Author Archives: family-divorce-attorney

The trial court may order one party to pay a reasonable amount of medical insurance premiums for the other as part of an alimony award, provided it is not an open-ended obligation.

Without specific pleadings requesting that health insurance be provided by the payor spouse, it is error for the court to order a payor to maintain health insurance through employment, or to pay the spouse in lieu of maintaining it.

A party formerly covered by a spouse’s group health insurance plan may elect, under specified conditions (i.e., at least 20 employees, limited duration, etc.) to continue coverage.

Here at The Law Offices of Gary S. Dolgin, we will put our knowledge and 30 years of experience to work for you, whether you are seeking alimony or defending a claim against alimony.

Being Board Certified in Marital and Family Law as well as being a Supreme Court Certified Family Law Mediator sets Gary Dolgin apart. He will put his expertise to work for you and advocate for the best possible result in your alimony case.

To schedule an alimony consultation with Board Certified Expert in Marital and Family Law in Tampa, Gary S. Dolgin, please call (813) 999-2772, and it will be our pleasure to help you.

Learn more about alimony by visiting:
Tampa Alimony Attorney – Gary S. Dolgin

When a parent refuses to comply with the time-sharing schedule in the parenting plan without proper cause, statute F.S. 61.13(4)(c) lists a number of sanctions that the court may impose, such as:

1. After calculating the amount of time-sharing improperly denied, the parent denied time may be awarded a sufficient amount of extra time-sharing to compensate for the time-sharing missed.

2. The court may order the offending parent to pay reasonable court costs and attorney’s fees incurred by the non-offending parent.

3. The court may order the offending parent to attend a parenting course approved by the judicial circuit.

4. The court may order the offending parent to do community service.

5. The court may order the offending parent to have the financial burden of promoting frequent and continuing contact when that parent and child reside further than 60 miles from the other parent.

6. If requested by the non-offending parent, the court may modify the parenting plan, if it is in the best interests of the child.

7. The court may impose any other reasonable sanction as a result of noncompliance.

Here at The Law Offices of Gary S. Dolgin, we have been helping mothers and fathers with relocation and child custody for over 30 years in the Tampa area.

We have also been committed to protecting children’s best interests while helping to advocate for their parent’s rights.

If you are having any child custody issues such as relocation, determining parental responsibility, time-sharing problems, or any other custody issue that may be causing an unhealthy situation for your child, or negatively affecting your parental rights, we are here to help you.

To schedule a child custody consultation with Gary Dolgin, give us a call at (813) 999-2772, and it will be our pleasure to help you.

Learn more about child custody by visiting:
Tampa Child Custody Attorney, Gary Dolgin

Did you know that a judge must determine whether a marriage is irretrievably broken?

If a petition for dissolution of marriage is based on the allegation that the marriage is irretrievably broken, and the respondent does not deny that the marriage is irretrievably broken, the court “shall enter a judgment of dissolution of the marriage” if it finds that the marriage is irretrievably broken.

The trial court must determine, if, in fact, the marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken.

The judge must determine from all existing facts whether the marriage is irretrievably broken.

If the evidence establishes that there is no reasonable chance for the marriage to succeed, a final judgment of dissolution must be granted.

In practice, most judges do not wish to make a detailed inquiry into the underlying facts.

If you are looking for an experienced and knowledgeable divorce attorney in Tampa to represent your best interests, you can count on Gary Dolgin to help you.

To schedule a consultation with Gary S. Dolgin, Attorney At Law, call (813) 999-2772 and it will be our pleasure to help you.

To see what past clients have to say about retaining Gary Dolgin to represent them during their divorce, and to learn more about divorce, visit:
Divorce Attorney Tampa – Gary S. Dolgin

Wishing everyone a very happy holiday season and a healthy and prosperous new year from The Law Offices of Gary S. Dolgin!

With the holidays upon us and as 2022 is coming to an end, we would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the past year with gratitude for all our blessings.

One very special event of 2022 that the Dolgin family is thrilled about is the engagement of Gary Dolgin’s son Corey! They are so happy to welcome Corey’s fiancée Melanie to the family.

This holiday season brings much to celebrate for the Dolgin family as Corey and Melanie will be married on December 18th, and Gary and Wendi’s 32nd anniversary will be 5 days later on December 23rd.

We are blessed to continue to serve the Tampa Bay community, helping to protect the rights of mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, grandparents and children while helping to resolve their family disputes in the most efficient and peaceful ways possible.

We are grateful to our wonderful fellow colleagues and past clients who have placed their faith in us by referring us new clients this year.

Happy Holidays!

To view our 2022 Holiday Newsletter, please visit:
2022 Holiday Newsletter

To learn more about The Law Offices of Gary S. Dolgin and to see what his past clients have to say about his exceptional representation, visit:
Family Attorney Tampa, Gary S. Dolgin

Assets awarded to the parties as equitable distribution may be considered as a source of income from which alimony may be paid. This includes pension and retirement benefits.

Retirement accounts distributed to the parties should be considered income for the purpose of determining alimony where the court can reasonably conclude that the principal of the retirement account will not be invaded for the purpose of support.

Military retirement benefits can be awarded only if the parties were married for at least 10 years while one spouse was in the military.

Division of retirement benefits generally is part of equitable distribution and not awarding of alimony, but the amount of the distribution may be considered in determining alimony.

Here at The Law Offices of Gary S. Dolgin, we will put our knowledge and 30 years of experience to work for you, whether you are seeking alimony or defending a claim against alimony.

