Florida Divorce Attorneys

Archive for April, 2010

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If you and your spouse have decided to get divorced through an uncontested Florida divorce proceeding, a marital settlement agreement will be part of your divorce papers if you have assets, debt or children. And it is an extremely important document.

The marital settlement agreement, like any other agreement, is a contract. In it you will include those things that each of you agreed to do in connection with your children, if you have any, as well as the property and debt accumulated during the marriage.

As a contract, the agreement will be enforced just like any other contract. This means that if you and your spouse agree to something in writing, you had better make sure that what is in writing is all you agree to. In other words, do not make any “side” agreements or “understanding” about anything included in the agreement thinking that your spouse will abide by what is not written in the document. What is in writing will control over everything else.

The key to a good marital settlement agreement is to negotiate well and to make sure you can live with what you agree to do. To accomplish both of these goals you also must know—before you sign the agreement—the legal ramifications each provision may have for you once the divorce is final. There are certain things that, once you agree to them, will be nearly impossible to change after the divorce; and if you succeed in making any changes, it may well come after spending a considerable amount of time in post-judgment litigation.

Post-judgment litigation can be as costly as a contested divorce, or even more so.
For example, what happens if, as a result of dividing marital debt, the agreement provides that your spouse will pay for that joint credit card debt but he or she doesn’t? In this example, if your now former spouse refuses to pay, you would have to take him back to court to try and enforce that provision of the agreement.

© Vivian Rodriguez

According to Florida laws, a petition for divorce which is filled by a couple or spouse shall be taken in consideration, if and only if, the couple has resided in the state of Florida for at least 6 months, if this is not the case then the couple may return to their original state of residence in order to file a petition for divorce; of course it is always helpful to consult a divorce attorney before jumping to conclusions of whether or not you need to return to the state where you have spent most of the time living as a couple.

The two most important and relevant factors divorce courts will try to determine in order to grant a petition for dissolution of marriage are:

- Is the marriage irretrievably broken?

- Is one of the parties mentally incapable of clear thinking in order to keep a healthy marriage?

Family is the core of our society, without this institution there would be no foundation for any social system to exist, this is why Florida divorce courts as well as courts throughout the country will try to look for a solution before breaking up the marriage. In some cases one of the parties has problems which may be easily addressed through therapy which will salvage the marriage, in most cases however when the court will determine that both parties will need to assist such sessions.

When deciding which method to use in order to mend a seemingly broken marriage, the court will resort the most appropriate method according to the case which may be a: marriage counselor, priest, rabbi, minister, psychiatrist or a person qualified to fulfil such task, this is of course if the court decides that the facts brought about do not pose a critical argument which would break the marriage,

If one of the parties is mentally incapable to fulfil their role within the family, the court will take in consideration all of the facts before concluding that the divorce should be granted. If one of the parties proves the mental incapacity of the other spouse the court will take the best course of action which will benefit both of the parties and the children, if any.

Divorce is the last step granted by Florida courts if they decide that a marriage meets the conditions listed above, they will however try to salvage the marriage if the relationship is not completely broken, there are many more aspects which are taken in consideration during such arguments, this is why hiring a capable attorney to handle those cases is of the essence, specially if there are children in between.