Recent Blog Posts
You Can’t Avoid a Divorce by Pretending You Didn’t Receive the Divorce Papers
Sometimes people do desperate things when they find out that their spouse plans to divorce them. Your previously mild-mannered spouse might turn into a monster you do not recognize, calling you terrible names, sabotaging marital property, and threatening to fight you over every penny and make the judge think that you are a terrible… Read More »
Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets After a Short-Term Marriage
The cases where courts consider alimony are those where the parties were married for a long time and their earning potential is very unequal. Permanent alimony is only an option when the marriage lasts at least 17 years, except in extraordinary cases. For shorter marriages than that, the duration of alimony cannot exceed the… Read More »
How Do Courts Determine Alimony When Your Income Is Variable?
They say that money comes and money goes, but love lasts forever. Unfortunately, that is not always true in real life. A lot of times, the marriage falls apart at the same time as the couple’s financial situation does. It is incredibly painful when the person you thought would be by your side forever… Read More »
What Happens If Your Parents Give You Money to Help You Pay Child Support?
When people grumble about child support, it is not because they do not take their parental responsibilities seriously. Most parents do not resent having to support their minor children financially. No one likes to have a judge bossing them around on behalf of their ex-spouse; that is where the resentment comes from. Despite the… Read More »
How Does a Work Vehicle Affect Your Alimony and Child Support Obligations?
All couples who get divorced must accurately represent their assets, income, and expenses. Sometimes valuing your assets is a straightforward matter and the parties can agree on how to distribute them in a Marital Settlement Agreement. When the parties disagree and the court has to intervene to determine equitable distribution of marital property, sometimes… Read More »
The Child’s Best Interests Come First: The Courts Should Not Change Custody Arrangements Just to Punish a Parent for Non-Compliance
A parenting plan is a court order. If you do not follow your court-ordered parenting plan, your ex-spouse can file a motion to hold you in contempt of court. If the court holds you in criminal contempt, you can even go to jail. While the parenting time and decision-making provisions differ from one family… Read More »
What Good Is One Dollar of Alimony Per Year?
Permanent alimony is a sore subject for many couples; there is even a movement to abolish permanent alimony completely, reducing the types of alimony that courts can award to five. Permanent periodic alimony, in which the wealthier spouse pays the recipient spouse alimony each month until one of the parties dies or the recipient… Read More »
How Do the Courts Impute Income When a Disaster Changed the Couple’s Standard of Living Just Before the Divorce?
The COVID-19 pandemic seriously messed with a lot of people’s finances. This means that divorces courts all over Florida are currently trying to make decisions about equitable distribution and alimony based on information about the couple’s standard of living before the pandemic. The future is uncertain, and there is plenty of room for disagreement… Read More »
How Far Out of Your Way Do You Have to Go to Meet Your Alimony Obligations When You Fall on Hard Times Financially?
If your spouse used to police every penny you spent, it is no wonder you got divorced. Many married couples have an unspoken agreement that occasional splurges are okay. Yes, we’re broke, but we’re both in the mood for Reuben sandwiches, so let’s support the local economy and have some delivered from our favorite… Read More »
Divorced Parents, Rejoice! The FAFSA Expected Family Contribution Is Gone!
What is more stressful than itemizing out all of your separate property and expenses in order to determine the amount of child support based on the number of days per year the children are in your care? What is a bigger bummer than when your kids come to your house on the evening of… Read More »
