Divorces in Florida typically split the parties’ assets and liabilities down the middle as much as possible. Determining what is a marital asset or liability or a non-marital asset or liability can be key to whether an asset or liability will be considered in the calculations. Before filing for divorce, you should consider the following items when thinking about equitable distribution:
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his third wife, Judith, are currently involved in a heated divorce. A day after filing for divorce on April 4, 2018, the parties filed for each other to produce a statement of net worth to determine assets. The Giulianis have been married for 15 years and they do not have a prenuptial agreement.
In 2007, when Rudy Giuliani submitted his financial disclosure to the Federal Election Commission while running for president, he was worth an estimated $30 million. The couple own properties in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. It is estimated that there is currently an estimated $60 million in assets at stake. When he married Judith, Rudy was pretty much insolvent and the money he has now was earned while he was married to Judith. New York is a separate property state, but her participation in his success could be a factor for the assets to be split 50/50.
In Florida, mandatory disclosure applies so the Giulianis would not need to file for a statement of net worth. Mandatory Disclosure is the procedure where financial information is automatically disclosed by the parties upon the filing of a divorce. The parties must exchange financial information in the form of a financial affidavit and additional documents such as tax returns, bank statements, credit card statements, deeds, vehicle titles, insurance policies, etc. Mandatory disclosure must be completed within 45 days after service on the respondent.
The Florida Supreme Court, on March 30, 2017, issued an opinion in Hooker v. Hooker, 220 So.3d 397 (Fla. 2017) finding a Florida horse farm and a New York summer home interspousal gifts and, therefore, subject to equitable distribution as marital property despite a prenuptial agreement in existence. The prenuptial agreement provided that, upon divorce, each party would retain his or her premarital assets and any appreciation of those assets. Both parties had independent sources of income from family inheritances and they maintained separate finances throughout the marriage. The parties were married for 23 years.
The Florida horse farm, “Hickstead,” was purchased in 1989 and the Hickstead deed listed “Alice I. Hooker Trust FBO, for the benefit of, Timothy I. Hooker” as the grantee. Husband and Wife signed the mortgage on Hickstead. When Hickstead was purchased, it was vacant land and it later became through the course of the marriage a working horse farm with 16 stalls, etc. and the marital home in one wing upstairs and the other wing was the staff apartment. Wife was “extremely and directly involved in all aspects of the Hickstead residence which was the family’s primary home for approximately 20 years,” according to the findings of the trial court. Wife was not limited or restricted in any way from incurring the costs and expenses of maintaining and operating a family home at Hickstead, from the Husband’s assets. Wife was provided unfettered access to the stables and horses to pursue her lifelong passion.
The New York summer home, “Lake George,” was purchased in 1997 and was titled only in the Husband’s name and only Husband signed the mortgage. It was purchased, built and maintained as a summer residence for the family. The Husband paid the expenses for Lake George with his independent funds and Wife was never a signatory on that account and never had access to that account. However, the Husband sent Wife a card for their tenth wedding anniversary with a picture of the property after the Wife had expressed a desire to have a home up north and both parties searched for a suitable property.
Have you ever had the urge to be sneaky and record a phone call or a conversation between yourself and another person? You just want to prove that the other person is a liar or otherwise full of it, and you decided that recording the call is the best way to get that done. It is a perfectly normal and human thing to want to do. Well, doing that could get you into trouble in Florida and other states, if you do not let the other person know that you’re recording. As a Jacksonville divorce lawyer, I have on occasion enlightened clients that wanted to gain evidence against a spouse during divorce proceedings that this is not a good idea.
Have you ever wondered why the first thing you hear when you call a 1-800 number is, “This call may be recorded for training and quality assurance purpose.”? Some states, such as Florida, have laws that make it a crime to record a conversation without the knowledge and consent of the people taking part in the conversation. When you are told that the phone call is being recorded, but continue the call, you are consenting to being recorded. The rule against recording or “intercepting” communication applies to live conversations in person and conversations transmitted by wire or electronic means, basically over pretty all of the ways people communicate. Continue reading
As a Jacksonville divorce lawyer, I am familiar with how messy things can get in a divorce case. People tend to have emotional responses during divorces that can sometimes cloud their judgement. For instance, the Florida Family Law Rules come right out and tell us what financial disclosures must be provided to the other side, yet there will still be disputes regarding what information has to be provided. Oftentimes, the motivation not to provide information as required under the Florida Family Law Rules stems from spite. Divorces are understandably very emotionally draining and tough events to endure for most people. It is your divorce lawyer’s role to help by being your legal counsel and help you make the best decisions in your case.
Rule 12.285, entitled Mandatory Disclosure, lists the disclosures that must be made, such as pay stubs, bank statements, tax returns, and more. There can be sanctions for parties that refuse to comply with the rules. You could end up paying your spouse’s attorney fees associated with asking the court to compel you to comply. It is important to only refuse to produce the information if there is a valid objection to be made. Any objection must be timely. If your objection is not made five (5) days or more before the due date of the disclosure, your objection is considered waived.
Working with your attorney to quickly comply with the rules and time limits can save you time, money, and stress. At the Law Office of David M. Goldman, PLLC, we have experienced Jacksonville divorce and family lawyers that can help guide you through the divorce process with care and understanding. It is our pleasure to help with a stressful situation in your time of need. Call us today (904) 685-1200 to schedule a free consultation regarding your divorce case.
