Divorce Florida Style

Q: My husband and I have been married for seven years.  I am a CPA and he is an attorney.  We were married when we were both thirty-five years old, and established in our careers.  We approached marriage with a plan.

We wanted a child, one, and agreed that if we had a child I would give up my career to focus on the child.  Some plans work better than others do.  I got pregnant after two years of trying, testing and medical procedures.  The pregnancy, not an easy one, produced twin girls.

I had worked for a large firm, which always had some need for part time, overflow work that I could do at home.  I gave up my book of business to one of my partners, work part time at home, and spend my time raising the girls.

During the marriage my husband’s career flourished.  He went from an associate to a non-equity partner, to an equity partner in one of South Florida’s best firms.  His income tripled.   While we saved through his firm’s 401K account, we spent most of the rest on a new home cars and living what I hear is called La Viva Boca lifestyle.

I am seriously considering divorce, and have no clue what my alimony rights might be.  My friends have told me that I have no rights, because I have not been married long enough, and that all I will get is child support.

I found the Florida child support guidelines, on line, and did the easy calculations to find that even at my husband’s income the guidelines payments would barely pay the mortgage payment on my country club home.  All I need is some time to go back to full time accounting, and re-build my practice.  It may take awhile because of the economy, my specialization having been in the housing accounting sector.

Am I entitled to rehabilitative alimony?  If so for how much, and for how long?

A: The rules for eligibility for alimony generally and for rehabilitative alimony specifically are found in the appellate court decisions, which interpret the Florida statute on alimony.  The most significant factors that govern alimony, generally, are length of the marriage and need and ability to pay.

As you tacitly acknowledge, by asking about rehabilitative alimony, by definition a seven-year marriage is a short-term marriage, which does not entitle a person to periodic alimony, absent a party becoming disabled during the marriage.

The purpose of rehabilitative alimony is to provide funds to help a party establish, or in your case re-establish a capacity for self-support.  A rehabilitative plan is a pre-requisite for any rehabilitative alimony.  The plan must be specific, and can be written or oral as long as it is reasonable, logical, and credible. 

In your case, because you had built an accounting career once, you should be able to put together a plan based on your experience.  The plan has to be for a reasonable length of time, considering your profession and the length of the marriage and the market.  It might include networking, giving seminars, and contacting old clients who had left your firm since your marriage, pregnancy and agreed reduction.

The amount of money that you should ask for or expect to receive is the key to your success.  You have to be fair and reasonable, as both parties to a dissolution of marriage are entitled to go on with their lives in a similar economic manner, but two people cannot usually live as well in separate homes as they can together.

Your lifestyle will be taken into consideration, but recent appellate cases indicate the there is a move afoot among some of the appellate court judges to reduce the importance of that criteria.

You need a practical way to get from here to there.  You will need excellent representation and the assistance of a forensic accountant.