When dividing assets in a Florida divorce, one common question is whether a spouse that uses nonmarital funds to pay marital expenses converts the asset from non-marital to marital. The recent case of Rose v. Rose (November 2025) provides important guidance.

In Rose, the husband owned a construction company that the court classified as nonmarital property. During the marriage, he used the company’s accounts to pay personal and marital expenses. The trial court ruled that this use converted part of the business into a marital asset and awarded his wife half the business value.

The Second DCA reversed the trial court, holding that the use of nonmarital funds for marital expenses does not automatically convert the asset into marital property. Only when nonmarital funds are mixed with marital funds (e.g., deposited into a joint account) or there is clear intent to gift does the classification change.

Florida law is clear: Payment of marital expenses with nonmarital funds does not change ownership classification unless commingling or gifting occurs. It is important to keep marital and non-marital accounts separate to avoid commingling.

Michael DeVoe is a divorce attorney in Orlando, Florida practicing contested divorce, uncontested divorce, timesharing, visitation, custody, paternity, child support, injunctions, and other family law cases.

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Child Support in Florida

• Purpose: Provides for the child’s needs, including food, housing, clothing, healthcare, education, and extracurricular activities.
• Calculation: Florida uses a formula outlined in F.S. 61.30, commonly known as “Child Support Guidelines.” The major variables in this calculation include:
  • Each parents’ income.
  • The number of children.
  • The parenting time each parent has with the child.
  • Child-related expenses (e.g., healthcare and childcare costs).

Adjustments may be made for prior-born children; extraordinary medical expenses or special needs; social security income received for the subject child’s benefit; and various other special circumstances.

• Duration:
  • Generally paid until the child turns 18.
  • May continue until 19 if the child is still in high school and expected to graduate before age 19.
  • For disabled children, support can extend indefinitely.

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Alimony in Florida

• Purpose: Helps a lower-earning or non-earning spouse maintain a standard of living similar to what they had during the marriage.
• Types of Alimony:
  • Temporary: Helps the recipient meet living expenses during the pending divorce case
  • Bridge-the-Gap: Short-term support for specific needs as the spouse transitions to self-sufficiency (maximum of 2 years).
  • Rehabilitative: Helps the recipient gain skills or education to become self-supporting.
  • Durational: Support for a set period, not exceeding the length of the marriage.
• Calculation: Although there is no fixed formula in Florida, a new law was passed in 2023 that caps durational alimony at the lesser of actual need or 35% of the difference in the parties’ net incomes. Other classifications of alimony are based on a variety of other factors, such as the recipient’s need; the payor’s ability to pay; the length of the marriage, and the standard of living during the marriage.

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Comparison of Alimony vs Child Support in Florida

1. Child Support is mandatory. Child support calculations follow strict guidelines and generally cannot be waived by agreement between parents. This means child support payments are typically non-negotiable and often take precedence over alimony.
2. Alimony is negotiable and can be waived. An eligible spouse may accept alimony in a lower amount or even waive alimony.
3. Concurrent Payments: If you are obligated to pay both child support and alimony, child support is calculated first. Alimony payments may then be adjusted based on your remaining financial ability after meeting your child support obligations.

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Alimony vs. Child Support: Which Costs More?

• Child Support may cost more if you have a high income or multiple children, as Florida’s guidelines are based on combined parental income and parenting time.
• Alimony could cost more in cases involving long-term marriages or significant income disparities.
• If you have both obligations, your financial situation and the court’s decisions will determine the total amounts.

Call DeVoe Law Firm if you have any questions about child support or alimony. As part of representation, we will let you know what you can expect to pay in your divorce or father’s rights case in Orlando, Florida.

Creating a Time-Sharing Schedule For Your Children

Your time-sharing schedule should include:

• An everyday schedule that shows when the child is with each parent on weekdays and on weekends
• A holiday schedule that shows which parent the child is with for holidays
• A summer break schedule that shows when the child is with each parent during summer break

Other things to consider as you make your schedule:

• Parents should work together to make a schedule they both like

• Your schedule should give your child frequent and consistent contact with both parents

• Your child’s age usually determines how long and how frequent visits are

• Usually all the children in a family stay together for time-sharing

• If parents are not able to agree on a schedule, the court will establish the schedule

Having the courts establish a time-sharing schedule 

Most courts follow similar guidelines when setting up a time-sharing schedule. For the everyday schedule for children 3 and over, there will be one residential parent, usually the one who lives near the child’s school, and one nonresidential parent. The child visits the non-residential parent:

• One evening during the week after school or work to 8:30 pm

• Every other weekend from Friday after school or work to Sunday evening at 6:00 pm or Monday morning when school starts

• If the child has school off on the Friday before the non-residential parent’s weekend, the weekend time starts on Thursday.

