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Divorce, now termed dissolution of marriage, is a word that generates a number of painful thoughts and emotions. Few couples on their wedding day anticipate their marriage could ever be over and they would once again go their separate ways. Sadly, however, time often changes people, situations, and circumstances, and a couple finds, for a variety of reasons, they can no longer live together as husband and wife.
Alimony, now usually termed spousal support, is an amount of money paid to a spouse by the other spouse during the process of obtaining and/or following a divorce. While the usual recipient is the wife, there are times when the husband will receive alimony. Determining factors for deciding who receives alimony, if indeed either party is eligible, are complicated and require a well-qualified and experienced family law attorney.
When a child has been born to a couple who are now desiring a divorce, or who have been together in a relationship and are leaving that relationship, there is always the issue of child support. In the state of Florida child support cannot be waived, even if the parties wish to do so.
Except for the situation when a parent or legal guardian is given sole custody of a minor child or children, the term child custody is no longer used in the legal sense in the state of Florida. Since 2008 when Chapter 61 of the Florida Statutes, (which spells out the legal guidelines for dissolution of marriage in the state), was greatly modified, the term parental timesharing has replaced the terms custody and visitation.
In 2008 when Florida statute 61, which governs divorce or dissolution of marriage, was greatly modified the terms concerning child custody issues were changed to eliminate the confusion of definitions surrounding the care, residency, visitation and decision making for minor children. The term parental timesharing now replaces the terms custody and visitation.
In the legal sense, to modify a judgment means to make a legal change in the final outcome of the decree signed by a judge. In the case of alimony, modification can only take place if the right to modification of alimony was not waived.
Modification means to change or alter, in this case, the terms of a final decree regarding child support and timesharing. Post-judgment refers to a time following final judgment of a dissolution of marriage and the signing of the dissolution decree by a judge.
“A prenuptial agreement, antenuptial agreement, or premarital agreement, commonly abbreviated to prenupt or prenup is a contract entered into prior to marriage, civil union or any other agreement prior to the main agreement by the people intending to marry or contract with each other.
A postnuptial agreement, which can also be termed a postmarital agreement, is a written, signed, and notarized document contracted during a marriage. Usually these agreements center around the rights and obligations of each party in the event of death or divorce. Both parties must agree and sign without duress.
Probably the most difficult and contested part of a dissolution of marriage proceedings is the determination and proof of what are marital assets and what are non-marital assets. This decision is then followed by another difficult decision and that is the division of the marital assets.
