Articles Posted in Divorce / Dissolution of Marriage

A New York Times columnist calls it “divorce porn” – married people’s fascination with the lives of the divorced.

In his Family Matters column for the Times, Bruce Feiler commented on the dichotomy of divorce in America these days: while the divorce rate is the lowest it’s been in three decades, a lot of our popular culture seems to be obsessed with divorce.

To wit: the big adult movie of the summer is Eat Pray Love, based on Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling novel that chronicles her own journey of discovery after a divorce at age 32. That book sold over five million copies. The sequel, Committed, about her marriage to her second husband, has only sold 200,000 copies.

Women who are over the age of 50 and earning more than $100,000 a year are much more likely to divorce than men of the same age and income category.

A U.S. Census Bureau study – 2009 America’s Families and Living Arrangements – shows that 11.85 percent of American women aged 45-49 and earning over $100,000 a year are divorced, but that number almost doubles to 22.45 percent at age 50-54.

For men of the same age and income bracket, the divorced percentage drops from 8.4 percent for those aged 45-49 to 6.61 percent for those aged 50-54. Also, as men’s income climbs, the divorce rate drops, but for women, it’s the exact opposite – as their income grows, so does their divorce rate.

We all know that viruses cause colds, so we avoid exposure to viruses. But what are some of the common risk factors for divorce?

Lack of support – Constant criticism, lack of respect and failing to provide emotional support to a spouse is a common cause of divorce.

Ill health – When one spouse becomes seriously ill, it sometimes places unbearable strains on a marriage. The idea of “in sickness and health,” is a good one, but the reality is that a healthy person married to a sick person usually becomes a divorced couple.

The 5th Texas Court of Appeal in Dallas has just handed down a ruling regarding a gay couple that wished to obtain a Texas divorce: forget about it.

The appeals court said that a Dallas district court judge was in error when she ruled that she had the authority to hear the divorce case of two Dallas men who married in 2006 in Massachusetts. The court said that Texas courts lack the legal authority to grant divorces to same-sex couples because of the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriages.

The Texas constitution states that a valid marriage is a union between one man and one woman, and only when that union exists can a divorce be granted. Even though the same-sex marriage ban has existed under state law, Texas voters passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in 2005 by a three to one margin.

A Queens Supreme Court justice has turned down a New York couple’s request to set aside their November 2009 divorce, telling them that they should not have wasted the court’s time and money.

According to an article in the New York Daily News, the wife, who now lives in Rhode Island, and her former husband, who remains in Queens, told the judge that they had recently reconciled and wanted him to void their divorce from last year. They told Justice Charles Markey that even if they got remarried, “we would forever be aware that a divorce judgment still exists between us.” The couple also said they wanted to avoid any religious stigma because of the divorce.

However, Justice Markey told the couple that the court “does not bow to alleged religious sentiments or convictions that may attach to divorce” and questioned whether the couple had truly reconciled since they both lived in different states. He said that it appeared their reconciliation was premature, and suggested that if they were really serious about repairing their relationship, they could take another trip down the aisle.

Many people think that the hardest part about divorce is making the decision to get one. However, the divorce process itself can take quite an emotional and financial toll if you are not prepared. Here are some tips for getting through a divorce:

Find a good divorce attorney. People who have been through a divorce will tell you this is probably the most important thing. You need to find a divorce attorney who not only knows what they are doing, but who you can trust with every detail of your life. A good divorce attorney for your best friend may not be a good divorce lawyer for you. Do your homework and find one that “clicks” with you.

Be honest. After you find that divorce attorney, be honest with him or her. One of the worst things you can do is set your attorney up for a surprise in court. This could put you at a big disadvantage and compromise your case.

A Swedish study on the role genes play in relationship bonding suggests that some men may carry what researchers have called a “divorce gene”, although they say that it does not mean you can necessarily predict whether your husband will want a divorce based on his DNA.

The study was conducted at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, one of Europe’s oldest and highest ranked medical universities. One thousand couples participated in the study, which was inspired by an earlier North American study on field mice that showed genetics played a part in relationship bonding.

Lead researcher Hasse Walum said that researchers examined the association between the vasopressin receptor 1a gene and bonding behavior to see if a similar pattern could be detected in humans. The men in the study who had the gene scored lower on “affection expression” than men without the gene.

It may seem strange for a Florida divorce lawyer to say, but a big part of our job is to keep you out of court. Because once you go to court for your divorce, your post-divorce life is in the hands of a stranger. Of course, this stranger – a judge – is supposed to rule fairly. But judges are human. They can have a bad day just like the rest of us. The best-case scenario is not to have a divorce case in court at all.

However, if your Florida divorce case does end up in court, here is how you should prepare yourself:

Confer with your attorney and take his or her advice on how you should dress and act in the courtroom. They know this judge a lot better than you do.

In a Florida divorce proceeding, the family courts set aside all non-marital assets and liabilities and equitably distribute all marital assets and liabilities between the parities. Therefore, it is helpful to know what constitutes a martial asset in order to determine what property you are entitled.

Martial property includes any property acquired during the marriage by the efforts of either spouse. Also, a spouses retirement account, IRAs and 401k plans may be subject to equitable distribution if that plan or account was acquired by one spouse during the marriage. Marriage is defined as the date of marriage to the date of filing the divorce.

Some concrete examples of “marital property” include but are not limited to:
1. A home, if the home was purchased during the marriage with the earnings of one or both parties.
2. A pension plan, to the extent the plan accrued during the marriage.
3. The value of bank accounts, mutual funds, etc., to the extent the funds deposited were earned by either party during the marriage.
4. Gifts between spouses during the marriage.

See Florida Statute sec. 61.075: Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets and Liabilities for the exact language of the Florida Statute.

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One of the areas of confusion for clients who are getting a divorce in Florida is what constitutes marital and non-marital assets and liabilities for purposes of equitable distribution. The following is a list delineating each:

Marital Assets and Liabilities:

Assets (and liabilities) that have been obtained/incurred during the marriage, by one or both spouses;