Recently, we took over a case for a gentleman who was not 100% cooperating with the divorce court regarding his divorce documents. At some point, the Judge, in laymen’s terms kind of threw out his case. At the end of the day the client did not show up for his divorce trial held in Fort Lauderdale. As a result of missing his divorce trial the Judge gave his wife almost all of the marital assets. In rough numbers the Wife was given $760,000 more than the Husband. In addition, the Divorce Judge gave the Wife $7,000 per month in permanent alimony. The problem for our client was that he earned about $8,000 per month. The alimony judgment gave him only $1,000 per month to live on. After all this took place, the client retained Schantz and Schantz Family law firm in our Weston, Florida office. After filing extensive motions, we were successful in getting the Judge to undue the entire divorce judgment. Now, our client is set for trial where he will hopefully get a much better result because he WILL come to court for his trial and will be able to present evidence before the divorce court. Taking a different point of view, the Divorce Judge in Fort Lauderdale could have told him no and to take an appeal. If the Judge ruled in that manner our client would have been forced to file an appeal with the next higher court. The appeal process can be very expensive and very time consuming. Practically speaking, it is always better to have the divorce court rule in your favor and make the opposing party appeal the issue before the Divorce Judge. In this case, the Divorce Judge was extremely reasonable and fair by giving our client is day in court.

When it’s all said and done, the client could have saved a lot of time, money for legal fees, and aggravation had he appeared for Divorce Judge in Fort Lauderdale the very first time. Lucky for our client the Divorce Judge was extremely reasonable and fair and is giving him a new day in court. The moral to the story is that if you have a trial of any kind before any kind of Judge, family court judge or any other type of judge, if you expect a reasonable result, make sure you show for the trial. If not, you can and will suffer very bad consequences.

If you need help in any family law or divorce matter in Broward, Miami-Dade, or Palm Beach Counties the family law attorney’s at Schantz and Schantz are here to help. We can be reached at 954-385-1536. Feel free to come see us at either our Weston or Coral Spring (Parkland) offices.