Uneven Distribution of the Marital Estate

In most Florida divorces, the court has to make an equitable distribution of the couple’s property or the marital estate. This means that the distribution has to be fair but not necessarily equal. Most people think that the marital estate is split in half every time. In most cases, it is, but in many instances, the distribution can be quite different. In this article, we’ll discuss a Florida family law case in which the equitable distribution of the marital estate was contested.

Background of the case

In the aforementioned case, the couple was in the middle of a dissolution of marriage proceedings involving a complicated array of prenuptial agreements, reconciliations, and the acquisition of pre- and post-settlement assets. The lower court entered a final judgment that granted the divorce and equitable distribution of assets. However, the manner in which the lower court disposed of certain significant assets was the focal point of the appeal. The lower court granted the husband’s motion for summary judgment in the equitable distribution phase of the divorce based on a pre-existing Marital Settlement Agreement (MSA) entered into by the couple many years before. The MSA covered pre-existing assets. The lower court entered judgment on the pre-existing assets, holding that the assets acquired at the time of the execution of the MSA were disposed of in accordance with the terms of the MSA. However, subsequent to the execution of the MSA, the husband acquired additional assets. These assets were not within the purview of the MSA because they did not exist at the time that the MSA was executed. 

The appeal

On appeal, the Third District Court of Appeal sided with the wife on this issue. The appellate court found that the trial court erred in failing to address the newly acquired assets in the equitable distribution order. The appellate court found that the condominium and investment accounts were acquired after the MSA and were marital assets, so the trial court should have considered these assets in the distribution process.

The appellate court found that when there is no express provision in the MSA on the distribution of post-agreement, after-acquired assets, these assets must be equitably distributed in accordance with the Florida equitable distribution statute. The trial court’s failure to do this, however, was a reversible error, as the old agreement would not control the distribution of these post-agreement assets.

The appellate court therefore affirmed in part the trial court’s enforcement of the MSA on the pre-existing assets, but reversed in part the trial court’s equitable distribution order on the post-MSA assets.

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Source:

caselaw.findlaw.com/court/fl-district-court-of-appeal/115923778.html