Recent Blog Posts
Can Unmarried Couples Go to Court Over Property Division?
People say that marriage is just a piece of paper, but that piece of paper makes all the difference in a divorce case. Florida does not recognize common law marriage. Unless you and your spouse have a legally valid marriage certificate, nothing that either of you has bought during your marriage counts as marital… Read More »
Interspousal Gifts Are the Separate Property of the Recipient
When it comes to determining which assets count as marital property and which spouse gets to keep how much of the marital wealth after divorce, the family courts are not in the business of keeping score. All of the property that the parties acquired during the marriage is marital; it doesn’t matter which spouse… Read More »
Three Things That Make Everyone Feel Broke: Alimony, Child Support, and Taxes
After the first year of co-parenting after divorce, you settle into a new normal. You enjoy every moment of ordering from the McDonald’s dollar menu and watching Netflix with your kids on the weekend nights when your children are with you, and on the nights when your kids are with your ex-spouse, you take… Read More »
What Legal Rights Do Stay-at-Home Girlfriends Have?
A marriage certificate is not what defines a family. Unmarried couples have acted as family units throughout much of human history, and some jurisdictions, although not Florida, even recognize common law marriage. Some couples even choose not to get legally married simply because their own parents’ experiences have shown them how ugly divorce can… Read More »
Fickleness, Procrastination, and Other Habits of Highly Unsuccessful Divorcees
Part of being an adult is realizing that people don’t really change. Perhaps you decided to get a divorce once you realized that you would always be the way you are, and your spouse would always be the way he or she is, and therefore, you could never truly get along. If your spouse… Read More »
How Does It Affect Your Divorce Case When the Legal Owners of Your Property Are Non-Human Entities
One of the ways the rich keep getting richer without paying taxes is that much of their wealth does not technically belong to them. When a wealthy person dies, it may appear to the probate court that he is as poor as a church mouse, owning nothing but a one-bedroom condominium and a checking… Read More »
Are Cash Gifts From Your Family Marital Property?
Some divorce cases are more expensive than others, but even in the simplest cases, it will take you at least a few hundred dollars to go from being legally married to being legally single. If you have depended on your spouse financially throughout the marriage, then you can work out the payment of attorneys’… Read More »
Does Less Income Mean Less Parenting Time?
Of all the ugly things that spouses say to each other in the midst of a divorce, threats to take the children away from the other spouse are the ugliest. On some level, you know that your ex-spouse cannot legally deprive you of the opportunity to spend time with your children, but the stress… Read More »
Is the Marital Home a Marital Asset If It Is in Only One Spouse’s Name?
At first glance, the difference between marital and nonmarital property seems clear cut, if not exactly intuitive. If you and your spouse bought an asset during your marriage, it is marital property, regardless of whose income paid for it and whose name is on the title. If you have owned an asset since before… Read More »
Temporary Alimony Can Lead to Protracted Legal Disputes in Complex Cases
Florida has finally abolished permanent alimony after many years of controversy. The thought of permanent alimony provokes strong feelings in people who might be ordered to pay it or might be entitled to receive it, but in practice, permanent alimony has only been awarded in a small minority of divorce cases in recent decades. … Read More »