• If a child has school off on the Monday after the non-residential parent’s weekend, the weekend ends on Monday evening or Tuesday morning when school starts.

What is the first step in getting a divorce in Florida?

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The first step is filing a document called Petition for Dissolution of Marriage with the court. This document outlines the claims you have for property and child custody and must be delivered to the other spouse. If you have children, the state of Florida also requires you to attend a seminar on children and divorce.

The Divorce Process in Florida

One of the spouse files for divorce

The spouse filing for divorce is called the Petitioner. They are the one who initiates the procedure with the family law or domestic relations court.

The other spouse receives the divorce papers

The spouse who did not file for divorce is called the Respondent. This spouse will receive the dissolution of marriage papers from a service.

The divorce is filed with the court

The divorce will be handled in the Circuit Court for the county that you live in. The court will assign your divorce a case number and will have jurisdictional rights to grant orders concerning your property, debt division, support, custody, and visitation.

Primary documents are completed and filed

Documents such as the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage and the Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage are filed. The documents start and finalize the divorce in Florida, along with ten to 20 other documents. The County Clerk’s office will manage all of your paperwork and keep both parties and lawyers informed throughout the process.

Property is divided and distributed

Marital property is always divided equally in the state of Florida. Florida is an, “equitable distribution” state so judges always divide property in the fairest and most equal way.

Spousal support it determined

Spousal support is decided on a case by case basis so not all divorces require spousal support.

Child custody and support is granted

The state of Florida always strives to do what is best for the children involved and typically grants shared custody and only grants sole custody when it’s in the best interest of the child. Child support is based on the amount of income each parent makes. Income is usually verified by examining past W-2’s and with child support worksheets.

How a dependence tax deduction is determined

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Even when parents have shared custody, it rarely works out where the child spends an even 50 percent of his or her time with both parents. The IRS gives the parent who had custody of the child the most throughout the year a tax break. Even if your divorce decree states that you share equal custody, both parents cannot receive the tax break. Below are ways to determine which parent can claim a dependent on their taxes:

The parent who spent the most days throughout the year with the child can claim him or her as a dependent. If you had your child 55 percent of the time and your ex had your child 45 percent of the time, you may claim a dependent.

If your child in fact did spend exactly half the time with both parents, the parent with the highest adjusted gross income gets to claim your child as a dependent.

Waiving the dependent tax deduction

A divorced couple can agree to terms on their own to allow one or the other to claim their child. The one who qualifies to claim the dependent can waive the deduction. In order to do this both parents must still pay 50 percent of the child’s living expenses for the year and the equal custody agreement must be memorialized in a court ordered divorce decree. If you and your ex agree to these terms, the one waiving the dependent can sign IRS Form 8332, giving the other the ability to claim the child as a dependent.

Factors That Go Into a Child Custody Decision

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The following are the factors a judge considers when making a decision about child custody:

• your child’s age
• the mental and physical well-being (or lack of it) of each parent
• each parent’s care taking capacities and the home environment that each parent could provide to the child
• the role of each parent thus far in taking care of the child
• the child’s relationship to each parent
• the time available to each parent to be with the child, as the judge may wish to maximize the child’s time with a parent as opposed to a babysitter or daycare center
• the environment that the parent can create for the child
• the presence of siblings in the family and the siblings’ relationship to each parent and to each other
• prior bad acts of either parent (as, for instance, abuse and neglect)
• parental drug or alcohol problems
• religious factors
• the willingness of each parent to keep the other parent involved in the child’s life and to facilitate the other parent’s access to the child
• each parent’s adult relationships including non-marital sexual relations.

In the long run, the judge wants to do what’s best for the child. If time sharing and 50/50 custody is a possibility for the child, that will be the plan set in place.

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Are You Entitled to Alimony?

Deciding if a spouse will be awarded alimony in a divorce is relatively simple. When one spouse makes significantly more money than the other, that spouse will probably be required to pay the other alimony. But, if both make around the same amount each year, neither is usually required to pay alimony.

How is Alimony Set by the Court?

Determining whether a spouse will receive alimony after a divorce is the easy part. Determining the amount to be paid isn’t as simple. The following factors are considered when determining the amount of alimony to be paid:

• how much money each person could reasonably earn every month
• what the reasonable expenses are going to be for each of them
• whether an alimony award from one to the other would make it possible for each to go forward with a lifestyle somewhat close to what the couple had before they split—known in divorce law as “the standard of living established during the marriage”

If there isn’t enough money for both parties to establish a standard of living close to their marital standard of living, judges may look for ways to make the divorcing party share in the financial pain equally.

How Long Do Alimony Payments Last?

