A court can award temporary alimony to the party seeking an annulment. However, it is imperative that the party show a need for such support and the ability of the other party to pay. The court will allow temporary alimony where the fact of marriage is established prima facie and one spouse has the means to live and to litigate, while the other is destitute. Even if there is a question as to whether the parties have a valid marriage, based on allegations of a prior marriage by one of the parties to…continue reading →
A court may only deduct the below statutory items from gross income when determining child support. Further, a party who fails to provide evidence to support an adjustment of income for an appropriate deduction forfeits entitlement to the deduction. The burden is not placed of the court to do so. Allowable deductions from gross income include: federal, state, and local income tax deductions, adjusted for actual filing status and allowable dependents and income tax liabilities; federal insurance contributions or self-employment tax; mandatory union dues; mandatory retirement payments; health insurance payments, excluding payments for…continue reading →
When determining custody, a court may consider the religious beliefs and practices of a parent. Further, at times, a court has considered which parent would be in the best position to promote the child’s religious or spiritual welfare, or in which home would the child have superior facilities for attending church. Although, a court may consider a parent’s religious beliefs, custody may not be conditioned on the parent’s curtailment of his or her religious activities or beliefs. Any order prohibiting the noncustodial parent from exposing the child to the parent’s religious practices…continue reading →
Periodic payments of alimony will terminate upon the death of the party responsible for making such payments. However, both parties are free to enter into an agreement that payments will continue after the obligor's death. Parties to a marital settlement agreement can allow for alimony payments to continue. Though, such a provision, that the obligation dies with the obligor is implicit in an alimony agreement, unless it is overcome by an express indication to the contrary. continue reading →
A parent’s visitation rights may not be conditioned on the other parent’s responsibility to provide child support. Where there has been an order to pay child support, the parent who is to receive the payment should not refuse to abide by any time-sharing schedule, that may be in effect between the parents, if there has been a failure to pay. Further, a court may not withhold or terminate visitation rights based on the fact that a parent has not been able to keep up with child support. Courts have been found to be…continue reading →
To determine whether one’s prenuptial agreement is enforceable, we must look to Florida Statute § 61.079. First, and foremost, a prenuptial agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties and is enforceable without consideration other than the marriage itself. This simply means that, if the parties become married, nothing of value needs to be exchanged for entering in to the agreement. Exploring the agreement itself, a prenuptial agreement may cover various topics which includes, but is not limited to, the following: 1. The rights and obligations of each of the…continue reading →
In this case, the appellate court found that the trial court erred in requiring that the former husband, James Lathrop, maintain a life insurance policy in order to secure alimony payments. The appellate court stated that "in the absence of special circumstances, a spouse cannot be required to maintain life insurance for the purpose of securing an alimony obligation." There must be a showing of sufficient findings of special circumstances to support such a requirement for life insurance. Here, no special circumstances was establish that would justify requiring James Lathrop to maintain a life…continue reading →
In this case, the father, Tyler Kinnett, filed a motion for contempt arguing that the mother, Kelsey Cockrell, wrongfully barred him from exercising his timesharing rights with his child on three different instances. The father's motion did not stress that there was a substantial change in circumstances, or that it would be in the best interest of the child for there to be a modification of the timesharing arrangement. Yet, the trial court entered an order for contempt which modified the timesharing schedule. The mother appealed. The appellate court concluded that the father…continue reading →
When distributing martial assets, there is a presumption that such a distribution should be equal among the parties. However, there are times when an unequal distribution is warranted. Florida statute provides that circumstances where there is an intentional dissipation, waste, depletion, or destruction of marital assets after the filing of a divorce petition or within 2 years prior to the filing of a petition can lead to an unequal distribution. But, what does this actually encompass? This is very fact dependent. However, when a spouse uses marital assets for the furtherance of something…continue reading →
If the relationship is considered to be a supportive relationship, it can impact one’s alimony obligation. When we speak of supportive relationships, we are referring to situations where the alimony recipient is cohabitating with another person who he or she is not related to and such relationship provides economic support equivalent to a marriage. A supportive relationship does exist where the alimony recipient cohabitates with a person whom he or she is related to by blood or marriage. Further, there is no supportive relationship where it is a nonrelative and there is…continue reading →
