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WELCOME TO THE "NEW"
FAMSEG! If you are reading this edition of
FAMSEG you realize that we have changed the look
and feel of this electronic publication. It
contains the newly designed Family Law Section
logo and FAMSEG masthead, as well as
numerous useful sidebar links. At my
request, FAMSEG's Co-Editors, LUIS E. INSIGNARRES
and EDDIE STEPHENS, will strive to produce at
least 10 editions of FAMSEG to be email
delivered to you between the 15th and 20th of the
month. Since the "new" FAMSEG is in the
embryonic stage feel free to contact LUIS,
EDDIE or myself with any constructive
suggestions you have to improve our product.
Our email addresses are contained herein.
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It was my privilege
to be sworn in as the Chair of the Family Law
Section for the 2010 - 2011 Bar Cycle on June
23rd, 2010. The officers of the Section's
Executive Committee (DAVID L. MANZ, Chair Elect;
CARIN M. PORRAS, Treasurer; ELISHA D. ROY,
Secretary, and PETER L. GLADSTONE, Immediate Past
Chair) and Executive Council leadership,
many of whom are your friends and colleagues from
around the State, along with myself, are here to
serve you. You are our constituency and we
truly want to hear from you. Share
your ideas on how the Section can address your
professional needs. Are there legislative
or rule changes that you think would enhance the
practice of law to help us better serve Florida's
families? Are there seminar topics
that you would like to see the Section offer or
articles on substantive or practice areas
you would like to have the Section publish?
If so, let us know but either by phone,
email or when you see us in person.
If you are not presently serving on a
Section Committee, consider taking that
first step. Get involved with the Section
through a Committee appointment. A complete
listing of the Section's Standing and Ad
Hoc Commitees is contained on the Section
website. In fact, this year's current
Committee assignments are posted at:
www.famlylawfla.org. If
you failed to complete a Committee Preference form
for this Bar Cycle but still desire to serve on
Section Committee(s) please email SUMMER HALL
{shall@flabar.org} our Program
Administrator with your appointment request.
The members of Executive
Committee and Executive Council look forward to
engaging you in Section service.
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This year the
Section enjoyed the culmination of a decade long
effort to substantially revise Florida law
governing support issues (alimony and child
support} through the passage of House Bill 907.
On July 30th, 2010 THOMAS J. SASSER
and ELISHA D. ROY will present the Section's
2010 Legislative Update. You can
attend live as part of the Section's
2010 Leadership Conference and Legislative Update
at the beautiful Hammock Beach Resort in Palm
Coast, Florida; or, alternatively,
telephonically. Other
legislation aside from House Bill 907 will be
included in the seminar. Your
questions will be taken and answered by these
"experts" who were the Section's point persons
lobbying the legislation in Tallahassee during
this past session. Links for the
brochures/registration are contained in this
edition of FAMSEG.
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The goal of the
Section this year is to fulfill our theme of
"BUILDING BETTER RELATIONSHIPS." Each
edition of FAMSEG will explore an aspect of this
theme. In this edition, Co-Editor, LUIS E.
INSIGNARRES, shares with us his personal
philosophy on the 3 tools that he finds helpful
in building better relationships. Over
the next several months marital and family law
attorneys will share with us how becoming parents
has altered the way they practice marital and
family law and relate to their clients on
parenting issues. MICHAEL GILDEN, provides
us with his "take" on "PARENTHOOD AND THE
PRACTITIONER" in this edition of FAMSEG.
My
friend EDDIE STEPHENS has been sharing
his case law "squibs" with members of the bench
and bar here in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit for
the past several years. Now he will
be sharing those "squibs" in a regular FAMSEG
feature called "STEPHENS' SQUIBS."
The
Publications Committee is always looking for
authors for the Section's various publications.
Information on how you can get
published in a Section publication is contained in
"WANTED: YOUR SUBMISSIONS."
