represented client who earned approximately $300,000.00 a year. The former wife earned approximately $60,000.00, up from $40,000.00 when they got divorced. This is a post-dissolution action. The original mediated agreement, which we were not involved in, was not good in that he agreed to pay $3,800.00 a month in alimony, $1,000.00 in child support and 25% of his yearly bonus for a minimum of $15,000.00 and a maximum of $20,000.00. Client began missing some of his payments and the former wife filed a Motion for Contempt. Our in-office accountant helped in this litigation and prepared a detailed financial analysis that was used in the case. We filed a Petition to Terminate Alimony and the result was, alimony was reduced by $1,000.00, child support was reduced to $600.00, no more bonus checks ever and no attorney’s fees.
In a different case out of Pensacola, our Pensacola divorce attorney handled a case where the parties were divorced in 2010. Both parties worked in the school system and the divorce said that each would receive a portion of the other’s pension. Our client worked for the schools longer then his former wife so she was going to get a much bigger share of his retirement. Shortly after the divorce, the former wife sent an email to our client proposing that each would keep their own retirements if our client got her name off of a mortgage that he received in the divorce. Three years later our client was finally able to sell the condo and get the wife’s name off of it. He asked if she would still honor her proposal to waive entitlement to each other’s retirements in early 2015 and she agreed to do so if he paid the last $2,500.00 he owed for her alimony in one lump sum (instead of the $150.00 a month that had been ordered).
Our client met all of the ex-wife’s conditions but then she wrote him a letter saying she changed her mind. We filed a motion to get relief from the judgement claiming that the retirement portion of the Final Judgment should not have prospective application because our client satisfied that provision by agreeing to the ex-wife’s proposal that each party keep their own retirement. Our Pensacola attorney went to the hearing and presented all the email correspondence between the parties about the agreement. In the end the Judge signed our Order and ruled completely in our favor.
Kenny Leigh & Associates is a family law firm that exclusively represents men in the area of family law. We practice in the area of divorce, alimony, child support, modifications etcetera. Please go to our website at divorcemenonly.com for more information.
