Keeping the Holidays Happy: How to Navigate the Holidays as a Divorced Family

The holidays are a special time of year for families and young children - so how do you keep the magic of the holiday season after divorce? The key is good co-parenting. Effective co-parenting will ensure that the divorce has minimal impact on your children, especially during the holidays. There are three steps to effective co-parenting during the holidays:

Step 1: Plan Ahead – When Walmart starts pulling out their holiday decorations, you should be pulling out a copy of your Parenting Plan. What does the Parenting Plan say about holiday timesharing? Is it clear? Does your child’s school schedule this year in some way impact or change the way you have shared holiday time in prior years? These are all questions to ask yourself early on in order to clear up any misunderstandings about the holiday schedule. Communicate your understanding of the holiday schedule to your co-parent well in advance and confirm all dates, times and drop off/pick up locations with him/her.

Step 2: Don’t Be Afraid to Compromise – Neither your attorney nor the judge had a crystal ball when your Parenting Plan was first established. Because of this, special circumstances, events and opportunities may arise during the holidays that were not contemplated in your Parenting Plan. It’s often difficult to compromise during the holiday season since this time is so special with your children; however, always keep your children’s best interests in mind and know that there will likely be a time in the future in which you will be asking your co-parent to be reasonable with a schedule change during the holidays. If you’ve completed Step 1, you have likely sorted this out well in advance to prevent any added stress during the holiday.

Step 3: Be Together – Just because you are divorced doesn’t mean that you have to spend time with your children separately. If you have maintained an effective co-parenting relationship with your former spouse, plan some time to do something together with your children. Whether it is attending a holiday religious service, school function or simply opening a few gifts together, these brief moments of unity will have a positive impact on your children.

From our Older, Lundy & Alvarez Family to your Family, we wish you a warm and HAPPY Holiday season!

Happy Holidays from Michael Lundy, Founding Partner

As this year comes to an end, I write to express my sincere gratitude to you. If you are receiving this email, you may be a friend, a colleague, a client, or someone that referred a client to the firm. You may fit into more than one or even all of these categories. Whatever the case, your trust and your loyalty mean more to me than I could ever express in this email.

In my line of work, I see both the best and the worst that people can be. I try to learn from the people I represent and even from those that are adverse so that I can be a better father, husband and business-owner with each passing year. One thing I know for sure is that your decision about which attorney to choose is a uniquely important one, which likely will have long lasting implications in your life, and often is a decision that is made in a moment of great confusion or upset. I am sincerely humbled when that choice is me or another attorney in my firm.

I believe that Older Lundy & Alvarez has become the best law firm in all of Tampa Bay for many reasons. We have attracted extraordinary attorneys in order to expand our practice areas and offer our clients a home for almost any legal need. We will forever be committed to giving you our best work, and to taking care of your friends and family in the same manner we took care of you. I make this as a promise today, tomorrow, in the New Year and for as long as I am practicing law. We will always be here when you need us.

I wish you a holiday season filled with warmth, happiness and love and hope you can spend time with the people that matter most to you. May 2019 bring you all that you deserve and more.

Sincerely,
Michael Lundy

p.s. Our office will be closed during all of the major holidays. Be sure you have the mobile phone number of the attorney with who you are working. But if something comes up and you have nowhere else to turn in an emergency, please call me at 813-598-2074.

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David Fall's article on "Get A Trust And You Can Tell Creditors To Go Away."

A trust is still one of the most popular estate planning documents due in large part to its versatility and asset protection characteristics. The creator of a trust (usually referred to as the "settlor" or "grantor") can create a trust during his or her lifetime or create a trust through his or her will. There are various types of trusts, each having its own benefits and liabilities, and a trust can be written to accomplish a wide variety of goals.

In a trust, the grantor relinquishes control of any property contributed to that trust to the trustee of that trust. However, through the terms of the trust, the grantor determines the beneficiaries of the trust and under what conditions the income and principal of the trust can be distributed to the beneficiaries by the trustee.

For more information on the benefits of having a trust, click here to read a recent article on the subject by, David Fall, a member of OLA's Corporate & Tax Estate & Probate Law Practice Group.

Older Lundy & Alvarez Welcomes: Margaux Payor

Margaux Payor specializing in Family and Marital Law.
 For full bio, click here.

Hillsborough County Bar Association - Lawyer Magazine

Hillsborough County Bar Association January/February 2018
Lawyer Magazine Vol. 28, No. 3 Check out the latest edition of Lawyer Magazine featuring TWO articles written by Older Lundy and Alvarez attorneys, Michael Lundy & David Fall.

Click here to view and/or download:

David Fall's article on "Surviving Spouses Can Elect to Receive More Property From Your Estate."

The Florida legislature recently made several important amendments to Florida’s elective share statutes. This article describes some of the key changes and how those changes bring great news to the surviving spouses of deceased Florida residents. In Florida, despite the terms of any will attempting to disinherit him or her, the surviving spouse of a deceased Florida resident is entitled to what’s called an “elective share” of the decedent’s property equal to 30% of the elective estate. The “elective estate” consists of the decedent’s probate estate plus certain property that is omitted from the probate estate, such as the homestead and property jointly owned in a right of survivorship form. This means that the decedent’s surviving spouse can elect to receive a potentially larger portion of the decedent’s property than that left to him or her in the decedent’s will. Moreover, the elective share is in addition to other rights afforded surviving spouses, such as entitlement to homestead protection, creditor exempt property, and the family allowance.

Click here to read the full article.