Top 10 tips for women divorcing in Florida.
- Women can be obligated to pay alimony. Alimony in Florida is based on need and ability to pay. If you are the higher earning spouse, regardless of your gender, you may be obligated to pay alimony.
- The same is true for attorney’s fees. Either party may be responsible for the other’s attorney’s fees if there is significant income difference between the two of you and one person has a need and the other an ability to pay.
- Either party can also be made to pay the other’s fees if he/she did not behave properly in the in divorce proceedings and created excessive fees by their bad behavior.
- You might be entitled to alimony even in a very short-term marriage to help you transition from being married and living together to being single.
- In Florida, all assets and debts which were acquired or incurred during the time you are married are considered marital and will be split equally between the parties in almost all situations. It does not matter who’s name the asset is titled in or whose name the debt was incurred in.
- Moms and dads are given equal opportunity to parent their children, regardless of the child’s age. There is no “tender years” idea, like in some states, that would give mothers preference for custody of small children.
- Child support is based on a formula and it WILL NOT be enough to support you and your children alone. Many of our clients are shocked at the amount of child support they are entitled to, and not in a good way. Unless there is a very large difference in the income between you and the other parent and the other parent earns a very large amount of money, child support is not going to be sufficient to pay your bills.
- You may be entitled to some of the equity in your partners pre-marital home, even if your partner owned the home before you got married, if you lived in that home during the marriage and or your partner used marital funds to pay for upkeep and or mortgage on the home.
- Your student loans may be considered marital debt if you incurred them while you were married. If they are marital, then your spouse may be responsible for ½ of the student loan debt.
- Even though credit card debt in your name may be marital and therefore your spouse may be liable for ½ of the debt, the credit card company can only come after you for non-payment. So, if these do not get paid by the other party after the divorce, you will be the person whose credit suffers and who will be sued by the credit card company. It is important to consider this when working out the details of splitting debt in a divorce.
Our name isn’t Family Matters Law Group for nothing – we truly believe in providing you with the best legal counsel to bring your family PEACE: Parenting Issues, Equitable distribution of assets and debts, Alimony, Child support, and everything else your family needs legally. If you are going trough a divorce case or thinking about filing for divorce contact us today to schedule your consultation. Our experienced attorneys are ready to help!
