Jacksonville Divorce Lawyer Blog

For many Florida couples the marital home represents the largest financial asset, so what happens to the home could substantially affect your financial security for years to come. But for some couples the marital home represents more than just a financial asset, it represents a life time of memories. Thus, the decision of who will remain in the house in the event of a divorce can be a tough decision to make- both financially and emotionally.

When you are deciding on whether to stay in your house there are many factors for you to consider: Mortgage payments, taxes, home owners insurance, utilities, and maintenance are only a few. Be smart, and make your decision on what you can afford, not what you want. Typically there are three options when it comes to the marital home during a divorce:

1. Sell the house immediately and split the proceeds with your former spouse.

It is no surprise that a divorce can have a serious impact on Jacksonville children. Research has shown that children struggle with divorce, but a new study is one of the first to pinpoint when those struggles emerge.

Researcher Hyun Sik Kim from the University of Wisconsin-Madison studied 142 grade school children with divorced parents. Kim was surprised to find that there was no significant reduction in performance in the months that preceded the divorce. It was only during the divorce itself that the children began to struggle, and almost two years later they remained behind their peers with married parents.

The study showed that in the fall of kindergarten, children whose parents were fighting and would eventually divorce scored three to four points lower on standardized math tests. By fifth grade, after the children’s parents had divorced, their scores were seven to 10 points lower than those children with married parents.

Are you a woman who got married before the age of 18? Do you have a child with ADHD? Did you smile in your yearbook photos? Anneli Rufus uses scientific statistics to help predict the rates of success or failure in a marriage.

If you’re a woman who married before the age of 18, you face a 48 percent chance of divorce within 10 years. Age does matter; studies show that the younger the married couple, the riskier the bond. The risk for divorce decreases 40 percent for women who married at the age of 18 or 19, 29 percent for women who married at age 20 to 24 and 24 percent for women who married at age 25 or older.

The likelihood of divorce increases based on the gender of your child. If you have two sons, you face a 36.9 percent chance of divorce, but if you have two daughters, the likelihood increases to 43.1 percent. These findings by Columbia University economist Kristin Mammen reflect other studies that link the births of girls with elevated divorce rates.

Facebook, the world’s largest social network has over eight million users around the world. The New York Times reported that Facebook has become one of the “new titans of the Internet,” challenging even Google with a vision of a Web tied together through personal relationships.

Facebook is no doubt one of the most popular sites in the world, but your right to privacy is at risk the minute you log onto Facebook. It is possible that your personal information might be involuntarily shared with third parties due to security gaffes, marketing efforts, scam artists, or in the litigation context—opposing counsel.

Recently, a judge in Pennsylvania ruled that an attorney could access a worker’s Facebook account to discredit his claim that he suffered embarrassment and lost wages because of a workplace accident. The worker claimed he was unable to “enjoy life and life’s pleasures” or wear shorts because of an embarrassing scar, but he posted pictures on the public portion of his Facebook page which show him wearing shorts that reveal his leg scar and riding a motorcycle.

Marriages in Jacksonville can either be terminated by dissolution (divorce) or by annulment. Annulment is the process of nullifying a marriage where the court declares that the marriage never took place. In order to annul a marriage, the person seeking the legal action must have sufficient grounds for annulment. Florida has no specific statute or rule that governs annulment; the general venue statute is followed and the action is commenced in circuit court. What follows is a list of requirements or grounds that must be presented to the court to terminate a marriage by annulment.

A common ground for annulment typically involves a situation where one party lacked the capacity to legally enter into the marriage. Common examples include: either party has a prior existing marriage, extreme intoxication, lack of the requisite mental ability, or one party was under the age of consent.

Grounds for annulment can also include situations involving fraud, duress, or coercion. A fraudulent marriage can be if one of the parties never intended to be married, the marriage was sought to deceive the other party or the marriage was for the purpose of gaining citizenship rights. A marriage based on duress or coercion includes one party being forced or threatened into the marriage.

A person whose spouse is physically and incurably impotent during the marriage has grounds for annulment, so long as they were not aware of the impotency prior to the marriage. Also, impotency should not be confused with sterility. If a marriage was never consummated, then this also constitutes grounds for annulment.

Although one party who is contesting the marriage may prove some of the above grounds, annulment may not be allowed where that party has ratified the marriage. That means if the person seeking annulment is aware of the defects but confirms the marriage; it cannot be subject to annulment. Essentially, the moving party has waived their right to contest the marriage.

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