Beverly Hills, FL Divorce Law Firms & Lawyers

Generally, when parties go through a divorce, the court will look at all assets and liabilities obtained and incurred during the marriage, and presume they are marital and subject to equitable distribution. This is a rebuttable presumption, and unless rebutted, the court will generally allocate and distribute the assets and liabilities on a fifty-fifty basis, regardless of how they may be titled. Unless there is domestic violence between you, the court is unlikely to make either of you move out until the case is disposed of. This is not necessarily what is best for all concerned, however, as living together in the same house while divorcing can be extremely stressful, especially if you have children together. Given the likelihood of divorce in your future, you should consult with an attorney to discuss the specifics of your situation and your options.

By the time this finishes out you'll most certainly need an attorney. As soon as you ask for spousal support and child support he will end up fighting your requests. Therefore you may as well engage an attorney now and petition the court to have him pay for your attorneys fees in order for you to be able to prosecute the matter. This sounds like a very strong spousal support case!

You should consult with another attorney about your actual underlying divorce-related retirement plan disbursement issue to obtain another opinion about that case, and possibly learn of the actual status of your case as handled by the first law firm. You should also schedule an office appointment with the attorney at the first law firm to go over the status of your case and address all of your concerns. If you are unsatisfied after obtaining the other opinion and then having the office conference with the first attorney, and you are unwilling to allow the first attorney to rectify any problems or the first attorney is unwilling to do so, then you should engage other counsel but you probably should not terminate the first attorney until you have actually engaged new counsel, so that you are not completely without representation for any period of time. Ultimately, if you feel that your case was not handled properly or there were ethical violations which you can prove, you may have recourse, but bear in mind that the terms of your retainer agreement or engagement letter may impact both the first law firm's and your responsibilities to each other and may control whether or not you are in a position to pursue any recourse of the different types that may generally be available to you. Start by getting another opinion and bring the other attorney all of the relevant documents, letters, pleadings, etc., as well as your retainer agreement or engagement letter with the first law firm.