Florida Family Law: Protect Your Rights, Your Family, and Your Future
Protect Your Assets. Protect Your Family. Protect Your Future.
Family law matters can affect your finances, your children, your home, and your future. Whether you are preparing for marriage, considering divorce, or fighting to protect your relationship with your children, the decisions you make now can have lasting consequences.
At the Law Office of Keria Hicks, PLLC, we help Florida individuals and families navigate difficult family law matters with strategic legal guidance and advocacy focused on protecting their interests.
You deserve more than someone to explain your options. You deserve an attorney who will evaluate your situation, identify the issues that matter, and advocate for the outcome you are working to achieve.
Florida Family Law Services
Every family is different. Our approach begins with understanding your circumstances, your priorities, and what is at stake. We provide family law services designed to help clients make informed decisions, protect their legal rights, and prepare for what comes next.
Child Support
Child support helps provide for a child’s financial needs after parents separate. Disagreements can arise over income, childcare expenses, health insurance, uncovered medical costs, or the amount one parent should contribute. Florida child support calculations generally follow statutory guidelines. The calculation can depend on factors such as each parent’s income, the number of overnights, childcare costs, health insurance, and other legally relevant expenses.
We assist with child support matters involving:
- Establishing child support obligations.
- Reviewing proposed child support calculations.
- Addressing disputes over income and allowable expenses.
- Seeking modification of existing child support orders when legally justified.
- Enforcing existing child support orders.
- Addressing child support as part of a divorce or parenting matter.
A child support order can have long-term financial consequences. Before agreeing to an amount or seeking a change, understand how the applicable guidelines and facts may affect your obligations.
Alimony and Spousal Support
Divorce can leave one spouse facing significant financial uncertainty. You may have relied on your spouse’s income, stepped away from a career to care for your family, or contributed to the household in ways that do not appear on a paycheck. Alimony, also called spousal support, may be available in certain Florida divorce cases. Eligibility, amount, and duration depend on the applicable law and the circumstances of the parties.
We help clients evaluate and address:
- Requests for alimony.
- Responses to a spouse’s support request.
- Financial need and the other spouse’s ability to pay.
- Relevant income, assets, expenses, and financial circumstances.
- Proposed spousal support agreements during divorce negotiations.
Alimony is not automatic simply because spouses have different incomes. A legal assessment of the facts is essential before making financial decisions or agreeing to support terms.
Divorce and Dissolution of Marriage
Ending a marriage involves more than filing paperwork. It can determine how property is divided, who assumes certain debts, whether spousal support is appropriate, and how parents will share responsibilities for their children. Whether you anticipate an amicable separation or a contested divorce, legal advice early in the process can help you understand the financial and legal consequences of your decisions.
We assist with divorce matters involving:
When spouses disagree about property, support, parenting arrangements, or other important terms.
When spouses have reached an agreement and need legal assistance to address the terms and complete the process.
Evaluating marital assets and liabilities, including real estate, retirement accounts, bank accounts, investments, and business interests.
Evaluating whether support may be appropriate, the relevant legal factors, and the amount and duration that may be at issue.
Reviewing and negotiating settlement terms to help protect your interests before you sign.
Addressing parental responsibility, time-sharing, child support, and parenting plans.
Child Custody, Time-Sharing, and Parenting Plans
When parents separate, concerns about their children often come first. You may be worried about how much time you will spend with your children, who will make important decisions, or what will happen if you and the other parent cannot agree.
Florida law generally uses the terms parental responsibility and time-sharing rather than treating child custody as a single legal decision.
A parenting plan establishes how parents will share responsibilities and how time with their children will be arranged. Depending on the circumstances, it may address school schedules, holidays, transportation, healthcare decisions, communication, and other parenting matters. Florida courts make parenting decisions based on the child’s best interests and the applicable law. No attorney can guarantee a particular time-sharing schedule or custody outcome. Our goal is to help you understand the legal issues, develop a strategy grounded in your circumstances, and advocate for a parenting arrangement that protects your interests and addresses your child’s needs.
Our family law services address issues involving:
Establishing clear expectations for decision-making, schedules, and parental responsibilities.
Addressing how children will divide time between parents during school weeks, weekends, holidays, and vacations.