There are numerous reasons that spouses cite when filing for divorce. These reasons vary greatly. However no matter what the reason, in recent years a new trend has developed on when spouses actually file for divorce- and it is right after New Years Day.
The most common time of year for filing for divorce is the month of January, which is now nicknamed divorce month. In the month of January, the most popular day to file is January 2nd and January 3rd, which is right after the New Years’s Day holiday.
There are probably many reasons why divorce filings double during this period of time. Many spouses report wanting to stick it through the holidays because they feel it will be easier on the family and/or the children. Some couples believe that the togetherness and emphasis on family that comes with the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas will solve all of the preceding year’s problems. Sometimes the stress of the holidays makes an already declining marriage much worse.
Since the New Year’s Holiday seems to bring with it a period of reflection and review of the previous year, it may be the last reflection that a spouse needs in order to get them to file. No matter what the reason for the split is, divorce filings double in January. Statistics show that approximately 10 percent of couples don’t make it to their fifth wedding anniversary and roughly 25 percent divorce before they make it to their tenth wedding anniversary.
Continue reading
Dan Marino, probably the greatest quarterback the NFL ever produced, and champion of autism awareness, cheated on his wife of 28 years and fathered a child with an attractive television personality. Always seen as a clean cut family man and all around good guy, he’s had four children with his wife and adopted two children, and inspired by his autistic son developed the Dan Marino Autism Center with his fortune.
How could someone everyone sees as so good do something so bad? Generally 50 percent of men are assumed to cheat on their significant others and in a study of 400 women, 39 percent admitted to physically cheating on their husbands.
So why is cheating so rampant? It may be that we crave emotional connection. In study after study only around 7 percent of cheating men said all they were after was sex as compared to 48 percent who reported it was the desire to have an emotional connection. Eighty Eight percent of cheaters said the object of their carnal desires was not more attractive than their spouses. It seems that most cheating occurs after someone has formed some close friendship with the person they eventually have an affair with.
An order to show cause is a type of court order that requires one or more parties in a court proceeding to come to court to justify, explain, or prove something to the court. Typically it means the Judge in a case needs more information before he or she decides to do something. For example, in a divorce, at the request of one parent a judge might issue an order directing the other parent to appear in court on a particular date and time to show cause why the first parent should not be given sole physical custody of the children.
Other examples of an order to show cause in a family law context would be when one parent has not been paying court ordered temporary child support while a case is pending. One party may petition the court to find the other party in contempt. The court may issue an order to show cause to find out if the allegation is true and ascertain why the party is not paying support. Perhaps the party is was in the hospital and was not able to work. The judge can then make an informed decision regarding the order and issue an appropriate sanction or no sanction at all.
If you are on the receiving end of a notice for an order to show cause, it is not something to set aside or ignore. You may wish to contact a family law attorney to assist you in protecting your rights. If you have such an order in hand, or have any questions regarding any other legal issue, give Law Office of David M. Goldman a call at 904-685-1200.
PrimeSource, a local mobile forensics company is now offering data recovery for Blackberry, Android, iPhone, iPod, iPad and GPS devices for use as evidence in any cases we may have. With this technology, we are able to recover many deleted text messages, images, GPS locations, etc. to show that someone was at a location, with a specific person, said or did certain actions.
For instance, a few years ago I had a case with facts similar to these: A man and a woman had a child together, but had split up. That woman’s subsequent boyfriend sexually abused the child. The police investigated the matter but the boyfriend was nowhere to be found. A custody case ensued and after a year of struggling visits it was discovered that the woman was pregnant and the man that showed up at the OBGYN visit was the sexually abusive boyfriend. The police were called and both the mother and boyfriend were immediately arrested however the child had gone a full year without this discovery being made. Had the father been able to make use of PrimeSource’s technology, the child could have been protected from a continued horrifying situation.
If you have questions about what PrimeSource may be able to do for you in your case, contact a Jacksonville Family Law Attorney or call us at (904) 685-1200 for a free consultation.
As a Ponte Vedra Beach Divorce Attorney I continuously come across the issue of social media and how it can and does play a part in divorces. I see social media play a role in nearly half of all of my cases. I have blogged on this topic on several occasions as well. Ten years ago this was not an issue, but now I advise all of my clients to be aware of what they put out there on the internet for everyone to see. This is because all to often pictures, status updates and videos are used against clients in trials. This is especially true in child custody battles.
Not surprisingly there have been numerous articles published on this topic. One of which can be found on The Huffington Post and is titled, “Don’t Let Social Media Sabotage Your Divorce.” The author of this article, Bari Zell Weinberger, Esq., lists three important steps that a divorcing party should take in order to avoid self sabotage. One, “Think before you post.” Don’t post any pictures or comments that you know could come back to haunt you as evidence at a trial. This should be quite apparent. Two, “Keep your social networking circles separate from your ex’s.” Keep your ex or soon to be ex off of your personal site. You don’t want your ex or soon to be ex to have the ability to gather any evidence that can be used against you. And finally, three, “Don’t reveal your location.” If you’re not where you are supposed to be do not announce to the internet world where you actually are at all times.
Should you live in the Ponte Vedra Beach area and are contemplating divorce contact a Ponte Vedra Beach Divorce Attorney today. A Ponte Vedra Beach Divorce Attorney can assist you with tailoring your personal social media sites to insure they cannot potentially harm your case.
Jacksonville Divorce Attorney Blog