The amount of time alimony is required to be paid varies from each couple. Payment are usually always paid each month and can last until:

• a date set by a judge several years in the future
• your former spouse remarries
• your children no longer need a full-time parent at home
• a judge determines that after a reasonable period of time, your spouse has not made a sufficient effort to become at least partially self-supporting
• some other significant event, such as retirement, occurs, convincing a judge to modify the amount paid
• one of you dies

Every case is different, and not every divorce is as easy as determining who makes more. Contact us to speak to a divorce lawyer and ensure you get what you deserve.

How Child Support is Determined

The first thing usually determining how much child support will be paid is whether one parent has full custody. Typically, if one parent has sole custody, the other parent will have to pay child support. However, in situations where both parents have joint custody, child support is less common. Each case is judged separately, and there is no one rule for all divorces.

Photo by Ababaka.

Once it’s determined child support does have to be paid, the case is then looked at closer to determine how much child support will be paid. Things like financial needs of the child, income of the full-time parent, child’s standard of living, usually come into play at this stage. A judge will look at the situation and see what the income needs are before determining how much child support will be paid. In this stage, the judge will usually factor in how many children are involved. If a parent is paying support for multiple children, they can expect an increased payment than if there was only one child to cover. This logic is simple: the cost of providing for three children is higher than providing for one.

Each Case is Different

Like stated above, each case is different. As income levels, standards of living, and custody situations vary, so do child support rulings. Although there are certain standards in Florida’s family laws, there’s not a one-size-fits-all solution for divorce cases. Always consult with your lawyer regarding your divorce and family law needs.

There’s a bit of wiggle room in the division, and if the couples can agree on certain items being split, the entire process can go much more smoothly. There will always be property worth fighting over, though. Case in point:

What happens to big-ticket items like houses and cars?

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With houses, the value is almost always taken into account along with the other community property, so if one person ends up with the house, the other person is awarded other items of commensurate value. One of the big exceptions to this rule is if one parent is granted sole custody of children, in which case they tend to get the marital house as well. This is not always the case, though, and certainly not the only exception to the rule either.

For things like cars, it actually gets a bit more complicated.

Generally, the rule is, if the item was owned by one person before the marriage, it’s not community property (there are always exceptions). However, if one vehicle was purchased and shared by both spouses, even if only one person’s name is on the title, then it will usually be considered community property, and the dollar value of that vehicle will be included in the property division determination. Sometimes, it can even be possible to argue that a vehicle one spouse owned before the marriage turned in to community property while in the marriage. This could be due to the couple carpooling to work, or the other spouse selling their preexisting car in order to consolidate, etc.

It’s worth mentioning that the split of all these possessions can be agreed upon by the spouses, but if no amicable agreement can be reached, this is how the court system will treat a property division case.

Cars are a borderline-necessity in this day and age (especially in Florida), so make sure that you think about what is likely to happen to your marital vehicles should you be facing divorce. Even if your name has never been on the title, you may still be able to claim ownership of it. Be sure to talk to a skilled attorney if you have any questions.

The truth, though, is that very few divorces get to that point. Even though a relationship is ending and property is splitting, most couples are able to work together on at least a few areas. Some lucky couples are even able to agree on everything, which is called an uncontested divorce. There are a few other terms as well, such as amicable, collaborative, and even friendly.

It might seem like for an uncontested divorce, an attorney is unnecessary, but that is definitely not the case.

Divorce law is extremely complex

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Often times, people have an expectation that filing or divorce can be as simple as filling out a form and sending it in to the state, but it is massively more complex than that. There are a large number of forms that need to be filled out in explicit detail, and there are hundreds of items of information you will have to gather to include with your filing. If you forget any of those items, it can be back to square one for you and your spouse, with time and filing costs wasted.

Not only that, but are you 100% sure that the divorce plan is satisfactory to you? Relationships are built around compromise, whether it be when they’re just starting up, while they’re in full-swing, or even when they’re ending. You cannot file for divorce without some form of compromise, and far too often, one person in the couple will compromise more than they should simply for the sake of the collaborative divorce. For example:

• Did you forget to itemize some precious property you wanted?
• What about retirement accounts or investments?
• Did you compromise too much on the parenting plan, leaving your spouse with much more time than you feel they deserve?
• Did you decide to not push for needed spousal support while you get your career going again?
• Did you neglect to fight for the current marital home?

All of this, and more, is what your attorney will cover with you when you sit down to meet with them. While many people do successfully file for divorce without a lawyer, the entire reason Florida divorce attorneys exist is as an expert safety net, ensuring that you will get as much of what you deserve and want as you possibly can.

Whatever you decide, there are skilled family law attorneys out there with the answers to your questions. Whether a contentious divorce is the right way to go for you, or a collaborative one, they will be able to help you take the next appropriate step.