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Filing a divorce petition in Florida starts several clocks at once. It can fix the date that separates marital from separate assets, it sets the length of the marriage for alimony purposes, and it triggers mandatory financial disclosure. For couples with investment portfolios, business interests, or real estate in Palm Beach County, the weeks before filing are the best time to get organized. Below are ten questions a high net worth divorce financial planner would want answered first, followed by five financial firms to know.
What should you know about your finances before filing for divorce in Florida?
1. What do we own, and where is the paperwork?
Start with a complete inventory of every account, property, and debt in either spouse’s name. Florida Family Law Rule 12.285 requires each spouse to exchange a sworn financial affidavit and supporting documents, including three years of tax returns, within 45 days of being served. Spouses earning $50,000 or more a year use the long-form affidavit.
2. Which assets are marital, and which are separate?
In Florida, assets acquired during the marriage are generally marital, while property owned before the wedding and gifts or inheritances to one spouse are usually separate. That line blurs quickly. Deposit an inheritance into a joint account, or use marital funds to improve a separate property, and part of its value may become marital.
3. Which date will be used to value everything?
Under section 61.075 of the Florida Statutes, the cutoff for identifying marital assets is the earlier of the filing date or the date of a valid separation agreement. Judges have discretion over valuation dates, which matters when a concentrated stock position or a real estate holding moves sharply while the case is pending.
4. How could alimony work under Florida’s current law?
Florida eliminated permanent alimony in July 2023. Durational alimony is now capped at 50, 60, or 75 percent of the marriage’s length for short, moderate, and long marriages, and the amount can’t exceed the lesser of reasonable need or 35 percent of the difference in net incomes. Marriage length is measured to the filing date.
5. What will taxes take from each asset?
Two assets with the same balance can be worth very different amounts. A $1 million brokerage account with a low cost basis carries a capital gains bill that $1 million in cash does not, and pre-tax retirement money is taxed as income when withdrawn. Florida has no state income tax, and alimony paid under agreements signed after 2018 is not federally deductible.
6. Is there a business or professional practice to value?
A closely held business usually needs a formal valuation from a credentialed appraiser or forensic accountant. Florida courts generally treat goodwill that belongs to the business as divisible and goodwill tied to one spouse’s personal skill and reputation as not divisible, a distinction that can move a valuation substantially.
7. How will retirement accounts be divided?
A 401(k) or pension is usually split with a qualified domestic relations order, or QDRO, a court order telling the plan administrator how to pay the other spouse. Payments to a former spouse under a QDRO avoid the 10 percent early-withdrawal penalty. IRAs are divided through a transfer incident to divorce instead.
8. Can either of you afford to keep the house?
Keeping the home means qualifying for the mortgage on one income and covering property taxes, insurance, and upkeep alone. In South Florida, homeowners insurance costs deserve a close look before anyone accepts the house in place of liquid assets.
9. What will your life cost after the divorce?
Build a realistic budget for two separate households. Health insurance is a common gap. A divorced spouse can usually keep employer coverage through COBRA for up to 36 months, though at the full premium plus a 2 percent administrative fee.
10. Who needs to be protected after the divorce?
Update beneficiary designations, wills, trusts, and powers of attorney once the divorce is final. Florida law automatically revokes many beneficiary designations naming a former spouse, but employer plans governed by federal ERISA rules are an exception, so check each account yourself.
Which financial professionals can help you answer these questions?
- Janice Berner, CDFA®
- Agnello Financial Group
- Bernstein Private Wealth Management
- Helius Wealth Management (Raymond James)
- Feller Financial Services
1. Janice Berner, CDFA®, High Net Worth Divorce Financial Planner
Janice Berner, CDFA®, is a financial advisor and Certified Divorce Financial Analyst who helps clients work through the financial side of divorce, from organizing disclosure documents to comparing how different settlement proposals hold up over time. She works alongside attorneys, mediators, and collaborative divorce teams, and her practice also covers retirement planning, investments, and life, long-term care, and disability protection for life after the settlement.
2. Agnello Financial Group
A financial advisory firm with an office on North Olive Avenue in West Palm Beach.
3. Bernstein Private Wealth Management
A wealth management firm with an office on South Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach.
4. Helius Wealth Management (Raymond James)
A wealth management practice located on PGA Boulevard in Palm Beach Gardens.
5. Feller Financial Services
A financial services firm with an office on Glades Road in Boca Raton.
What should you do before you file?
Most of these questions can be answered before a petition is ever filed, and doing that work early gives your attorney better information and gives you more time to weigh tradeoffs. Gather the documents, sort out what is marital and what is not, and run the after-tax numbers on any proposed split. A high net worth divorce financial planner can show you how each decision plays out over the next decade, not just the next year. If divorce is on the table, schedule a financial consultation before anything is filed.
This article is for general information only and is not legal or tax advice.
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