FORGES A NEW PATH FOR FLORIDA
By Matthew Brickman
Matthew Brickman, a leading family and divorce mediator in Florida and founder of iMediate Inc., has helped to support same-sex marriage quality for gay marriage and divorce being one of the first mediation groups to provide premarital marriage education and divorce mediation to the LGBT community.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Feb. 2, 2016 -- Same-sex marriage in Florida became legal on January 6, 2015, as a result of a temporary injunction issued by a U.S. district court in the case of Brenner v. Scott, in which the state's same-sex marriage ban had been found unconstitutional on August 21, 2014. As iMediate Inc began to offer same-sex pre-marriage education and same-sex divorce mediation services. Matthew Brickman was one of the first to publicly address the issue in Florida where none of the 10 family court judges in the 15th Judicial Circuit (Palm Beach County) would be signing off on any same-sex divorces until the Supreme Court later in 2015. On June 26th, the US Supreme Court has struck down the bans on same-sex marriage in a historic 5-4 ruling. In the State of Florida this meant that the gay, lesbian and transgender community can get married and also get divorced as well. He posted a video "2015 Same Sex Marriage and Divorce -The Year in Recap" on his YouTube Channel which can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5UTNtvECRE
As cases began coming in Mr. Brickman also addressed the issues associated with these marriages included the fact that same sex marriages were creating caselaw and normality within the judicial system one case at a time. He also highlighted how heterosexual couples have a husband and wife but same sex couples only have spouses. Also if there are children are involved, the child is most certainly not born within the marriage. Hear details about the first same sex mediation divorce conducted by Mr. Brickman in this video interview. Case History and Challenges That We Faced: • The judge initially wasn't sure they could take jurisdiction over the case so it was delayed. • The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June 2015 allowed the judge to move forward with the case. • The relationship originally began as a civil union in the late 2000's in a state that allowed same sex marriage. • The two women in the relationship had a child so there was a biological mother who got pregnant through in vitro fertilization and a legal mother. • The parenting plan had to be gender neutral, not "Mom" or "Dad", it had to say "parent". • The plan could not read "Parent 1" and "Parent 2" as to not create a powerplay. • The language had to be extremely explicit to address the specific language that schools and medical institutions require to allow the legal parent access to records (the biological parent is already entitled to these rights). • Emotions ran extremely high with the women as there was a true ownership of the child and the child was a possession. He went on to say, "Creating the parenting plan was a delicate tightrope of issues to walk...but we got through it."
Key Takeaways and Major Wins in a Same-Sex Mediation Divorce Case: 1. Having the court recognize the civil union, domestic partnership or marriage of the two parties is huge. 2. Having the court recognize that the children are the children of the parties (one delegated the biological and one the legal parent). 3. Shared parental responsibility is a major win even though this is standard practice in conventional divorce. 4. 50/50 Timesharing. Conducting same-sex divorces takes patience, skill, understanding and absolutely no judgement, condemnation or bias. All political, personal and religious beliefs must be left at the door more than ever. More information is available at the following page on the corporate website: http://www.ichatmediation.com/same-sex-marriage-divorce/
iMediate Inc has been prepared to handle same-sex divorce for months in anticipation of this decision and also handles mediation for a variety of matters including small claims, civil, and family cases involving disputes between couples with children, building contractors, small business mergers, bedding stores, auto accidents through State Farm Insurance, landscaping companies, neighbor disputes, construction companies and even home owners associations. More information is available at the following page on the corporate website: http://www.ichatmediation.com/same-sex-marriage-divorce/ For more information on same-sex marriage premarital counseling and same-sex divorce mediation contact Matthew Brickman at (877) 822-1479 or call **iMediate from any cell phone and visit http://www.ichatmediation.com Check his mediation calendar for availability to schedule your next mediation.
About Matthew Brickman: Matthew Brickman has been certified by the Supreme Court of Florida as a county civil family mediator who has worked in the 15th and 19th Judicial Circuit Courts since 2009 and 2006 respectively. He is also an appellate certified mediator who has mediated a variety of small claims, civil, and family cases that number in the hundreds. If you are a law firm and wish to schedule your mediation you can use this form to schedule your mediation online: Law Firm Scheduler If you are an individual and wish to schedule your mediation you can use this form to schedule your mediation online: Individual Mediation Scheduler
iChatMediation - Family Mediation Services 1200 Town Center Drive #424 Jupiter, FL 33458 (877) 822-1479 (561) 262-9121 or call **iMediate from any cell phone
ADDITIONAL LINKS
3 Reasons You Should Choose Online Virtual Mediation Child Custody Mediation: Florida Child Custody Laws Same Sex Marriage and Divorce iMediate Inc. Pricing Structure Top-10-Reasons-to-Mediate_iMediate_Inc