Special Needs Family Divorce

Divorcing spouses with children who have physical, mental, or emotional disabilities need to consider the effect of the child’s special needs on child support, child visitations, and custody. If the child’s condition requires intensive supervision or physical accommodations in the home, the noncustodial parent might need to demonstrate a willingness and ability to make adequate provision for the child’s special needs as a condition of extended sleepovers or parenting time. The noncustodial parent might also need to make child support payments that exceed certain guidelines to help ensure the ability of the parent with primary custody to provide adequate care and therapy for the child.

I have extensive experience with the negotiation and litigation of child custody and child support issues in cases where one or more children of the marriage has a condition such as autism, down syndrome, ADHD, Asperger syndrome, or other physical or mental developmental disability.

My family law firm also represents clients in divorce cases where one spouse or other has special needs related to a physical or mental disability. Such a condition can have an effect on support payments. Child custody and visitation issues can also be complicated by a parent’s limited capacity to share custody or parenting time on conventional terms. In divorce cases involving a spouse with a severe mental or emotional condition, such as bipolar disorder, it might be necessary to obtain an injunction or restraining order to preserve the marital assets from waste or improper transfers.

In extreme cases, I can even work with you to help resolve difficult choices concerning involuntary commitment of a mentally incapacitated spouse under Florida’s Baker Act.