The QDRO Can Be a Lifeline After Gray Divorce

Just as Florida has abolished permanent alimony, divorce cases are on the rise among people over 50. Getting divorced later in life means rethinking your plans for retirement, and if you depended on your spouse’s income throughout your long marriage, it is no longer an option for the court to order your ex-spouse to send you monthly or yearly payments for the rest of your life. Instead, your only hope for a retirement free of stress over your modest fixed income from Social Security is to get a fair share of your marital property in the divorce settlement. Realistically speaking, this is all you are getting. Florida case law tells of a former wife who kept the marital home in her divorce but then sold it and moved to Wisconsin, where she had relatives and where housing costs are lower. If you can use the marital property you receive in the divorce to acquire income-generating assets, this is as good as an award of permanent alimony; at least, it is the closest thing you can get. For help getting a fair share of marital property in your gray divorce and then making the most of it to generate prosperity, contact a Boca Raton divorce lawyer.

Resetting Your Retirement Plans Without Your Ex-Spouse

Phillip and Betty were married for 33 years, but they both moved on after their divorce. Phillip had a retirement account from his long career with the Sheriff’s Office in his county, and the divorce court issued a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO), awarding Betty a lump sum of over $200,000, representing her portion of Phillip’s retirement account. Betty used some of the money to buy an annuity that generated monthly income. To reduce her expenses, she also moved in with the couple’s adult daughter and young grandchild, so Betty could save on housing costs and provide childcare.

Meanwhile, Phillip kept the marital home. When he remarried, his new wife and her two children moved in. Phillip contributed to his stepdaughter’s college tuition. The courts always consider payments by parents or stepparents to young adult students’ college tuition a discretionary expense; no family court has ever ordered a parent to pay a young adult son or daughter’s tuition or to stop paying it, but it refuses to count it as a necessity when calculating your monthly expenses. Betty petitioned the court, claiming that the trial court had erred in not awarding her alimony, but Phillip argued that the QDRO and other marital assets she had received were sufficient that she did not need alimony. The court ruled that it needed to make more findings about the parties’ financial circumstances before it decided whether to award alimony and, if so, how much.

Contact Schwartz | White About Divorce After a Long Marriage

A South Florida family law attorney can help you come away from your marriage with enough marital property to last you through retirement.  Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.

Source:

scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=13017360927128131703&q=divorce+kitchen&hl=en&as_sdt=4,10&as_ylo=2015&as_yhi=2025