Cheryl Gentry was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1955. Her family moved to Titusville, Florida in 1963 because of her father's employment in the space industry. The Apollo Space Program ended during Cheryl's senior year of high school. Thus, her father decided to return to college to complete his undergraduate education. Interestingly, Cheryl and her father attended the University of Central Florida (it was then called Florida Technological University) in Orlando, Florida at the same time. Cheryl (and her father) majored in Business, and Cheryl graduated with high honors in March, 1976 with dual degrees in Marketing and Management.
In April, 1976 (at 20 years old) Cheryl became a Merchandise Manager for the J.C. Penney Company in Winter Park, Florida. As such she was responsible for the selection, purchase, and presentation of retail goods within several different departments of that store. She was also charged with balancing the over $1 million dollar budget for those departments, meeting sales estimates by department, and maintaining salary costs and productivity standards.
But Cheryl wanted to be a lawyer and finally by September, 1978 she had saved enough money to go to law school. She graduated from Florida State University College of Law in 1981, Cheryl was an Assistant State Attorney in Tallahassee for six (6) years. She began working in the criminal traffic division prosecuting DUIs under the then-new enhanced 1992 DUI law. She later moved into the felony division prosecuting all levels of felony crimes.
In May, 1989, Cheryl left the State Attorney's Office and opened her private law practice where she equally focused on criminal defense and family law. Although the unique challenges associated with death penalty and other complex criminal litigation was exciting and challenging, Cheryl stopped accepting criminal cases in 2003 to concentrate her law practice exclusively on family law matters. In 2006, she also began to mediate family law cases.
During the next decade, Cheryl continued to aggressively and effectively represent her clients in all areas of family law. She is well respected in the legal community for her thoroughness, knowledge of the law, and her ability to evaluate the facts/evidence unique to each case. Her business background allows her to quickly understand complex business and financial issues.
Over the years, Cheryl has come to realize parenting/children issues were never really designed "in the law" to be fairly or appropriately ruled on by a judge. No child should ever have to talk to a judge about his/her parents or their parent's divorce. Moreover, Florida law provides "parental rights" to parents, yet children do not have similar "rights" in Court. When parents cannot agree on parenting/children issues, the parent's attorney must provide their client with a clear, complete and honest explanation of the law and their opinion of how the law may impact a judge's ruling. It is also critical that parents actually hear what their attorney is saying. Simply, for children, parents litigating parenting/children issues stinks. Thus, if parents are able to reach some compromise on their children, even if is not a perfect solution, it can be better for the children than a difficult/hurtful fight. Of course, if a reasonable agreement cannot be reached, going before the judge may be the only option.
Since January 2014, Cheryl has limited her practice to mediating family law cases. She has found it extremely rewarding to help attorneys and their clients successfully resolve issues. When parties walk out of mediation with a signed agreement, it may signify the end of one chapter in their lives, but it also allows parties and their children to focus and move forward with that next chapter.
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Cheryl is divorced with two (2) wonderful adult children, an amazing/fabulous granddaughter, and two (2) sweet cats.
In April, 1976 (at 20 years old) Cheryl became a Merchandise Manager for the J.C. Penney Company in Winter Park, Florida. As such she was responsible for the selection, purchase, and presentation of retail goods within several different departments of that store. She was also charged with balancing the over $1 million dollar budget for those departments, meeting sales estimates by department, and maintaining salary costs and productivity standards.
But Cheryl wanted to be a lawyer and finally by September, 1978 she had saved enough money to go to law school. She graduated from Florida State University College of Law in 1981, Cheryl was an Assistant State Attorney in Tallahassee for six (6) years. She began working in the criminal traffic division prosecuting DUIs under the then-new enhanced 1992 DUI law. She later moved into the felony division prosecuting all levels of felony crimes.
In May, 1989, Cheryl left the State Attorney's Office and opened her private law practice where she equally focused on criminal defense and family law. Although the unique challenges associated with death penalty and other complex criminal litigation was exciting and challenging, Cheryl stopped accepting criminal cases in 2003 to concentrate her law practice exclusively on family law matters. In 2006, she also began to mediate family law cases.
During the next decade, Cheryl continued to aggressively and effectively represent her clients in all areas of family law. She is well respected in the legal community for her thoroughness, knowledge of the law, and her ability to evaluate the facts/evidence unique to each case. Her business background allows her to quickly understand complex business and financial issues.
Over the years, Cheryl has come to realize parenting/children issues were never really designed "in the law" to be fairly or appropriately ruled on by a judge. No child should ever have to talk to a judge about his/her parents or their parent's divorce. Moreover, Florida law provides "parental rights" to parents, yet children do not have similar "rights" in Court. When parents cannot agree on parenting/children issues, the parent's attorney must provide their client with a clear, complete and honest explanation of the law and their opinion of how the law may impact a judge's ruling. It is also critical that parents actually hear what their attorney is saying. Simply, for children, parents litigating parenting/children issues stinks. Thus, if parents are able to reach some compromise on their children, even if is not a perfect solution, it can be better for the children than a difficult/hurtful fight. Of course, if a reasonable agreement cannot be reached, going before the judge may be the only option.
Since January 2014, Cheryl has limited her practice to mediating family law cases. She has found it extremely rewarding to help attorneys and their clients successfully resolve issues. When parties walk out of mediation with a signed agreement, it may signify the end of one chapter in their lives, but it also allows parties and their children to focus and move forward with that next chapter.
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Cheryl is divorced with two (2) wonderful adult children, an amazing/fabulous granddaughter, and two (2) sweet cats.