In pursuit of
BUILDING BETTER RELATIONSHIPS the Section is
asking you to help us identify Section Members and
Affiliate Members who reach out to help others
by providing pro bono services or by
engaging in other types of volunteer pursuits
which improve the lives of children and families
within the State of Florida. In each
subsequent edition of FAMSEG we will be honoring a
Section "Member" of the month and "Affiliate
Member" of the month, by focusing the spotlight on
those Members' efforts to serve Florida's
families. These selections will culminate
in the designation of 1 of the honorees from
each category as the "Member" and "Affiliate
Member" of the year to be honored at the
Section's Annual Luncheon in June, 2011. We
need your help! Please see
the article authored by KIMBERLY
ROMMEL ENRIGHT and ROBIN J. SCHER describing the
nomination process in this FAMSEG.
I
would be remiss if I did not conclude this message
by extending the Section's heartfelt thanks to
ROBIN J. SCHER and JACK MOORING who each have
expended extraordinary efforts in keeping
FAMSEG active over the past several years.
My thanks to LUIS and EDDIE who have taken
over from the helm this year, especially for their
hard work in designing the new look and turning
around the publication of this edition in such an
expeditious manner.
Stay safe, healthy and
happy until the next edition of
FAMSEG,
DIANE M. KIRIGIN
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3 Tools For Building Better
Relationships
by Luis E
Insignares
Attorney At Law
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These three tools
are helpful in building relationships:
~
Taking Responsibility
~ Being Open &
Acknowledging Others
~ Being Vulnerable
All of these tools allow each of
us to serve and interact with each other and our
clients on a "personal" level versus a "business"
level, which in the eyes of your clients...makes
us human.
As lawyers, each of has to be
willing to take responsibility for any part we
play in interacting with one another. We
have to be willing to put our ego aside and
"listen" to the other person for a moment versus
thinking of what we are going to say next while
the other person is giving their opinion or view.
Often times, we don't really want to hear
what the other person is saying as we feel our
opinion is the only one that counts, therefore we
have a tendency to "close ear" while the other
person speaks wishing we would hurry so we can say
what we are thinking. This is definitely not
being open.
Being open to listening and
acknowledging each other for each other's
opinions, whether you agree or disagree, is a good
tool. It does two things...1) it makes the
receiving party feel that you were giving them the
respect that they deserve and 2) when you respond
to what they were saying, it tells them you were
listening and not tapping fingers with closed
ears. However, in responding, one must be
cautious not to "attack" the other person.
Simply stating you agree and why or disagree
and why is more beneficial as the other person
will not become defensive.
Another
tool to building better relationships is to allow
vulnerability sometimes. We as individuals
feel we must be a certain way or act a certain way
in order to gain respect. We have a tendency
to guard against hurt from others. However
what does that tell the other person......we
automatically inform them we expect them to hurt
or attack us. By being vulnerable, we show
our "human" side. We show that we have
feelings and we care what someone might
think. |
Parenthood And The Practitioner
By: Michael Gilden, Esq., Fort
Lauderdale, Florida
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As my former boss
and forever mentor, Charles Fox Miller, says, I
"had three kids in about the span of [a] car
lease". There is no doubt that having two
little boys, ages four and two, and a baby girl
expected in November, requires careful navigation
of my family law career and my family life.
I am fortunate that my wife, who is a
forensic certified public accountant, faces many
of the same challenges that I do in juggling our
daily family and work schedules. What makes
my life even better is that my wife is Superwoman:
she seems to accomplish a seemingly infinite
number of tasks each week, flawlessly.
I
have no doubt that, for me, having children has
made me a better and more caring marital law
practitioner, and it has especially improved my
relationships with my parent-clients. I have
learned that it is often comforting for a client
to hear that I have children of similar ages, and
they often enjoy it when I share with them about
my life as a parent.
As hard as we
work, my wife and I try hard to put family first.
We also try to find a little time, here and
there, to spend time alone, just the two of us.
