After a spouse files for divorce in Florida and while the proceedings are pending, the parties should not “intentional[ly] dissipate[e], waste, deplet[e], or [destroy] marital assets,” to quote Florida statute. Should a spouse sell or otherwise transfer or destroy...
Property Division
Who is naughty, and who is nice? Part 2
Is your soon-to-be-ex concealing assets during a Florida divorce? In today’s post, we continue our consideration of the phenomenon of a divorcing party hiding or transferring assets out of reach or knowledge of the other spouse to avoid sharing it in the divorce...
Making a list, and checking it twice, part 1
What happens if your spouse is hiding assets from you in your Florida divorce? Unfortunately, not everyone behaves honestly when faced with dividing marital property in a divorce. Soon-to-be exes may try to conceal assets to keep for themselves. Or, they might even...
Who gets what? Equitable distribution does not mean equal distribution
In a Florida divorce, marital property is divided according to the “equitable distribution” standard. As is often explained, dividing property equitably between spouses does not necessarily result in a 50-50 split of marital assets. Instead, equitable distribution is...
How much benefit is there for a pension survivor beneficiary really?
Whether Florida ex-spouses are entitled to benefit from salary and cost-of-living increases to their ex’s pension post-filingOne of the most important decisions in divorce is the division of marital property – and one of the more complex parts of that decision...
“The cold plunge”
What happens when passive investments depreciate in value after a Florida divorce filing Sometimes it takes a while to get divorced. While the legal proceeding is open and pending, economic and financial problems in the markets beyond the control of either party can...
Halloween – ‘Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!’
The scary implications of codifying Kaaa v. Kaaa for nonmarital property owners, part 2Yesterday, we introduced the issue of whether and how a Florida judge in a divorce should classify and divide passive appreciation on nonmarital real estate that secured a mortgage...
Halloween – ‘Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!’
The scary implications of codifying Kaaa v. Kaaa for nonmarital property owners, part 1When a spouse brings preowned real estate into marriage, does not add the other spouse to the title and later divorces, the nonmarital property owner may think that he or she will...
His credit card, my problem? The incurrence of marital liabilities
Did your spouse run up large credit card bills without your knowledge? Take out a consumer loan without talking to you first? Now that divorce is on the horizon, are you afraid that you might get stuck with some of that debt, which you had nothing to do with?Should...
All that glitters isn’t gold
Interspousal gifts during a Florida marriageA gift during marriage from one spouse to the other probably makes the recipient feel like the gift is their own property. It may surprise you to learn that in Florida statute, interspousal gifts during marriage are marital...