Florida high-asset divorce Florida high-asset divorce

Equitable distribution under Florida Statutes 61.075 begins with the premise that marital assets and liabilities are divided equally, then adjusts for statutory factors. Nonmarital property, what a spouse brought into the marriage, inherited, or received as a gift, stays out of the division, subject to two well-worn exceptions that carry most of the litigation.

Commingling: nonmarital funds blended into joint accounts or joint titles can lose their character, and Florida adds a trap for the unwary, placing nonmarital assets in joint names can create a presumption of gift to the marriage.

Enhancement / active appreciation: when marital labor or marital funds enhance the value of a nonmarital asset, the enhancement in value becomes a marital asset. A premarital company its owner ran for fifteen married years, an inherited building renovated with marital cash, both generate enhancement claims. The business division page covers how those claims are measured.

Businesses and professional practices, where Florida excludes personal goodwill from the marital estate. Equity compensation with vesting schedules that ignore the divorce calendar. Trust interests and inherited wealth of real sophistication. Real estate portfolios, with Florida’s constitutional homestead rules adding wrinkles imported advice always misses. Seasonal residency and domicile questions that shape where the case can and should be filed. Each subject links to its own page; this page’s job is orientation.

The 2023 framework deserves its own page and has one. The orientation version: durational alimony is capped at 50, 60, or 75 percent of the length of a short, moderate, or long marriage respectively, the amount is bounded by reasonable need and the 35 percent net-income differential, and bridge-the-gap and rehabilitative forms remain available. The income findings now do most of the work, which raises the stakes on proving what high, variable, or owner income really is.

Florida requires sworn financial affidavits and mandatory disclosure in every dissolution. Sophisticated estates are manageable within that framework: protective orders on discovery, confidential mediation, and disciplined early valuation keep private wealth off the public record. Privacy is engineered at the start of a case, not requested at the end.