Being Board Certified in Marital and Family Law as well as being a Supreme Court Certified Family Law Mediator sets Gary Dolgin apart. He will put his expertise to work for you and advocate for the best possible result in your alimony case.

To schedule an alimony consultation with Board Certified Expert in Marital and Family Law in Tampa, Gary S. Dolgin, please call (813) 999-2772, and it will be our pleasure to help you.

Learn more about alimony by visiting:
Alimony Attorney Tampa – Gary S. Dolgin

Although the termination of time-sharing rights is disfavored, the trial court may restrict or deny time-sharing when necessary to protect the child. If unrestricted time-sharing would endanger the child, access may be supervised or restricted.

Questionable behavior by one party toward the child can support a temporary suspension of time-sharing when it is in the best interest of the child.

Here at The Law Offices of Gary S. Dolgin, we have been helping mothers and fathers with relocation and child custody for over 30 years in the Tampa area.

We have also been committed to protecting children’s best interests while helping to advocate for their parent’s rights.

If you are having any child custody issues such as relocation, determining parental responsibility, time-sharing problems, or any other custody issue that may be causing an unhealthy situation for your child, or negatively affecting your parental rights, we are here to help you.

To schedule a child custody consultation with Gary Dolgin, give us a call at (813) 999-2772, and it will be our pleasure to help you.

Learn more about child custody by visiting:
Tampa Child Custody Lawyer, Gary Dolgin

Fla.Fam.L.R.P. 12.407 prohibits bringing a minor child to court as a witness or to attend a hearing, or issuing a subpoena to a minor child to appear in court, without prior court order, except in an emergency.

In contested cases, courts usually are reluctant to allow children to testify against their parents. The court has the discretion to preclude children as witnesses.

If a child’s testimony is needed, it is best obtained through the report of a guardian ad litem or mental health professional, or as part of a parenting plan recommendation.

If the child’s testimony is considered essential, a professional should be consulted to determine what effect testifying will have on the child.

If you are looking for an experienced and knowledgeable divorce attorney in Tampa to represent your best interests, you can count on Gary Dolgin to help you.

To schedule a consultation with Gary S. Dolgin, Attorney At Law, call (813) 999-2772 and it will be our pleasure to help you.

To see what past clients have to say about retaining Gary Dolgin to represent them during their divorce, and to learn more about divorce, visit:
Tampa Divorce Attorney – Gary S. Dolgin

F.S. 61.08(3) allows the court “to the extent necessary to protect an award of alimony,” to order any party ordered to pay alimony “to purchase or maintain a life insurance policy or a bond, or to otherwise secure such alimony award with any other assets which may be suitable for that purpose.”

Life insurance to secure alimony may not be ordered, however, unless specifically requested by a party.

Courts have summarized the law applicable to life insurance in divorce proceedings as follows: An order requiring a spouse to obtain a life insurance policy as security for an alimony award must be supported by record evidence, and the order must include findings as to the cost of insurance, the payor’s ability to afford the insurance and any special circumstances justifying the need for the policy.

The amount of the life insurance policy must be related to the extent of the obligation being secured.

Here at The Law Offices of Gary S. Dolgin, we will put our knowledge and 30 years of experience to work for you, whether you are seeking alimony or defending a claim against alimony.

Being Board Certified in Marital and Family Law as well as being a Supreme Court Certified Family Law Mediator sets Gary Dolgin apart. He will put his expertise to work for you and advocate for the best possible result in your alimony case.

To schedule an alimony consultation with Board Certified Expert in Marital and Family Law in Tampa, Gary S. Dolgin, please call (813) 999-2772, and it will be our pleasure to help you.

Learn more about alimony by visiting:
Alimony Modification Lawyer Tampa – Gary S. Dolgin

At The Law Offices of Gary S. Dolgin, providing our clients with excellent representation by diligently advocating for their rights is our top priority.

Receiving wonderful client reviews, such as this Google review written by our past client, Davis is great.

Davis, we appreciate you sharing your positive feedback and thank you for putting your trust in us to represent you.

It was our pleasure to help you!

With over 30 years of experience in divorce and family law, Gary Dolgin has the expertise you need when facing divorce or any type of family law issue.

If you are looking for an experienced and knowledgeable family law and divorce attorney in Tampa to represent your best interests, you can count on Gary Dolgin to help you.

To schedule a consultation with Gary S. Dolgin, Attorney At Law, call (813) 999-2772 and it will be our pleasure to help you.

To learn more about The Law Offices of Gary S. Dolgin and to see what his past clients have to say about his exceptional representation, visit:
Best Family Law Attorney Tampa, Gary S. Dolgin

In determining an appropriate time-sharing schedule, judges must consider 20 statutory factors and take into account the best interests of the children.

Time-sharing arrangements may differ from family to family. Assuming both parents are good parents, they may want to consider the following in determining an appropriate time-sharing schedule:

(1) that children and parents need blocks of continuous time together, including overnight time, and (2) that the blocks of time should be long enough to ensure that each parent remains an involved parent, rather than one becoming identified with homework and bedtimes and the other with recreation.

Here at The Law Offices of Gary S. Dolgin, we have been helping mothers and fathers with child custody for over 30 years in the Tampa area.

We have also been committed to protecting children’s best interests while helping to advocate for their parent’s rights.

If you are having any child custody issues such as relocation, determining parental responsibility, time-sharing problems, or any other custody issue that may be causing an unhealthy situation for your child, or negatively affecting your parental rights, we are here to help you.

To schedule a child custody consultation with Gary Dolgin, give us a call at (813) 999-2772, and it will be our pleasure to help you.

Learn more about child custody by visiting:
Tampa Child Custody Lawyer, Gary Dolgin