Recent Blog Posts
Can the Court Require You to Continue Paying Alimony After You Die?
As much as high-income spouses fear alimony orders during divorce, the court tries to divide couples’ assets in ways that do not require alimony payments, when this is possible. If the lower-income spouse is young enough and healthy enough for employment, then alimony awards tend to be of short duration, and the amounts are… Read More »
Selling the Marital Home In Divorce Is Not Always a Road to Riches
The web pages of divorce law firms will tell you that the goal in divorce is to divide marital assets in the fairest possible way; this is the meaning of “equitable distribution,” the rule that the Florida family courts follow when determining how to divide the marital property. Of course, compared to your own… Read More »
Co-Parenting Should Not Be a Scheduling Nightmare
When your children are babies, old people knowingly tell you that things get easier as your children get older. Then they immediately revise their statements when they remember that raising teenagers is a herculean task, but at least when your children are in elementary school, you get to enjoy the calm before the storm. … Read More »
Can the Divorce Court Enter a Default Judgment Even If You Have Children?
Most divorce cases do not involve the court ruling for one party and against the other. In fact, in most cases, the parties reach an agreement about property division and parenting time during mediation. When the case goes to trial and the judge must issue a decision about the points on which the parties… Read More »
Can a Prenuptial Agreement Trap You in a Bad Marriage?
Conventional wisdom says that pessimists think that prenuptial agreements cause divorce, optimists think that prenups help couples resolve their differences and stay married, and realists believe that divorce is inevitable for some couples and that prenups make the divorce process simpler. People sign prenups for a variety of reasons, including wanting to keep their… Read More »
You’re Never Legally Married Without a Marriage License
Marriage is more than just a piece of paper, except in the eyes of the law. Unmarried domestic partners have some legal protections, but certain rights are reserved only for lawfully wedded spouses. The only circumstance where the court automatically assumes that you are your child’s father is if you are legally married to… Read More »
Are Stocks Marital Property?
You might not be the best looking guy around. You have never played in a band, and you don’t have an Instagram account documenting your travel adventures. Instead of spending the money you earned when you were in your 20s on memorable experiences or your image, you invested it in the stock market. Eventually… Read More »
How Difficult Is It to Get Your Unsupervised Parenting Time Back?
Florida courts have long held that it is in the best interests of children to spend ample time with both parents. Therefore, every parent who does not live with the other parent of his or her children has the right to a court-ordered parenting plan that guarantees that the children will spend certain days… Read More »
What the Rest of Us Can Learn From Messy Celebrity Divorces
The tabloid press makes it sound like, not only are celebrities effortlessly more beautiful and successful than you are, but they can also divorce their impossibly perfect spouses without breaking a sweat or losing their tempers. Remember Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin’s “conscious uncoupling?” Remember when the court dissolved Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady’s… Read More »
Spying on Your Spouse During Divorce Is a Terrible Idea
Two wrongs don’t make a right. If your spouse has betrayed your trust by lying to you, having extramarital affairs, or misusing money that was supposed to benefit your family, you will not make things better by going through his phone or computer or otherwise resorting to sneaky means to collect evidence of his… Read More »
