Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce

When a party intentionally wastes marital funds, this is called dissipation. If a court finds that dissipation has occurred, a court should award half of the dissipated funds to the innocent spouse or credit the full value of the dissipated asset to the offending spouse in the equitable distribution scheme. This was an issue in the case Peterson v. Peterson, 2D19-181 (Fla. 2d DCA February 5, 2021).

The parties were divorced by an amended final judgment. The court found the former husband had intentionally dissipated over $14,000 from his retirement account. As a result, the court found the former wife was entitled to half of the account value as of the date of filing for divorce plus one-half of the amount dissipated by the former husband. However, the final judgment did not reflect this credit to the former wife and instead resulted in a judgment that gave the former husband credit for the amount dissipated and ordering the former wife to pay the former husband an equalizing payment. The former wife appealed.

The appellate court reversed, holding “When the court finds that a party has engaged in misconduct that dissipated marital funds, the court should assign the dissipated funds to the dissipating spouse in the equitable distribution scheme. [internal citations omitted]. Here, the equitable distribution worksheet does not accurately reflect the trial court's findings, impacting the intended distribution of the 401k plan and the equalizing payment. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for the court to revise the equitable distribution worksheet in order to effectuate the distribution contemplated by the amended final judgment.”

Determining how assets and debts will be divided in your Florida divorce case requires case-specific analysis. Contact a Miami divorce lawyer to go over how the law may apply to your case.