Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets and Liabilities

Marital Assets and Liabilities Part 7 of 15 | Divorce Attorney Fort Myers/Naples

Nonmarital assets and liabilities include:

1. Assets acquired and liabilities incurred by either party prior to the marriage, and assets acquired and liabilities incurred in exchange for such assets and liabilities;
2. Assets acquired separately by either party by noninterspousal gift, bequest, devise, or descent, and assets acquired in exchange for such assets;
   1. Test: where the husband received them as gifts from his mother, 1) kept them in his name only, 2) and never commingled the funds in a joint account. Tradler v. Tradler, 100 So.3d 735, 743 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012)
3. All income derived from nonmarital assets during the marriage unless the income was treated, used, or relied upon by the parties as a marital asset;
4. Assets and liabilities excluded from marital assets and liabilities by valid written agreement of the parties, and assets acquired and liabilities incurred in exchange for such assets and liabilities; and
5. Any liability incurred by forgery or unauthorized signature of one spouse signing the name of the other spouse. Any such liability shall be a nonmarital liability only of the party having committed the forgery or having affixed the unauthorized signature.

• Property acquired during the marriage through the exchange of non-marital assets is non-marital. Beaty v. Gribble, 652 So.2d 1156 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995).
• Debts to cover non-marital expenses. To the extent that a party incurred debts to cover non-marital expenses, the debt should not be classified as marital debt for the purpose of equitable distribution. Fortune v. Fortune, 61 So.3d 441, 445 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011)
  • Test: make a finding as to 1) when the debt was incurred or 2) what the debt was used to pay.

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