Legal Separation Attorney Tampa, FL

If you and your spouse are thinking about separating formally or informally, it’s important to speak with a legal separation attorney Tampa, FL residents trust and to do so before committing to any particular plan of action. Marriage is a relationship that means so much beyond its legal implications. However, too many couples overlook these legal implications to their eventual detriment. By scheduling a risk-free, confidential consultation with the experienced Florida legal team at The McKinney Law Group, you can better understand how the decision to separate formally or informally will affect your rights, your property, and – if you have minor or otherwise dependent children – your parenting situation. Speaking with a Tampa Florida divorce attorney proactively will better ensure that the decisions you make moving forward are informed ones. At a time of great transition in life, all you can do is the best you know how to with the information you have available to you. Please allow our firm to help ensure that you have all the information you’ll need to make the best possible decisions for you and your family.

How Does Legal Separation Affect Parenting Responsibilities?

When a couple separates informally, they have only their verbal agreements and mutual assurances to fall back on in the event of a dispute. You may be comfortable with this idea, especially if you’re only separating for a week or two to “clear the air” before you make a more permanent decision one way or another. However, if you’re planning to separate for more than a week or two and you have dependent children, it’s going to be a good idea to formally separate through the legal separation process. Formalizing your separation in this way will allow you to draw up an enforceable parenting plan, divide parenting time according to an enforceable schedule, and even establish child support expectations. This process may seem overwhelming and even like “overkill,” as these are some of the same steps you’d be taking if you were divorcing your spouse. However, this arrangement both protects everyone’s interests legally and allows everyone affected by your separation to have straightforward, clear-cut expectations about how things are going to “work” while you and your spouse are separated. Few things create tension between spouses faster than arguments which arise from unclear expectations related to parenting responsibilities. Formalizing all of these expectations and talking your issues through now will give you far less to argue about down the road and will make your child feel more secure as they’ll know what to expect from this new arrangement in an enforceable way.

Legal Assistance Is Available

Legal separation is a big step and you may be hesitant to formalize your transition at this time. However, it’s important to understand the benefits of this process, especially for families which include dependent children, before you dismiss this process as an option. Please contact our firm’s Tampa, FL legal separation attorney team to learn more; we look forward to speaking with you.