Resolving disputes about who will make important decisions concerning a child’s education, healthcare, and welfare.
Helping parents understand their rights and present their positions in disputes over parenting arrangements.
Seeking changes when a substantial, legally relevant change in circumstances may justify modifying an existing arrangement.
Addressing concerns when a parent is not complying with an existing court order.
Addressing proposed moves that may affect an existing time-sharing arrangement or a child’s relationship with a parent.
Why Work With the Law Office of Keria Hicks, PLLC?
Family law decisions can shape your life long after a case closes. Choosing the right attorney means finding someone who understands both the legal issues and the practical consequences of the decisions ahead.
Strategic legal advocacy. We evaluate the issues, identify your priorities, and help you develop a legal strategy suited to your circumstances.
Protection of your financial interests. Property, support, debt, and business interests deserve careful consideration. We help you understand the potential consequences before you make significant decisions.
A focus on your family’s future. Parenting arrangements and financial agreements should account for the realities of life after a legal matter concludes.
Direct, practical guidance. You should understand your options, the risks involved, and the decisions that require your attention. We work to give clients the information they need to make informed choices.
Convenient access. Our virtual-first approach allows eligible clients to meet remotely, reducing the need to travel for routine consultations and meetings. In-person meetings may be available by appointment.
Attorney Keria Hicks brings experience in litigation, public service, and legal advocacy to her work. Her approach is grounded in preparation, thoughtful strategy, and a commitment to helping clients protect what matters.
Frequently Asked Questions
You may represent yourself in a Florida divorce, but doing so does not eliminate the legal requirements or the consequences of an agreement. An attorney can help you evaluate property division, support, parenting issues, court procedures, and proposed settlement terms. Legal representation may be especially important when the issues are disputed or the financial or parenting consequences are significant.
Florida law addresses parental responsibility and time-sharing through a parenting plan. Courts apply the child’s best-interest standard and consider the legally relevant facts. Parents may agree on a plan, subject to court approval where required, or the court may decide disputed issues. The result depends on the circumstances; neither parent should assume a particular outcome is guaranteed.
Possibly. A parent seeking to modify an existing parenting plan or time-sharing arrangement generally must meet Florida’s legal requirements for modification. The specific standard and evidence needed depend on the type of order and the circumstances. Speak with an attorney before making changes that conflict with an existing court order.
Florida uses equitable distribution to divide marital assets and liabilities. Courts generally begin with the presumption that an equal distribution is appropriate, but the law permits a different distribution when the relevant factors justify it. Identifying marital and nonmarital property, understanding debts, and evaluating the financial circumstances are important parts of the process.
Possibly. Alimony depends on the applicable Florida law and the circumstances of both spouses, including financial need, ability to pay, and other legally relevant factors. Different forms of alimony may be available depending on the case. A lawyer can evaluate whether a request or response may be appropriate.
A prenuptial agreement is made before marriage. A postnuptial agreement is made after marriage. Both may address certain financial and property matters, but the circumstances, legal requirements, and appropriate terms differ. Each agreement should be prepared for the couple’s specific needs and reviewed for compliance with Florida law.
Many consultations and attorney-client meetings can be conducted virtually. Whether a particular court appearance, filing, or other step can be completed remotely depends on the case, applicable rules, and court procedures. Our firm uses a virtual-first approach when appropriate.
Consider seeking legal advice before signing a marital agreement or divorce settlement, when a dispute about parenting or finances arises, when you receive legal papers, or when an existing court order no longer reflects your circumstances. If you have been served with court papers, pay attention to the response deadlines.
Protect Your Rights Before Important Decisions Are Made
You do not have to navigate a divorce, parenting dispute, or marital agreement without understanding your legal options.
The Law Office of Keria Hicks, PLLC helps Florida individuals and families address family law matters with careful preparation, practical guidance, and advocacy focused on protecting their rights and future.
Contact our office to discuss your circumstances, identify the legal issues involved, and determine whether our firm may be able to assist.
Attorney advertising. This page provides general information about Florida family law and is not legal advice. Every matter depends on its specific facts and applicable law. Contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship. Representation begins only after the firm agrees to accept the matter and the required engagement arrangements are completed.