Under Florida’s alimony statute (Chapter 61.08, Florida Statutes), one of the main criteria in determining the amount of alimony to be awarded to requesting spouse is a determination by the court of the ‘standard of living maintained during the marriage.’ This is one of ten criteria to be applied once there is established a quantified ‘need’ for alimony by the requesting spouse and the financial resources (‘ability’) of the paying spouse to meet that need.
The setting of an alimony amount is typically the second financial step in a divorce case following the court’s equitable distribution between the parties of the marital assets and marital debts. Equitable distribution is a large topic that will be covered in the future. But for our purposes, the court has to consider the amount of income any of the assets could produce for the recipient spouse following the divorce (such as rental properties income, stock portfolios, cash, etc.) in determining the ‘need’ of the alimony requesting spouse. ‘Need’ may be reduced by some or all of the income to be produced in the immediate future.
As financial woes are a leading cause of marital discord and divorce, how can the court order the maintenance of a ‘standard of living’ if the standard is predicated on financing beyond the income of the couple? Specifically, what if the ‘standard’ was fueled by financially irresponsible credit card debt, unsustainable borrowing, and the like? Can the court reduce the ‘standard of living’ to one that would have been sustainable absent the profligate spending and the piling on of marital debt?
The answer is established in Florida case law handed down over the years by the appellate courts. A very recent 2020 appellate case that arose in Miami-Dade Family Court featured a divorcing couple that had accumulated credit card debt to sustain a lifestyle neither could afford. The appellate cited to an earlier case in reiterating the rule courts must follow:
“The parties have lived well beyond their means during their twelve years of marriage. That, of course, clouds the financial picture and makes unreliable many of the usual benchmarks for the resolution of the issues. For example, the party’s standard of living as a factor determining ‘needs’ and ‘ability’ loses its punch when the standard was far too high for the circumstances of the parties.”
‘Loses its punch’, indeed. By using the services of a qualified divorce forensic accountant, an attorney can give the court a clear picture of what the parties could afford for an appropriate ‘standard of living’ by discounting excessive spending and debt. This is most helpful to both a spouse facing an alimony demand and the court that must make that decision based on evidence.
To learn more about my firm and speak with an experienced matrimonial and family law lawyer, email me or call (786) 281-5015.
