Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce

The appellate case Subramanian v. Subramanian, 239 So.3d 719 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018) just published this year reviews a trial court’s decision on gradual timesharing and on equitable distribution of debts incurred after the date of filing the parties’ petition for dissolution.

The trial court entered an order which provided for a step-up schedule for the father to increase his timesharing and to have unsupervised timesharing. Part of the plan delegated the decision as to the timing of the increase in timesharing to the guardian ad litem and a therapist, stating: “After Husband's successful completion of 3 months of supervised timesharing described in the prior paragraph, and provided that father's therapist, mother's therapist[,] children's therapist and the GAL agree, additional weekday supervised timesharing should be provided to Husband.”

Additionally, as to equitable distribution, the court included over $200,000 as marital debt which was incurred by the former wife after the date of filing the petition for divorce. On appeal, the court reversed the timesharing ruling, holding it was error to delegate the court’s decision-making authority to a guardian ad litem and to a therapist. The appellate court also ruled it was error for the court to assign the debt as marital when it was clear the former wife incurred the debt after the date of filing the petition for divorce.

When you are facing a divorce in Florida, a consultation with a Miami divorce lawyer may be the best place to start in giving you clarity in moving forward. Schedule a meeting today to go over your best options.