Episode 4 of Best Family Law Podcast Equitable Distribution in Florida Gender Bias?

Best Florida Family Law Podcast By Jacobs Law Firm

You've already heard about it, the equitable distribution of marital assets and liabilities in a divorce case. What does that mean? How does it operate? How does it influence your case in particular? And how does the court treat such a thing when it comes to dividing assets and liabilities? The number one stereotype perhaps in the entire United States, the woman always gets everything in the divorce, the man gets nothing. That's an old and outdated concept. That really means next to nothing. Florida is an equitable distribution state in which the presumption is liabilities and assets both will be split equally 50 -50. There's no presumption in favor of or against either side, not against the husband, not against the wife. The goal is fairness. Sure, there are a multitude of factors; length of the marriage, earnings capacity of each party, how much has the husband ever earned at maximum and the wife? Has anybody made career sacrifices for the household, for the kids? Has anybody been disabled? Has anybody been injured so that they cannot work in the capacity they used to be able to? Of course, career training, education levels, fundamental fairness, anything else that would do equity according to a judge or court. These are all mixed in. But really, it's not about fault either. It's not about gender. And it's not intended, the alimony system spousal support in Florida is not intended to be punitive. It is intended to help the party that genuinely needs help. And it's not intended to punish the person that is the breadwinner. And as I tell many people, the roles have been reversed. Women are no longer in a position where the jobs for them are limited as may have been the case 15, 20, 25 years ago. We see many instances in which the women are the career breadwinner, and the men are stay -at -home dads, or the women are the ones that earn the lion's share of the income and the father's role is more of the caretaker or primary childcare provider for the kids and the person that provides the needs and necessities for the house. This is kind of in a sense, erased the whole gender assignment and canceled out a lot of the stigma associated with equitable distribution. And although we will talk about it in another episode in greater depth and detail, what is equitable distribution? Well, equitable distribution is a presumption in Florida of 50 -50, completely down the middle equal. The problem is how in the world does this actually get done if you do not settle your case. Well, the judge is going to have to hear testimony about the value of your assets and liabilities. They're going to have to make a determination as to the date when those assets and liabilities should be valued. Is it the date of filing? Is it by mutual agreement prior to the date of filing? Is it closer to the date of trial because of fairness and equity and host of other reasons and factors? That's really the golden question. Of course, the court must first set out.
What is an asset in liability? Is it marital or non-marital? And that is also an interesting question. What if you inherited something? Did you commingle it? Did you title it in your spouse's name? Has your spouse made improvements upon it? Have you shared bank accounts, even if at one point in time they were inheritance or some sort of pre -marital account that you reserved for yourself? All of these issues are up for grabs in this whole race to trying to equalize, to determine what really is fair, to determine what really is equitable. And that word is as nebulous in some cases as irreconcilable differences or irretrievably broken the Florida divorce standard. Keep in mind the goal is for both parties to achieve the fairness that the court believes, i .e. the judge at the trial court level or perhaps at the district court level if your case gets appealed believes is appropriate given the facts presented. The data allowable that is in evidence in your case that helps prove that your equit