How to Protect Personal Assets From a Divorce in Florida
The average age someone is at the time of marriage has sharply increased over the years. With many people waiting until the are financially stable before getting married, assets prior to marriage have usually accumulated. You will want to protect these assets during a divorce. Similarly, individuals who did not have assets at the time of marriage, but later obtain private assets, will also want to protect them in the event of divorce. If you have personal assets in Florida, here is how you can make sure your spouse cannot lay claim to them at divorce.
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Instructions
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Sign a premarital agreement, such as a prenuptial agreement (a "prenup"), before marriage. A prenuptial agreement is a legal contract entered into by the parties before marriage that helps protect a spouse's assets. For example, if one spouse is has substantial assets prior to marriage, the prenuptial agreement prevents the other spouse from taking all or a portion of those assets at divorce. Prenuptial agreements can also streamline the divorce process in Florida, saving time and money.
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Identify what property is individual, separate property and what property is marital property. Under Florida law, separate property is anything a spouse owned prior to the marriage or after separation. However, gifts and inheritances made during the marriage are also separate property. Everything else is considered marital property and must be divided at divorce.
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Keep separate property separate. If possible, avoid commingling separate and marital property during the marriage such as placing money you had prior to marriage into a jointly owned bank account. Similarly, if you owned a rental property before marriage, never use the income from it to pay for marital property or commingle that income by placing it into a joint account.
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Remove all of your separate property and store it in a safe place, once you are separated. However, be careful not to dispose of any marital assets in the process. Florida courts will penalize you for any intentional dissipation, waste, depletion or destruction of marital assets that occurred within two years prior to the divorce. Florida law defines dissipation of marital assets as any instance where one spouse intentionally engages in excessive spending or gambling, destroys marital property or steals marital property. Other acts of dishonesty -- such as reducing the marital estate by giving away marital assets as gifts to third parties or hiding marital assets from the other spouse -- are also considered dissipation of marital assets under Florida law. If the court finds that you dissipated marital assets, you will receive little to no marital property in the divorce.
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References
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