Miami family law attorney blog
Viewing entries tagged
Florida Dissipation of Marital Assets
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce
Is a Florida divorce court required to apportion to one spouse investment losses as a debt in equitable distribution? This was an issue among others in the case Ouslander v. Ouslander, 4D2023-2479 (Fla. 4th DCA November 20, 2024).
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce
What is considered intentional waste or dissipation of marital assets? Sometimes spouses do not agree on how money is spent. For example, one spouse may not approve of luxury purchases, and may argue that a spouse’s spending habits caused marital waste. Would this be enough for a Florida divorce court to award more than half of the marital assets to the disapproving spouse? The matter of intentional waste or dissipation was an issue in the case Hearn v. Hearn, 2D20-2522 (Fla. 2d DCA November 30, 2022).
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce
What is the test for determining if a marital asset has been dissipated? Dissipation refers to a spouse’s intentional waste or depletion of a marital asset such as a bank account. If a spouse empties a bank account close to divorce and spends the money on frivolous items that do not benefit the marital household, this could be considered dissipation. This was an issue in the case Pflanz v. Pflanz, 1D20-2786 (Fla. 1st DCA December 15, 2021).
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce
When a party intentionally wastes marital funds, this is called dissipation. If a court finds that dissipation has occurred, a court should award half of the dissipated funds to the innocent spouse or credit the full value of the dissipated asset to the offending spouse in the equitable distribution scheme. This was an issue in the case Peterson v. Peterson, 2D19-181 (Fla. 2d DCA February 5, 2021).
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce
Under what circumstances would a spouse be held responsible for the alleged dissipation of marital assets in a Florida divorce? Intentional waste, dissipation or destruction of marital property may be considered in determining equitable distribution. There must be evidence that the spouse intentionally wasted marital assets and spent them for a non-marital purpose. This was an issue in the case Niederkohr v. Kuselias, 5D19-3231 (Fla. 5th DCA August 14, 2020).
