central florida
407-920-3293
SOUTH FLORIDA
954-388-0646
407-920-3293
954-388-0646
Miami’s high-stakes divorce environment demands attorneys who understand both the complexity of South Florida’s diverse population and the technical requirements of Miami-Dade County family law courts. At Fairway Law Group, we represent clients throughout Miami-Dade County in contested divorces involving substantial assets, international complications, business valuations, and high-conflict custody disputes. With our South Florida office serving the greater Miami area, we combine local court knowledge with aggressive advocacy to protect what you’ve built.
Unlike some Florida counties that provide guidance, Miami-Dade County imposes immediate, binding restrictions through its Status Quo Temporary Domestic Relations Order. This isn’t a suggestion—it’s an order with the full force of law that takes effect the moment you file for divorce or the moment you’re served with divorce papers.
Most people learn about this order after they’ve already violated it. That’s a mistake that can cost you thousands in sanctions, damage your credibility with the judge, and undermine your entire case. Our Miami divorce attorneys ensure clients understand these automatic restrictions before taking any action that could be used against them.
The Status Quo Order was issued under Administrative Order No. 14-13 and applies to every dissolution of marriage and paternity action filed in the 11th Judicial Circuit. It remains in effect throughout your case unless modified by the presiding judge or terminated by final judgment. You can’t opt out. You can’t claim ignorance. You must comply.
The moment divorce papers are filed in Miami-Dade County, neither parent can permanently remove the children from their current county of residence without a prior court order, domestic violence injunction, or written agreement signed by both parties. This restriction is absolute and immediate.
The order’s intent is clear: maintain stability for children during divorce proceedings. You can take temporary trips within Florida, but any permanent relocation out of Miami-Dade County requires either cooperation from your spouse or court approval. This becomes particularly complex in South Florida, where families often have ties to Latin America, the Caribbean, or international business interests.
The Status Quo Order goes further: neither parent can apply for passports or passport services on behalf of the children without a court order. In Miami’s international community, where many families maintain homes or businesses abroad, this restriction can create immediate complications. Our attorneys know how to navigate these issues while protecting your children’s connection to both parents and to important family or cultural ties.
Miami-Dade’s Status Quo Order contains a provision that catches many parents off guard: if you have minor children and choose to live apart during the divorce, the parent who has the children less than the majority of the time should make voluntary child support payments immediately—before any court order requires it.
Why? Because child support can be ordered retroactive to the date of filing the petition. If you wait months for a court hearing to establish support, you’re building an arrearage that will come due all at once. The order specifically directs parents to calculate support using Florida’s Uniform Child Support Guidelines found in Section 61.30 of the Florida Statutes.
The order also warns parents to keep proof of payments and obtain signed receipts for any cash payments. In contested Miami divorces where trust is already broken, having documentation of every voluntary support payment protects you from false claims that you’ve contributed nothing.
Our Miami divorce lawyers help clients calculate their guideline support obligation early, structure appropriate voluntary payments, and document everything properly. This proactive approach prevents costly arrearages and demonstrates good faith to the court.
While other Florida counties discuss shared parenting in general terms, Miami-Dade’s Status Quo Order spells out eleven specific behavioral requirements that both parents must follow. These aren’t suggestions—they’re mandatory guidelines that judges will consider when making final custody and timesharing decisions.
Both parents must confer so that major decisions affecting the children’s welfare are determined jointly. This includes education, discipline, religion, medical care, and general upbringing. You can’t unilaterally change your child’s school, switch them to a new doctor, or make other significant decisions without the other parent’s input.
In Miami’s diverse community, where families may have different cultural approaches to education, religion, or healthcare, this requirement forces cooperation even when parents strongly disagree. Our attorneys help clients navigate these conflicts while protecting their parental rights.
The order explicitly requires each parent to “exercise, in the utmost good faith, his and her best efforts at all times to encourage and foster the maximum relations, love, and affection between the minor children of the parties and the other parent.” This goes beyond simply not blocking access—you must actively encourage your children’s relationship with the other parent.
