DIY Divorce in Florida

Divorce in Florida: We're Not the Best State to Get a Divorce

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What's the best state to get a divorce? It's not Florida. But we are not the worst either. Florida divorce ranked 35th among the statesd in a Bloomberg Rankings study earlier this year. Alaska's rate of divorce is highest at 14.4 (compared to 9.2 for Florida). Where is the worst state to get a divorce? Vermont of all places!

Where Florida exceled in the study was our $409 court filing fee. Our filing fee is the highest in the entire country. Florida also led the southern states for having a higher age at first marriage. It's 28 years, on average. When you look through some of the requirements that different states have, we are pretty lucky here in Florida, at least with the procedure part.

You may be wondering how they figured out how to rank the states. They looked at various statistics, of course. Things like how long the process takes, the filing fee, residency requirements and mandatory separation periods. Bloomberg only looked at uncontested divorces with no minor children, and had a point system. They did not consider attorney fees in their formula.

Florida came in at number 35 on the best places to get divorced list because, despite our high filing fee, we scored well in the other areas. For example, you only have to reside in Florida for six months for the court to have jurisdiction over your divorce. Nor do we have any requirement about living apart or a six month waiting period like some states. You can get divorced in as little as 31 days after the petition is filed.

Bloomberg did not rate how easy it is to get a do it yourself divorce. Frankly, Florida's forms and instructions are complex when compared to other states. Many people come into my office because the forms are just too complicated. That is why I developed the DIY Divorce Crash Course on Florida Divorce. The Crash Course helps you understand not only how to complete the forms but understand the effects your choices will have. And there is a ton of information about hnhow to help your children through the divorce process and beyond. It's a complete system for those who want to save money with a do it yourself divorce.

Divorced Parent Telesummit

I'm hosting the Divorced Parent Telesummit again. The next session begins on March 12th. The Divorced Parent Telesummit is designed to help divorcing and divorced parent who are stressed with all the changes in life and worried about the impact of divorce on thier children. We want to empower divorced parents to be wise and confident and you provide a sense of peace and security to your children.

The DPT is free, so there's no excuse for not getting this valuable information. This session os the Divorced Parent Telesummit includes sessions on

Parenting

Susan Epstein, a parent coach, will help you with some of the most common behavior issues (bedtie, homework and cleaning your room). She has some practical tips on how to deal with these behaviors and stay calm.

Ronae Jull will be joining us to discuss parenting teenagers after divorce. Many parent assume that teens will adjust better than younger kids. Join Ronae, The Hope Coach, and learn more about your teen.

Patrick McMillan will also be featured. Patrick will discuss how to be the best parent you can be after divorce. He will help you examine your habits and move on.

Deesha Philyaw and Mike Thomas will be contnuing their conversation where we left off last session - dating and remarriage. Since most parents end up remarried and Deesha and Mike have both experienced dating and remarriage, we invited them back to tell us more about how to blend families after divorce and remarriage.

Money and Credit

Since finances are such an issue for so many divorced parents, we invited to experts to this Telesummit.

Lisa C. Decker is a Certified Divorce Financial Anakyst. She will help you Make Dolalrs and Sense of money issues before, during and after divorce. Lisa is knowledgeable on all aspects of divorcing your spouse, not your money.

Jeremy Maher is the Credit Repair Doc. If Lisa's preventative strategies come too late for you, Jeremy will educate you about how to repair your credit after divorce. He's got some easy strategies for all of us so that we can get the credit we deserve after divorce.

The Divorced Parent Telesummit starts at 9 pm on March 12th. It runs Monday thorugh Wednesday for two weeks. There will be a free replay for 24 hours, but you will want to get the recordings. This information is so helpful that you will want to refer to it in the future - especially the parenting sessions. If your kids are younger, believe me, they will grow. And this information will helop you in the future. That's why I recommedn the Silver or Gold member levels.

Divorce, Foreclosure & Property Division

Foreclosures are high in Florida. That's no secret. And while some banks may not be seeking deficiency judgments, the Third District recently reminded us that Florida law allows deficiency judgements. That means divorce judges must take into account foreclosure situations when doing a property distribution in a Florida divorce.

Foreclosure & Deficiency Judgments in Florida

A deficiency judgment results when a creditor (the bank) is not paid the full amount of what is owed. That can happen in a foreclosure or a short sale. In the case from Miami, the wife did not want to go into foreclosure so the court awarded her the condo and its mortgage debt and then divided the rest of the property equally in the property distribution.

Here's what the Third District Court of Appeal had to say in Byrne v Byrne (decided in January 2012):

the trial court justified its decision not to assign half of the condominium's debt to Dan by stating that, although Ava wished to preserve her reputation by preventing foreclosure, "most homeowners in the circumstances of the parties would simply abandon the residence and/or return the keys to the banks holding the indebtedness." The trial court therefore concluded that it would be inequitable to require Dan to pay half of the condominium's negative value solely because Ava desired to protect her own reputation.

The trial court's justification was not "legally sufficient" because it erroneously assumed that the negative value associated with the condominium would simply vanish if the parties were to "abandon the residence" or "return the keys to the banks holding the indebtedness." It is well settled Florida law that, absent contractual agreement, debtors remain liable for the portion of their debt not satisfied in a foreclosure sale. See Webber v. Blanc, 22 So. 655, 656 (Fla. 1897)

Dealing with Negative Equity in Property Distribution

So once again, an unequal distribution was overturned on appeal.That's because the couple had no release from the underlying mortgage debt and could have been sued for the entire outstanding mortgage amount.

Just because one spouse wants to avoid foreclosure, even if it appears to others that it is a losing propsoition, the entire debt and negative equity must be considered by the trial court when dealing with foreclosure and divorce in Florida.