While the definition of a "balanced life" is
different for everyone, my ultimate goal is to be
happy at work, and happy with my family, and thus,
simply happy. |
| Stephens' Squibs
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Florida Family
and
Marital Case Summaries
By Eddie
Stephens, Esquire
Early in my career I learned the value
of keeping up with current legal developments by
reviewing the weeklies, summarizing the cases that
pertain to my practice.
The end
result is a summary of ALL Florida family law
cases that have taken on the name Squibs.
These Squibs are not meant to be a
scholarly analysis but rather, a quick snapshot of
a rule of law. Over the years I've shared
these squibs with more and more attorneys, many of
whom have found the squibs useful.
Section Chair Kirigin asked me to
share these squibs each month. Since this is
our first edition of FAMSEG of the year, we have
provided squibs from the past six months.
Click here to read a summary
of these cases from January - June 2010.
A
few highlights:
Roshkind v. Machiela, 2010 Fla.
App. LEXIS 10348, (Fla. 4th DCA 2010).
Denial of charging lien reluctantly
affirmed. Certifies question: Is expert
witness testimony necessary to establish
attorney's fees due under a charging lien against
a client, who has entered into a retainer
agreement that requires all fee disputes to be
made in writing within thirty days of the bill's
receipt and has failed to object?
Herbst
v. Herbst, 35 Fla.L.Weekly D1453 (Fla. 4th DCA
2010). Court reversed for requiring Former
Husband to reimburse Former Wife 75% of her
attorney's fees where Former Wife has demonstrated
no need for reimbursement of such fees and the
record reflects that the parties have the same
approximate disposable income, we conclude that
the trial court's finding is not supported by the
record. See Satter v. Satter, 709 So.2d 617
(Fla. 4th DCA
1998).
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The Family Law Section's "MAKING A
DIFFERENCE" PUBLIC RECOGNITION PROGRAM
By: KIM ROMMEL-ENRIGHT,
ESQUIRE and ROBIN J. SCHER, ESQUIRE
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This year, the new
Section Chair Diane M. Kirigin formed an Ad
Hoc Committee to address the need for public
recognition of those attorney/judicial officers
and affiliate members of The Family Law Section of
The Florida Bar who are really making a difference
in our State. She appointed us as the
committee's Co-Chairs. By way of background,
Kim is the Pro Bono Coordinator for the
Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County and Robin
is currently in private practice, but she spent
many years also working at Legal Aid,
coincidentally, with Kim. As such, we both
have a heightened appreciation for the legal,
financial and emotional needs of the underserved
and disadvantaged in our State. Chair
Kirigin has assigned our Committee with the task
of identifying, selecting and publicly
acknowledging the efforts of The Florida Bar,
Family Law Section members (including Affiliates)
who "make a difference" in the lives
of the underserved and/or disadvantaged
in our State. Public perception of
marital and family law attorneys and those
professional and paraprofessionals who provide
forensic and/or support services to us is at an
all time low. In keeping with this year's
Section theme of "Building Better Relationships"
(as well as the Big Bar's "ONE" pro bono
program), it is the two-prong goal of this
Committee to educate the public at large about
those Section Members who "make a difference"
by providing outstanding pro bono
services or by engaging in other types of
outstanding volunteer community
activities/pursuits that improve the lives of
Florida's children and families;
and to encourage other Section
members to undertake new or continuing pro
bono/volunteer services/activities.
Beginning October, 2010 and in
each subsequent edition of FAMSEG, the Committee
will select the Section "Member" and "Affiliate
Member" of the month. Those selected will be
honored in feature articles in FAMSEG, accompanied
by press releases, and will receive recognition
plaques memorializing their service/activities.
These selected nominees will be finalists in
what will culminate in the designation of one of
the honorees from each category as the Section
"Member" and "Affiliate Member" of the Year, to be
honored at the Section's Annual Luncheon in June,
2011. We need your help in
identifying worthy nominees. We are reaching
out and soliciting nominations from the Statewide
legal service and legal aid organizations,
voluntary bar associations, judicial Circuits,
charitable, social service and humanitarian
organizations, minority, children and senior
citizen groups, and government social service
agencies. However, YOU may
already have personal knowledge of friends or
colleagues who are deserving of this recognition.
