Florida’s divorce courts may uphold agreements made between couples dissolving their marriages through collaborative law. As described on the Florida Bar’s website, spouses may use the collaborative process to negotiate their own written settlement.
An agreement could include a plan for dividing your marital assets with your soon-to-be ex-spouse. Collaborative participation generally takes place outside of the courtroom. During the collaborative process, you may take as much time as you need to discuss your financial issues and work out a fair property split.
What may a settlement agreement contain?
With a collaborative divorce, you may create a settlement agreement that meets your personal needs. As noted by Forbes, collaboration offers couples better opportunities for personalized outcomes than a divorce trial. During the collaborative process, a family court judge may not interfere with your private affairs.
Rather than following the standard court process, spouses could divide their property in a meaningful way. Collaboration also allows couples to include customized child custody plans. Florida’s statutes require both parents to spend time with their children and contribute to a child’s healthcare and education. Assets that one spouse takes full ownership of, for example, may help with child-rearing.
How may spouses discuss asset division?
A settlement agreement includes a plan for how spouses have agreed to divide their marital property. The plan must include all the assets that either spouse obtained while married. Cash, real estate and investment accounts divide fairly with divorce in Florida.
Fairness may reflect how much each spouse contributed to an asset’s purchase. The length of your marriage and future income or alimony could also determine the outcome of an asset’s division. Separate property or assets a spouse purchased before the marriage generally do not divide in divorce.
