Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Is It a Crime for Your Spouse to Mishandle Your Money?
Almost every couple disagrees about money during their marriage. If the marriage ends in divorce, most couples are able to reach an agreement about the division of their marital property through mediation, but sometimes the disagreements are so entrenched that a judge must decide at trial. For the most part, the judge only cares… Read More »
New Florida Law Makes It Easier for Unmarried Fathers to Get Parenting Time
Florida law has long included a streamlined process to ensure that, after a divorce, both parents get a fair share of parenting time. The courts will not finalize the divorce of a couple that has minor children until the parents have agreed to a parenting plan. Most couples, with the help of their lawyers,… Read More »
The Florida Courts’ Four-Step Process for Terminating or Reducing Alimony Obligations
Most divorce decrees don’t include alimony, and in the case of the ones that do, it is usually obvious from the time the court receives the divorce petition, if not earlier, that one spouse will need alimony, at least for a while. Despite this, determining the exact amount and conditions of alimony can be… Read More »
3 Divorce Lawyers to Dump and 3 to Hire Instead
If you are going through a divorce, you already have enough stress and drama in your life. Even if you and your spouse started the divorce process determined to keep things amicable, the long-unspoken resentments are starting to bubble to the surface. As much as it may have bugged you that your spouse undermined… Read More »
Lifestyle Choices After Gray Divorce: Retire Modestly or Return to the Workforce for a Second Career?
People over 50 account for the largest percentage of divorce cases filed in recent years. The media stereotype about gray divorce is that both spouses have separate incomes and can comfortably retire without each other, so once their children have grown up, they give up on trying to resolve their differences and instead go… Read More »
Can Being a Daddy’s Girl Affect Your Eligibility for Alimony?
In-laws are a major source of marital discord; they rank up there with jealousy and money-related disagreements as a source of conflict between spouses. Almost every aspect of your life becomes more stressful when one of your spouse’s parents insists on being a third wheel in your marriage. Things that are supposed to be… Read More »
Can You Get Permanent Alimony If the Marriage Was Short, but the Relationship Was Long?
Permanent alimony, where one spouse sends the other monthly checks until one of the former spouses dies or the recipient spouse remarries, is a popular subject for clickbait, comments on clickbait, and discussions that have little basis in the law. Florida law acknowledges six possible types of alimony, one of which is permanent alimony. … Read More »
Bridge the Gap Alimony
Lots of people have an angry, knee jerk reaction when they hear the word alimony, but there are more complex legal issues involved with it than you might expect. Most people who get divorced in Florida do not have to pay alimony at all. Likewise, in most cases, the spouses themselves work out the… Read More »
Can You Still Exercise Your Parenting Time If the Court Issues a Domestic Violence Injunction Against You?
The courts have an obligation to respect the rights of people accused of wrongdoing, such as the right to due process of law before the court takes any long-lasting action against them. They also have an obligation to protect people who are in immediate danger of harm, especially when that harm involves physical violence. … Read More »
Moving Out of Your Ex-Spouse’s House Can Be Such a Mess That the Courts Have to Get Involved
Moving into a new house is never easy. The best-case scenario is that everything is packed up by the time the movers arrive, and once you are in your new place, you know that all your stuff is there, even though you don’t have time to unpack it. Still having stuff in boxes more… Read More »