TO BE ELIGIBLE THE NOMINEE
MUST:
.
- If
the Nominee is an attorney/judicial officer, he
or she must be a member of The Florida Bar, in
good standing.
- Be
a member of The Family Law Section.
- May
be an employee or member of an organization
providing free or low cost legal services to
the disadvantaged or underserved; however,
the pro bono services or volunteer
activities for which the person is nominated
cannot arise from a work related service or
activity for which the Nominee is
paid {i.e.
as part/scope of his or her normal, everyday
workload}.
- The
Nominee's overall or cumulative pro bono
and/or volunteer service/activities record may
be considered. For the inaugural year of
the "Making A Difference" public recognition
program (the 2010-2011 Bar year), consideration
of the service/activities is not limited to the
immediate past year.
- The
pro bono and/or volunteer
service/activities must be verifiable by the
Committee.
Please assist us by sending in your
nominations today. We have provided a
NOMINATION APPLICATION link
for your convenience. If you have
any additional questions, please feel free to
contact us: KIMBERLY ROMMEL-ENRIGHT
at: 1-561-655-8944 Extension #265 or
kenright@legalaidpbc.org
or ROBIN J. SCHER at:
1-561-478-0312 or rjscher@cjamiesonlaw.com.
Instructions for submission are
on the
application. |
Wanted: Your Submissions
Articles
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Have you just
finished a case or appeal where you had to become
well-versed in a particular family-law issue?
Well, how about sharing your genius with the
rest of us?!
We are accepting submissions for
upcoming issues of The Florida Bar Journal, The
Family Law Commentator, and even FAMSEG.
The Journal
To be considered
for publication in The Florida Bar Journal, the
article should be scholarly and relate in some
manner to family law. It should be twelve to
fifteen pages in length, complete with endnotes.
Contact co-editor: Sarah
Sullivan at ssullivan@fcsl.edu
Or
co-editor: Amy Hamlin at ahamlin@helpisontheway.cc
The Commentator
Commentator articles are
theme-specific. Upcoming theme issues
include:
Summer '10 -- Children's
Issues
Further on will be issues
related to Tax Issues, Hot Tips, Alimony, and
Agreements.
Send your Commentator
submissions to Laura Davis Smith to lds@greenesmithlaw.com.
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The Family Law Section provides section
members and the public with information on
attorneys practicing in the areas of divorce,
child custody, adoption, modification of judgments
and enforcement of alimony and child support.
Family law deals with legal problems arising from
family relationship of husband and wife and parent
and child, including litigation of civil
controversies arising from those relationships. In
addition to actual pretrial and trial process,
marital and family law includes evaluating,
handling and resolving such controversies prior to
the institution of suit and post-judgment
proceedings.
Sincerely,
Diane Kirigin,
Chair
South County Courthouse
200 W.
Atlantic Ave., Ste. 217
Delray Beach, FL
33444-3664
(561)274-1410
Fax:
(561)355-1663
Email: dkirigin@pbcgov.org
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FAMSEG is a monthly electronic
newsletter. |
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2010 Legislative Update
Telephonic Seminar
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July 30, 2010
If you plan to
attend the 2010 Leadership/Legislative Conference,
you do not need to register separately for the
2010 Legislative Update. The 2010 Legislative
Update will be offered live to all who will be
attending the Leadership Conference.
Download Brochure
Register Online for the 2010
Legislative
Update |
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2010 Family Law Fall Retreat
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Date: September 30 - October 3,
2010
Location: Casa Marina resort,
Key West
Call and reserve your room today!
Reservations Telephone:
1-(888)-318-4237. Reservation Code: #ZZFBF
Island Vista Room @$149.00 and Ocean Vista
Room @ $179.00.
Download
Brochure |
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cle Hedline Navigating the Perfect Storm:
Legal Malpractice in Family Law (Telephonic
-1122R)
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