Rafool, PLLC

Where the firm puts its focus

Family law is the core of this Miami firm's work, and the range within that field is wide. The firm handles divorce, child custody, child support, and time-sharing and visitation. Time-sharing is the term Florida courts now use for the schedule that sets when a child is with each parent, and it often becomes the most contested part of a divorce. Child support runs on a state formula, though income that is hard to document can turn a routine calculation into a fight.

The list continues into paternity, prenuptial agreements, alimony, and post-judgment modification and enforcement. Paternity cases decide legal fatherhood, which then opens the door to custody and support rights. A prenuptial agreement is signed before a marriage to set terms in advance, and it can save years of argument later. Post-judgment modification matters in practice, because a custody or support order often needs revisiting years after a judge signs it.

The work reaches past the standard divorce file. Rafool, PLLC handles domestic violence matters and restraining orders, where a court can act quickly to protect a person before a full hearing. It also takes on international and cross-border custody and asset disputes, the kind that pull in more than one court system. In my opinion, a family law team that names cross-border disputes on its own site is signaling comfort with the harder end of the caseload.

What the litigation practice covers

The firm's litigation work runs alongside the family cases and splits into four named areas. It lists civil litigation, commercial litigation, entertainment litigation, and eDiscovery. Civil and commercial litigation cover disputes between people and between businesses over contracts, property, and money owed. Most of these cases settle before trial, so a good deal of the work is in the filings and negotiations that come first.

Entertainment litigation is a narrower field, and its presence lines up with the firm's stated work for public figures. eDiscovery is the process of finding, preserving, and producing electronic records once a case is underway. Emails, messages, and stored files all fall under it, and in a large dispute that work can shape the result. Handling it in-house tells a client the firm is set up for cases that turn on volumes of digital evidence.

How the team is built

The firm lists ten attorneys, led by Raymond J. Rafool, II. The roster names Seth J. Rutman, Dolly Hernandez, Patricia Montes de Oca, and Omar K. Ibrahem. It also names Raymond J. Rafool, III, Melissa L. Kanoff, Rebecca R. Bordoli, Kaylin R. Cohen, and Ariana Kravetz.

Ten lawyers is a real bench for a boutique firm. A team that size can staff a contested divorce and a separate litigation matter at the same time, and it gives a client more than one lawyer who knows a file. The firm's site does not state a founding year.

Where money makes a case harder

The firm states that it works with high-net-worth individuals, public figures, and professionals. Those clients bring divorces where the money is the hard part of the case. Between them they can hold businesses, real estate, and accounts that take real work to sort. The firm addresses equitable distribution, business valuation, and the search for hidden assets.

Each of those areas carries its own process. Equitable distribution is Florida's method for dividing marital property, and it starts from a presumption of an even split before a court weighs reasons to move off it. Business valuation brings in accountants and appraisers to put a number on a company that one spouse owns, and that number can swing a settlement by a wide margin. Tracing hidden assets can mean subpoenas, bank records, and at times a forensic accountant who follows money through accounts. As a reviewer, I read the firm's attention to these questions as a fit with the high-net-worth clients it names.

How a Florida divorce tends to move

A contested divorce in Florida runs through set stages, and knowing them helps a client read what a firm like this one does day to day. It opens with a petition and a response, then a required exchange of financial information that lists income, assets, and debts. Most courts send the parties to mediation before a judge will set a trial date. The firm's family law services line up with each of these steps, including the final judgment and any modification that follows it.

Money often decides how long that path takes. When a couple owns a business or holds assets in more than one place, the financial discovery stretches, and the valuation work the firm handles becomes central. A case with clear finances can close in months, while a disputed high-asset divorce can run past a year.

Access and reach across Florida

The office is in Miami, and the firm represents clients throughout the state. That statewide reach matters in family law, where a parent may move to another county while a case is still open. The firm also offers video conference meetings, which helps a client who lives a long drive from Miami keep a case moving.

The firm keeps a presence on Facebook, Instagram, and X, which fits a practice that names public figures among its clients. Both its litigation work and its family law core run from a single Miami office, and the same ten-lawyer roster covers them.