Neither parent can impede, obstruct, or interfere with the other parent’s right to companionship with the children. In contested cases where emotions run high, this requirement becomes a weapon. If you’re restricting access, badmouthing the other parent, or creating obstacles to timesharing, expect it to be documented and used against you in court.
Each parent has the right to access records and information about the children, including medical, dental, and school records. Schools, doctors, and other service providers in Miami-Dade must provide information to both parents unless there’s a court order restricting access.
This means you can’t tell your child’s school to exclude the other parent from conferences or hide medical information. In high-conflict divorces, some parents try these tactics. They backfire spectacularly when judges learn about them.
The Status Quo Order prohibits making disparaging remarks about the other parent or quizzing children about the other parent’s private life. Children have the right to be spared from animosity between parents and should be encouraged to maintain love, respect, and affection for both parents.
The order also requires each parent to communicate directly with children about their relationship, to the extent warranted by the children’s age and maturity. You can’t expect the other parent to continually act as a “buffer” or “go-between.” If you can’t exercise timesharing, you must explain it directly to the child—not make the other parent deliver the bad news.
Both parents are entitled to participate in and attend special activities in which the children are engaged: religious activities, school programs, sports events, extracurricular activities, and important social events. Each parent should keep the other notified of these events.
In Miami, where children often participate in multiple activities—club soccer, dance, religious education, academic competitions—this requirement means both parents show up. You can’t exclude the other parent from your child’s championship game or school play just because you’re getting divorced.
The Status Quo Order includes several other specific requirements that parents often overlook:
Violating any of these requirements can be grounds for modifying custody, reducing timesharing, or imposing sanctions.
Just like Orange County, Miami-Dade requires all parties to dissolution proceedings with minor children to complete the Parent Education and Family Stabilization Course. The deadline is strict: Petitioners must complete it within 45 days of filing; Respondents must complete it within 45 days of service.
The presiding judge may excuse a party for good reason, but don’t count on it. The course is mandatory in contested and uncontested cases. Each party pays their own cost, and no one can be refused permission to attend because of inability to pay.
If you fail to comply, the court will schedule an Order to Show Cause hearing where you must demonstrate why you haven’t completed the course. The judge may impose sanctions including staying all proceedings—meaning your divorce stops moving forward until you comply. In a contested case where timing can be strategically important, this delay can be devastating.
Miami-Dade’s order explicitly prohibits both parties from engaging in physical, verbal, or any other form of harassment of the other, “including, but not limited to, acts done in person or by telephone, email, or text messaging at their residence or at work.”
In the age of smartphones and social media, this provision is more important than ever. Angry text messages at 2 AM, harassing calls to your spouse’s workplace, or vitriolic emails copied to family members all violate this order. Our attorneys counsel clients on appropriate communication boundaries during divorce, including using communication apps designed for co-parents and limiting contact to essential matters concerning children or case logistics.
Miami-Dade’s Status Quo Order imposes comprehensive restrictions on how parties can handle assets during divorce. These restrictions are designed to preserve the marital estate for equitable distribution and prevent one spouse from hiding, wasting, or transferring assets before the court can divide them.
Neither party can conceal, damage, or dispose of any asset—whether jointly or separately owned. You can’t dissipate asset value by adding mortgages to real estate. You can’t cancel utilities including telephone, electric, or water and sewer services.
While you can spend your income in the ordinary course of business, personal, and family affairs, you cannot conceal, hoard, or waste jointly-owned funds except to pay for necessities of life. Any use of funds or income after separation must be justified as reasonable and necessary for necessities, preservation of marital assets, or payment of marital debts.
Attorney’s fees and costs are considered necessities and must be accounted for by each party. Both parties are accountable for all money or property in their possession after separation and during the divorce proceedings.
If you violate this provision, you’ll be required to render an accounting and may be sanctioned for wasting a marital asset. In high-asset Miami divorces involving businesses, investments, or real estate portfolios, these restrictions become critically important.
