Sarasota High-Asset Divorce Attorney

There is no statutory threshold. What matters is complexity: a closely held business, executive or equity compensation, trust interests, multiple properties, commingled inheritances, or income high enough that the guidelines stop being determinative. A modest net worth structured across entities can be far more complex than a larger one held in simple accounts.

No. The initial meeting is a paid, confidential strategy session in which we analyze your financial situation in depth and map out your options. A thirty-minute conversation cannot do that responsibly, and in a complex matter the analysis itself has value whether or not you retain us.

Court filings are generally public record in Florida. Certain financial information can be kept out of the record if agreed. In addition, the disclosure of financial information typically is protected by negotiated confidentiality agreements confining the sharing of information to the professionals and parties involved.

In a so-called "simplified dissolution of marriage proceeding" — one in which there is no alimony awarded and the parties have no minor children in common — a marital settlement agreement may be kept out of the court file. Confidentiality is protected to the extent possible under the law, and treated as a strategic objective from the outset.

Through a valuation process that typically involves a business appraiser and often a forensic accountant. Florida distinguishes enterprise goodwill, which is generally divisible, from personal goodwill attached to the individual, which generally is not. The method chosen and the expert retained can meaningfully change the number.

Not necessarily. The courts are reluctant to join divorcing spouses together in ownership of a business. Instead, if a business is deemed to be a marital asset, under principles of equitable distribution the courts would look to other assets to compensate your spouse for the value of his or her interest in the business.

It was abolished in large part in 2023. Absent extenuating circumstances which are truly rare, the remaining forms are temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, lump sum, and durational. Durational awards are calculated pursuant to a closely circumscribed formula, with the length of payment capped as a percentage of the length of the marriage. This changed the calculus significantly in long marriages with large income disparities.

Florida's statutory guidelines schedule stops at a certain combined income level. Above it, the court may have discretion, with the analysis turning on the children's established standard of living and demonstrated needs rather than a formula.

That is a discovery and forensic accounting question, and it is addressed early. Tracing through entities, accounts, and transfers is detailed work, and it is far more effective when started at the beginning of a matter than after a settlement framework is already on the table.

Most divorces, including those of high net worth individuals and complex matters, resolve without trial — and that is our first objective, so that the client has certainty and control over both the process and the outcome. A private resolution promotes confidentiality, costs less, and takes less time. We prepare every matter as though it may be tried in the 12th Judicial Circuit, because that preparation is what makes a reasonable settlement achievable.

Though Loftus Law makes every effort to resolve things as early and as efficiently as possible, a complex dissolution of marriage case can be expected to take longer than a straightforward one. This is largely because valuation and discovery take time. The realistic range depends on the number of entities involved, the cooperativeness of the other side, and whether valuation is contested. We give you a candid assessment rather than an optimistic one.

Yes, and we prefer to. Your existing advisors know the history of your holdings. Coordinating with them produces better analysis than rebuilding the picture from scratch.

Then the first question is whether it is enforceable and what it actually controls. A valid agreement can resolve much of the dispute before it starts. Where enforceability is contested, that becomes a threshold issue in the case.

Our article on how a prenuptial agreement protects a business and retirement accounts explains what courts look at.

You may be a candidate for an uncontested dissolution, which is faster, less expensive, and entirely private. Complexity and conflict are different things — a large estate with two cooperative spouses can often be resolved without a contested proceeding at all.

Support obligations and certain other terms can be modified when there are changes in circumstances — for example, retirement or unanticipated illness. For clients whose income moves with the business cycle, this is worth understanding before the original terms are set.