{"id":308208,"date":"2026-06-15T19:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T19:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/308208\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T19:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T19:08:09","slug":"fort-lauderdale-lawyer-faces-divorce-related-felony-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/308208\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Lauderdale lawyer faces divorce-related felony charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Felony charges related to an ongoing divorce filed four years ago got a Fort Lauderdale lawyer suspended by the state Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p>The Florida Bar requested an interim felony suspension for personal injury attorney Michael Wallace, who entered not guilty pleas to felony aggravated eluding and fleeing and, in a separate case, written threat to kill.<\/p>\n<p>Wallace joined the Florida Bar in 2015 and had a clean discipline record.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/local\/community\/broward\/article315745640.html\">READ MORE: Father-and-son Fort Lauderdale lawyers face discipline for impugning a judge<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Both cases remain in progress. Though separate cases, according to the arrest paperwork, both involve Wallace\u2019s estranged wife, who filed for divorce in April 2022. A week before filing for divorce, she obtained a domestic violence restraining order against Wallace that ran until July 21, 2022.<\/p>\n<p>She got another domestic violence restraining order against Wallace on April 9, 2024, that ran until Oct. 24 of that year.<\/p>\n<p>911 call in Sunrise<\/p>\n<p>The second restraining order was in effect when, according to an arrest report, Sunrise police answered a June 2, 2024, 911 call from the house Wallace and his wife had shared. Wallace\u2019s estranged wife made the call after seeing the alarm had been activated.<\/p>\n<p>She \u201crequested police be dispatched because she believed her ex-husband had made entry into her home unlawfully and without her consent which he has done in the past,\u201d the arrest report said. \u201cIt should be noted, the alarm company made contact with [Wallace] who gave an improper passcode, but was confirmed to be on the property.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The arrest report says another Sunrise police case backed up Wallace\u2019s estranged wife\u2019s statement that he no longer lived there.<\/p>\n<p>                                          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Michael Wallace attorne_fitted (1).jpeg\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"676\" title=\"Michael Wallace attorne_fitted (1).jpeg\" alt=\"Michael William Wallace\"\/>                                                                                    Michael William Wallace                                                                                                                                                                        The Florida Bar                                                                                        <\/p>\n<p>Officers saw Wallace leave the house, the arrest report said, and get into his black, 2016 GMC Yukon in the driveway. As Wallace drove toward the development\u2019s exit, Sunrise police say officers in a marked police car hit the lights and siren to halt Wallace for a traffic stop.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of pulling over, the arrest report said, Wallace \u201ctook off at a high-rate of speed to flee from the officers. [Wallace] failed to stop at a stop sign as he was exiting the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The chase narrative said Wallace blew through another stop sign, at Key Lime Way and Northwest Eighth Street, then accelerated back to \u201ca high rate of speed in a willful and wanton disregard for the safety of persons and property\u201d while holding his cellphone out of the driver\u2019s side window.<\/p>\n<p>Officers followed Wallace to his apartment at the Solero at Plantation complex in Plantation. The arrest report says he managed to get inside his apartment, but surrendered after coming out to his balcony and not speaking to officers for five minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Wallace stayed similarly silent, as is his right, after being arrested. He remains charged with aggravated fleeing and eluding at high speed and misdemeanor petit theft plus two traffic citations for running stop signs.<\/p>\n<p>Real threat or emotional outburst?<\/p>\n<p>An arrest warrant from Sunrise police says that on Aug. 29, 2025, Wallace \u201cunlawfully transmitted a text message to his attorney, Lawrence Meltzer, outlining his intention to kill\/cause great bodily harm to\u201d a person with the same initials as Wallace\u2019s estranged wife.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Gottlieb, Wallace\u2019s current criminal defense attorney, argued in a motion to dismiss any such statements because they were just part of a \u201chighly emotional\u201d years-long legal fight and made in privileged conversations between Wallace and his attorney.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe alleged \u2018threats\u2019 were not communicated to the alleged victim and were immediately followed by clarifying statements expressing emotional exhaustion, not intent,\u201d Gottlieb wrote. \u201cAdditionally, the statements were only taken as threats by Meltzer once Wallace told Meltzer that he wanted a refund. Meltzer did not express concern for the safety or well-being of the wife or of Wallace, who also expressed a desire to \u2018murk\u2019 himself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The charge of writing a threat to kill remains pending.<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/profile\/218644265\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781550489_654_695 Miami Herald sig 072115 Cropped.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Profile Image of David J. Neal\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <a class=\"author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/profile\/218644265\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">David J. Neal<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    Miami Herald<\/p>\n<p>            Since 1989, David J. Neal\u2019s domain at the Miami Herald has expanded to include writing about Panthers (NHL and FIU), Dolphins, old school animation, food safety, fraud, naughty lawyers, bad doctors and all manner of breaking news. He drinks coladas whole. He does not work Indianapolis 500 Race Day.\n            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Felony charges related to an ongoing divorce filed four years ago got a Fort Lauderdale lawyer suspended by&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-308208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}