Any insurance policies in effect when the petition was filed cannot be terminated, allowed to lapse, modified, borrowed against, pledged, or otherwise encumbered by either party. This includes medical, hospital, and dental insurance for the other party or the children.
Neither party can change beneficiaries of existing life insurance policies. All policies must be maintained in full force and effect without change of terms unless both parties agree in writing. All premiums must continue to be paid in full on a timely basis.
In Miami’s business community, where life insurance is often used for estate planning, buy-sell agreements, or wealth transfer strategies, these restrictions can create complications that require careful legal navigation.
Neither party can incur unreasonable debts or additional personal debt that would bind the other spouse. This includes further borrowing against credit lines secured by the family residence, further encumbering assets, or unreasonably using credit cards or taking cash advances.
The order “strongly urges” parties to temporarily refrain from using joint credit cards except for absolute necessities and only as a last resort. The language is blunt: “Abuse of credit, especially the other spouse’s credit, offends the court’s sense of equity and will be dealt with accordingly.”
Our Miami divorce attorneys help clients understand what constitutes “reasonable” debt during divorce and how to document necessary expenses while avoiding actions that could be characterized as waste or abuse of credit.
The Status Quo Order prohibits either party from concealing or destroying any family records, business records, or any records of income, debt, or other obligations. In Miami’s business-heavy environment where many divorces involve closely-held companies, professional practices, or international investments, this provision prevents one spouse from making crucial financial records disappear.
Miami-Dade also requires parties to attend mediation prior to any final hearing or as otherwise ordered by the court. The circuit provides in-house mediators, or parties can use private mediators. Mediation is mandatory unless there’s a prior court order, domestic violence injunction, or written agreement to the contrary.
The presiding judge will sanction any party who fails, without good cause, to comply with the rules pertaining to production of financial records and documents, or who fails to answer interrogatories or attend depositions. When setting hearings, conferences, and depositions, attorneys must make a good faith effort to coordinate dates and times with opposing counsel.
Failure to comply with any terms of the Status Quo Order may result in appropriate sanctions. An evidentiary hearing on a motion seeking enforcement or modification of the order gets priority on the court’s calendar—meaning violations are taken seriously and dealt with quickly.
Miami’s divorce landscape is unlike anywhere else in Florida. International assets, complex business structures, cultural considerations, and high-net-worth estates require attorneys who understand both the legal technicalities and the practical realities of South Florida life.
At Fairway Law Group, we focus on contested divorces where cooperation has broken down and stakes are high. We represent business owners, executives, professionals, and high-net-worth individuals throughout Miami-Dade County. From our South Florida office in Deerfield Beach, we serve clients throughout the greater Miami area, including Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Aventura, Kendall, Brickell, Coconut Grove, and throughout Miami-Dade County.
We understand the 11th Judicial Circuit’s procedures, know the family law judges, and have deep experience with the Status Quo Order’s requirements. More importantly, we know how to use these rules strategically—both to protect our clients and to hold the other party accountable when they violate the order.
We handle the full spectrum of contested family law matters:
The Status Quo Order takes effect immediately upon filing or service. Every day matters when your children’s custody, your assets, and your financial future are at stake. Don’t navigate Miami-Dade’s complex divorce process without experienced counsel who knows the local rules and uses them to your advantage.
Call our South Florida office at (954) 388-0646 to schedule your free and confidential consultation. We’ll review your situation, explain how the Miami-Dade Status Quo Order affects your case, and outline your strategic options. Get the local expertise and aggressive representation your Miami divorce demands.
Hire us before your spouse does.
Fairway Law Group – South Florida Office
1430 S Federal Hwy, Suite 200
Deerfield Beach, FL 33441
(954) 388-0646
Serving Miami, Miami Beach, Coral Gables, Aventura, Kendall, Brickell, Coconut Grove, and all of Miami-Dade County in contested divorce and complex family law matters.
Brian and Matthew are amazing attorneys. They handled a sensitive legal matter for me. Call them if you need a lawyer you can trust.
"*" indicates required fields