The End of Special Equity in Florida Divorces

For many years, the law in Florida was that you were entitled to a “special equity” in your previous non-marital property in a divorce even though you placed the property in joint names with your spouse during the marriage.  The concept was fairly simple.  

It was pure mathematics.  Suppose you owned property before the marriage that was worth $100,000 at the time you placed it in joint names with your spouse and the property was worth $200,000 at the time of the divorce.  The formula would allow you to get all of what was yours alone and half of what belonged to the marriage.  In the numbers I gave, you would be entitled to all of the initial $100,000 and half of the second $100,000.  So you would get $150,000 of that asset and your spouse would get $50,000 of the asset.

A recent change to the law of equitable distribution of marital property in Florida specifically did away with the concept of special equity.  Instead, it allows a family court judge to consider the fact that you brought a little extra to the marriage and possibly award you an unequal distribution of the marital assets and debts.

Judges have in the past been very reluctant to award anything other than an exactly equal distribution of marital assets and debts.  Now, people bringing some non-marital property into a marriage and then going through a Florida divorce have a much greater chance of a judge making a ruling that is other than 50/50.

Bottom line:  Contact an expert Tampa divorce lawyer to find out how these recent changes in the law will affect your Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage.