Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce

What can a Florida divorce court do if the value of an asset is unknown at the time equitable distribution is decided? With a pension, for example, the value of the account can be assigned or expressed as a percentage based on the years of marriage. This was an issue in the case Cupo v. Cupo, 4D22-64 (Fla. 4th DCA December 21, 2022).

In this divorce case, the parties were married for approximately 17 years when a divorce petition was filed. The former husband was a military member who served several tours of duty beginning in 1991 and ending in 2018. He filed for divorce in 2018. After a trial, the court entered a final judgment which equitably distributed the parties’ assets, but left out the former husband’s military pension. The former wife moved for rehearing, after which the trial court entered an amended final judgment acknowledging the pension, but determining that because there was no evidence as to its value, the court did not have to distribute it. The former wife appealed.

The appellate court reversed the amended judgment, holding “The statute makes clear that a military pension must be included in any equitable division, and the pension may be valued based upon a percentage of the retired pay. Thus, even if the court is not presented with the pension’s value in dollars, the court must still include the pension, expressed as a percentage, in the division of the marital assets. The court was obligated to divide the pension. As the wife was not married to the husband for the entirety of the husband’s military service, she may not be entitled to a full fifty percent of the military pension, which she claims. Nevertheless, she is entitled to a portion of the military pension commensurate with the years of marriage during which the pension accrued.”

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