Barbara Helm Peters, Esq.
Barbara Peters is a Board Certified Marital and Family Law Attorney with over 25 years of experience as a trial attorney and zealous advocate focusing primarily on Family Law. She compassionately represents clients going through some of the most difficult times of their lives. Mrs. Peters handles cases dealing with all aspects of marital and family law, including divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage), paternity, time-sharing, and parenting plans (formerly known as custody actions), child support, alimony, adoptions, dependency, and injunctions.
As a Board Certified Specialist in Marital and Family Law, Mrs. Peters has met The Florida Bar’s highest standards for special knowledge, skills, and proficiency in marital and family law and professionalism and ethics in the practice of law. She has dedicated herself to achieving a heightened level of excellence through character, professionalism, ethics, and credibility in the practice of law. To become a Board Certified Specialist, Mrs. Peters had to demonstrate substantial involvement in the area of marital and family law, pass a comprehensive examination that evaluates a high level of knowledge, skills, and expertise in marital and family law, and undergo a rigorous peer-review process that assesses competence in marital and family law as well as professionalism and ethics in the practice of law. She must continue to satisfy continuing legal education requirements, which are more robust than what The Florida Bar requires attorneys to satisfy for continued licensure in the general practice of law. Mrs. Peters is proud to bring this expertise in helping her clients.
In addition to being a Board Certified Specialist, Ms. Peters is also a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Law Mediator and is trained in Collaborative Law. She frequently acts as a Guardian Ad Litem on behalf of children in family law proceedings, where she reports to the Court regarding the children’s best interests. She has also been appointed as an Attorney Ad Litem for children aging out of foster care.
She was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1995 and started her legal career as an Assistant Public Defender with the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Public Defender’s Office, handling misdemeanor and felony jury trials. Since joining the firm in 1998, she has had an active trial practice handling both criminal and family cases, until devoting 100% of her practice toward family law. Attorney Peters is a member of the Florida Bar Association, the Brevard County Bar Association, and the Family Law Section of the Florida Bar.
Mrs. Peters graduated Magna Cum Laude in receiving her Juris Doctorate from Boston College Law School in 1995 and was further honored by being named to the Order of the Coif, a legal honor society. While in law school, she served as a representative of the Law Students Association for two years. Prior to attending law school, Mrs. Peters graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She was a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society and Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority.
Mrs. Peters served as a board member of the Brevard County Bar Association from 2010 through 2012 and was awarded the Board Member of the Year award for the 2010-2011 term. She received recognition for her outstanding services to the community in 2009 and 2011 from Brevard Legal Aid. She has participated in the Justice Teaching Program, which engages elementary and middle school students in discussions about their constitutional rights. Mrs. Peters has been a registered volunteer with the Brevard County Schools and was a board member of her local elementary school PTO. She has volunteered as a coach, mentor, judge, and chairperson of the Brevard County Bar Association Mock Trial Competition. In April 2000, Mrs. Peters received the Professionalism Award from the Brevard County Bar Association “for her tireless pursuit and practice of the highest ideals and tenets of the legal profession and for consistently demonstrating the essential attributes of professionalism: Character, Competence, and Commitment”.
Ms. Peters is married to her wonderful husband, Ron, and is a mom to three beautiful daughters and one terrific stepson. Mrs. Peters loves to go to the beach, watch softball, and spend time with her family, including her toy poodle and Rhodesian Ridgeback.