Author Archives: Jay Butchko
Co-Parenting And Substance Abuse
The good news is that the social stigma against mental illnesses, including substance use disorder, is considerably less than it was a generation ago. Pretrial diversion problems acknowledge that incarcerating people for nonviolent drug offenses makes it harder, not easier, for them to achieve long term sobriety, and that ordering addiction treatment instead of… Read More »
When Can The Court Order A Mental Health Evaluation To Help With Its Parenting Plan Decisions?
If you enter the phrase “my ex is” into a Google search bar, Google’s suggestions will include all kinds of disturbing insinuations about mental health, such as “crazy,” “psycho,” insane,” “a stalker,” “sadistic,” and “narcissistic.” Divorce cases messy enough to require a trial frequently involve spouses alleging that the other has an undiagnosed mental… Read More »
Divorce And Monetary Gifts To And From Family Members
Two of the most common sources of conflict in marriage are money and in-laws. Meanwhile, plenty of married people give money to their relatives on one or the other spouse’s side of the family, or even on both sides of the family, if they can afford to do so. Likewise, financially comfortable seniors often… Read More »
Dumping Your Marital Mortgage Loan Is Harder Than It Sounds
According to Florida’s equitable distribution laws, the court divides all of the couple’s marital assets and marital debts when the couple gets a divorce. A mortgage loan with both spouses listed as borrowers definitely qualifies as a marital debt. Unfortunately, getting the lenders to divide your debts after a divorce is not simple. Rarely… Read More »
Which Date Forms The Basis Of Equitable Distribution?
Unless you are so financially secure that you are able to live off of the interest from your savings without invading the principal, your net worth is in a constant state of flux. Most people are in sufficiently precarious financial circumstances that the money left in our checking accounts at the end of a… Read More »
Retirement And Modification Of Alimony Obligations
The older you get, the more you realize that “retirement age” is not a specific number. The professions that require you to stop working once you reach a certain age are the exception rather than the rule. You may have met people who love their jobs so much that, even though they are in… Read More »
Equitable Distribution Is Not A Business Expense
In Florida, divorce courts do not always divide marital property equally in a divorce. Equitable distribution, which means dividing a couple’s marital assets in the fairest possible way, is complicated enough when the only assets being divided are bank accounts, vehicles, and equity in the marital home. The opportunities for disagreement over equitable distribution… Read More »
When Your Self-Employed Ex-Spouse Conceals Income
A family business can create a sense of togetherness for a couple, or it can highlight the divisions that already exist between them. Fuzzy accounting is a reality for many businesses, regardless of size, and if both spouses engage in it together, it can create a sense of “us against the world.” If one… Read More »
Can You Get A Divorce Loan, And Should You?
Everyone, from party guests to standup comedians, likes to gripe about how divorce wrecked their finances, and some unhappily married people confide in their friends that the only reason they are still married is that they can’t afford to get divorced. Trying to have the cheapest possible divorce is not a good solution; it… Read More »
Equitable Distribution Of Home Mortgage Debt Can Be Complicated, But A Divorce Lawyer Can Help
If you have gotten any farther than the Google search stage of planning to divorce, you know that Florida’s equitable distribution laws do not require the court to divide the couple’s marital property evenly in half; instead, the court must divide the marital property in the fairest possible way, and it decides what is… Read More »
