Five Legal Steps Florida LGBT Parents Should Take

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Adam B. Cordover, Attorney-at-Law

The unfortunate truth is that current Florida law is not conducive to recognizing the relationships that develop in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families. However, there are steps that Florida and Tampa Bay LGBT parents can take to boost the recognition of their parental rights.

Adoption

If LGBT parents are committed to raising a child together and recognizing each parent’s rights, I highly recommend that partners consider adopting each other’s children. This helps form an unbreakable legal bond between the children and each partner. Though the law is not completely settled in this area, the judges in Hillsborough County (including Tampa) are granting adoptions by LGBT partners. What’s more, an adoption attorney located in Hillsborough County (such as myself) can help Florida parents come before Hillsborough County judges no matter where in Florida the parents live.

Co-Parenting Agreements

Co-parenting agreements can be great evidence that LGBT partners intend to parent children together. It can boost the argument that “psychological parenting,” or the formation of a parent-like relationship between a child and a non-legal parent, has occurred and make it or more likely that parental rights will be recognized by Florida’s legal system.

Hyphenated or Unified Last Names

A hyphenated or unified last name can go a long way in demonstrating to the Florida legal system that partners intended to raise children together. For example, if partner 1 is named Jones, and partner 2 is named Smith, it would be helpful to have all partners and children’s last names hyphenated or unified, so that everyone has a last name of Jones-Smith, Smith-Jones, Smones, Jith, etc. Florida has laws to aid in legal name changes.

Domestic Partnership Registries

Tampa and many of the surrounding areas have created domestic partnership registries that can help LGBT partners put the state on notice that they are in a committed relationship. The registry provides partners rights such as healthcare visitation and healthcare decision-making authority in case of incapacity, but it may also have the ancillary effect of providing proof that a family unit and parenting partnership was intended.

Collaborative Family Law

In the event that LGBT parents break up, because Florida law is still in many ways backwards, it is best that partners utilize a private dispute resolution process such as collaborative family law rather than risk their rights not being recognized in court proceedings. In the collaborative model, attorneys are engaged solely to settle disputes privately and are contractually barred from bringing contested issues to be decided by a judge. A facilitator is engaged to keep everyone focussed on the best interests of the family and the children and to keep communication productive. A financial professional is engaged to help untangle the combined assets and debts of the parties (unlike married parties, under Florida and Federal law this is an especially technical undertaking for LGBT partners) and provide options for support.

If you want to learn more about your family law rights and schedule a consultation with a Tampa Bay family law attorney, contact The Law Firm of Adam B. Cordover, P.A., at (813) 443-0615 or fill out our online form.

About Adam B. Cordover, Attorney-at-Law

Family Diplomacy is dedicated to helping clients restructure their families privately and respectfully. We practice exclusively in out-of-court dispute resolution, with a focus on collaborative divorce and family law, mediation, direct negotiations, and unbundled legal services. We maintain this out-of-court practice because we strongly believe that family disputes should be resolved in a private conference room, not in a hostile and public courtroom environment. This unique perspective on family law stems back to Adam B. Cordover’s experience studying International Affairs in Washington, D.C., and abroad. Adam had the rare opportunity to work closely with ambassadors and diplomats from war-torn regions around the world. He traveled around the globe, learning from diplomatic leaders as they applied dispute resolution techniques to tackle seemingly impossible conflicts. It dawned on him: If these techniques can work in the complex world of International Relations, why not Domestic Relations and Family Law? This realization lead Adam to create an exclusively out-of-court practice and to bring a more peacemaking approach to family law. In his previous role as a litigation attorney, Adam witnessed parties experience the negative emotional and financial effects that long, drawn out divorce battles can have on families. As a result, Adam has become a strong proponent of the Collaborative Process, where a structure is put in place so that life’s hardest moments do not have to be any more difficult than necessary. A thought leader in the international collaborative law community, Adam successfully spearheaded an effort of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit to draft an administrative order safeguarding the principles of collaborative family law (just the fourth such administrative order in Florida). Adam has been featured in or interviewed about collaborative practice by the Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Business Journal, Florida Bar News, NBC, Fox 13, Bay News 9, ABC Action News, The World of Collaborative Practice Magazine, and Spirit FM 90.5. Adam regularly speaks at professional and civic organizations locally and internationally regarding the collaborative process. Adam B. Cordover is president of Next Generation Divorce, a 501(c)(3) and Florida’s largest interdisciplinary collaborative practice group with member attorneys, mental health professionals, and financial professionals throughout Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Sarasota, and Manatee Counties. Adam is also on the Executive Board and co-chair of the Research Committee of the Collaborative Family Law Council of Florida. Further, Adam is a graduate of the inaugural class of the Leadership Academy of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals. You can learn more about us and our services at www.FamilyDiplomacy.com. Attorney Adam B. Cordover is admitted to the Florida Bar and the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida. His office is located at 412 East Madison Street, Suite 824, Tampa, Florida 33602.

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This entry was posted in Adoption, Collaborative Divorce, Family Law Explanation, Name Change and tagged adoption, adoption entity, adoption intermediary, bisexual parental rights, bisexual rights, change of name, co-parenting, collaborative attorney, collaborative divorce, collaborative facilitator, collaborative family law, collaborative financial professional, Collaborative Law, collaborative mental health professional, collaborative practice, domestic partnership agreement, domestic partnership registration, domestic partnership registry, Florida adoption, gay adoption, gay and lesbian parents, gay marriage, gay parental rights, gay partnership agreement, gay rights, lesbian adoption, lesbian parental rights, lesbian rights, LGBT family law rights, name change, non-relative adoption, second parent adoption, Tampa Bay Adoption, Tampa Bay Collaborative Divorce, Tampa Bay Collaborative Family Law, Tampa Bay Name Change Attorney, transgender parental rights. Bookmark the permalink.