Blog

A divorce in Florida is known as a dissolution of marriage, and divorces can be either simplified or regular. Simplified divorces occur when both spouses petition the court for the divorce and are in complete agreement about how everything should be handled. In a regular divorce, only one spouse petitions the court for the divorce, and the other must respond to that petition.

Regular divorces can be even further broken down into uncontested and contested. Uncontested divorces happen when both spouses agree on how to divide marital assets and debts, handle child custody, or determine alimony payments. A contested divorce happens when the spouses do not agree on one or all of these things. In the case of a contested divorce, a judge ends up deciding how to split property, accounts, and time with children. The steps of a contested divorce case are: (more…)

What is a prenup, and why would I want one?

A prenuptial agreement, also known as a premarital agreement or a prenup, is an agreement between two prospective spouses as to the management, control, and division of assets and debts in the event that their marriage to each other ends in a divorce.

Prenuptial agreements aren’t just for the rich and famous. If you have any type of assets prior to getting married, a prenup will ensure that you don’t lose what you earned before marriage. Common assets that you can protect with a prenup include:

• Inheritances and rights of children from prior relationships
• Property purchased or inherited before the marriage
• Property expected to be received as part of a future inheritance
• Savings accounts
• Investments
• Retirement accounts and pensions
• Insurance policies
• Sentimental items and heirlooms

(more…)

Divorce is always an emotional experience, but adding in the stress of figuring out child custody can turn a simple divorce into a nightmare. Parents have much stronger feelings about where their children end up than they have about material possessions, so compromises are more difficult to reach. In Florida, child custody comprises two distinct parts: parental responsibility (legal custody) and time sharing (physical custody). All parents asking for divorce must agree on both parts of child custody, or the court will do it for them.

Parental Responsibility

Parental responsibility, or legal custody, refers to the ability to make decisions about important parts of the child’s life, such as education, healthcare, and religion. Parental responsibility is typically divided equally between the two parents unless there are special circumstances. For example, if one parent has shown a pattern of making poor choices for the child, their parental responsibility may be lessened and more control given to the other parent. Also, if one parent spends substantially more time with the child as part of the time-sharing agreement, that parent may also be awarded more parental responsibility. (more…)

Many factors must be considered by the court when deciding how to handle divorce cases. Each case is unique and must be thoroughly reviewed before passing judgment. This is especially true when determining alimony payments; alimony is a payment made from one ex-spouse to the other due to a financial disparity between the two at the time of divorce. There are five types of alimony that can be awarded in the state of Florida.

Types of Alimony in Florida

• Temporary alimony

Also known as spousal support, temporary alimony is ordered to be paid during the divorce proceedings only. Once the final divorce judgment is made, temporary alimony typically is converted to one of the other types of alimony. (more…)

There’s a lot of conflicting information out there about military divorce. Higher divorce rates among military couples have always been rumored, but the evidence is sparse, and more research is needed. One thing guaranteed in a military divorce is that you will run into issues that civilians never face. A few of the most common issues military members face when divorcing are:

• How to split a military pension.

The federal government considers a military pension to be a marital asset and allows state courts to treat it as such when deciding how to divide marital property.  (more…)