Today is #WorldPublicServiceDay!
Florida Cancellation
Not everyone can apply for a cancellation. Cancellation in Florida is only granted under certain circumstances. For example, fraud is a valid reason to request an annulment. If a person consents to a marriage based on willful misrepresentation, it is considered cheating. In other words, trying to get someone to marry you by lying about something important is cheating and would annul the marriage. What matters is that the misrepresentation is something substantial and that the victim of the fraud relied on the misrepresentation in consenting to the marriage. If you look at the case law you will see that it would be important to marry without intending to live together as a spouse or not disclosing an existing marriage. Failure to disclose that a person is still married also faces the legal issue of bigamy.
Bigamy is not only a ground for nullity when it is a matter of cheating on another in order to get married. It is a cause of nullity in itself. You cannot marry if a person is already married. In fact, bigamy is a third-degree felony in Florida. It is also one of the most commonly claimed grounds for annulment.
Divorce and Confidentiality
In Florida, all divorce cases are public knowledge. Florida has an extensive Public Records Act. In fact, most domestic relationship cases are public records, including paternity cases and child support cases. The main exception to the Florida Public Records Act is adoption cases. Adoption records are not public records. Adoption files are sealed and require a court order to be opened. The only people who can obtain adoption records are the parties to the promotion. The purpose of keeping these records sealed is to protect the children involved. Along with adoption cases, parental rights waiver cases and dependency cases are also not public records.
If the records are public, it means anyone can get information about a person’s divorce or other domestic relationship cases. You do not have to be part of the promotion to receive information. This information can be obtained from the clerk of the court for the county where the case was filed. The final divorce decree can also be viewed at the Florida Office of Vital Statistics, and documents can be obtained for a fee. What differs from county to county is how public records are made available. In some counties, all divorce records and other domestic relationship records can be accessed online through the court clerk’s website. However, you often only see the title of the document stored in the case, but not the content of the document.
How do criminal records affect child custody?
A family judge has a wide discretion when making a child custody decision. The judge will give weight to various factors in his decision-making process, including:
- type and nature of the offense
- age at the time of sentencing
- type and length of sentence for the conviction
- number of convictions in your file
- victim of the crime