A lot of people assume that when they divorce in Florida, the court simply adds up everything the couple owns and splits it down the middle. That is not how equitable distribution works.
Florida Statute 61.075 requires an “equitable” distribution of marital assets and liabilities, not necessarily an equal one. The court starts from the premise that distribution should be equal, but it can and does adjust that starting point based on a list of statutory factors: each spouse’s contribution to the marriage, including as a homemaker or parent, the economic circumstances of the parties, the duration of the marriage, any interruption of a career or education, and the desirability of keeping an asset like a business intact, among others.
In practice, this means two spouses with identical incomes might still end up with different shares of the marital estate. A court can order an unequal split if it finds that one spouse dissipated marital funds, or if another statutory factor warrants it.
It is also important to separate marital property from nonmarital property before any percentage is applied. Assets owned before the marriage, inheritances, and gifts from third parties are generally nonmarital, and they are not part of the pot being divided at all.
The takeaway is that “equitable” and “equal” are not the same word, and in a Florida divorce, they don’t always mean the same result.
