Is my inheritance safe in a divorce?

It can be, if it stayed separate. Depositing it into a joint account or using it on a jointly titled home usually makes it marital in whole or in part, and the burden of tracing falls on the spouse claiming it.

My spouse owns a practice. Will it be sold?

Rarely. The practice is usually valued and the other spouse receives value through a buyout or an offset against other assets, so the business keeps operating.

Can our prenuptial agreement be set aside?

Sometimes. Challenges typically focus on the circumstances of signing and on whether assets and income were fully disclosed. That is the first thing to evaluate.

Coral Gables, Florida - Miami-Dade County

Coral Gables Divorce and Property Division Attorney

Equitable distribution where the estate includes a practice, a portfolio, or a family business.

Coral Gables divorces are usually property cases first. Professional practices and partnerships, closely held companies, executive compensation with restricted stock or deferred payouts, investment accounts and high-value real estate all have to be classified, valued and divided. The legal standard is equitable distribution, but the work is financial.

Two issues recur here. The first is tracing: an inheritance, a gift or a premarital account can stay non-marital, but only if it was kept separate and the history can be shown. Once funds are mixed into a joint account or used on a jointly titled home, the analysis changes. The second is enhancement in value, where a non-marital business or property grew during the marriage through marital effort, giving the other spouse a claim to the increase.

Where a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement exists, it may control the outcome or may be open to challenge on how it was signed and what was disclosed. That question is worth answering before spending on valuations.

Miami-Dade property division in practice

Coral Gables cases proceed in Miami-Dade County, in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit, whose family division sits at the Lawson E. Thomas Courthouse Center, 175 Northwest 1st Avenue, Miami.
Marital assets and debts are divided equitably under section 61.075, Florida Statutes, starting from an equal division unless there is a stated basis to depart.
Non-marital claims for inheritances, gifts and premarital property must be traced with records, not asserted.
Business interests are commonly valued by an expert, and the usual outcome is a buyout or an offset rather than shared ownership after divorce.
Contested cases are referred to mediation, which is often where a valuation dispute is finally settled.

Coral Gables questions we hear

For the full statewide overview of this area of law, see our property division page.