Boca Raton High-Asset Divorce Lawyer

Boca Raton is in Palm Beach County, so a divorce between spouses who last lived together here is generally filed in the Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. The county's family division sits at the Main Judicial Center in West Palm Beach. The branch courthouse closest to Boca Raton is the South County Courthouse, 200 W. Atlantic Avenue, Delray Beach, FL 33444. Which building your hearings are in depends on the division assigned, and we confirm it once the case is filed.

No, not every time. Our Boca Raton office on North Federal Highway is available for meetings, and sitting down together helps when there are appraisals, statements or a valuation report to work through. Most of the work moves by phone and email: gathering records, answering discovery and reviewing drafts. For court, the judge decides whether a given hearing is in person or by video, and we let you know in advance. Mediation can be held in person or remotely, depending on what the parties and the mediator arrange.

Yes. Reyes Miller Law Group handles cases in English and Spanish. You can go through your financial affidavit, a settlement offer or a valuation report in Spanish and ask every question in your own words. That matters in a financial case, where one misunderstood number can change a negotiation. Spanish documents, such as foreign bank records or company papers, can be reviewed in the original and translated for filing when needed. Hearings and depositions are conducted in English, so we arrange interpretation in advance when you will testify.

Yes, in many cases. The Florida court can end the marriage if you have lived in Florida for at least six months before filing (section 61.021). To divide property or set alimony against a spouse who lives elsewhere, the court generally needs personal jurisdiction over that spouse, which Florida law provides in situations such as a marital home in Florida when the case began (section 48.193). Accounts, companies and homes outside Florida still count, and we plan early for enforcement where they are.

A home in Boca Raton, a condominium in Miami-Dade County and a rental property in Orange County are all divided in the same divorce. The judge hearing your case decides the whole marital estate. Each parcel still needs its own valuation, its mortgage or credit line must be accounted for, and titles can differ; property held as tenants by the entireties is presumed marital. After the judgment, the deed or judgment transferring a property is generally recorded in that property's county. We put every parcel on one schedule from the start.

Usually, if it was fairly made. Postnuptial agreements are governed by Florida case law rather than the premarital agreement statute. Under Casto v. Casto, 508 So. 2d 330 (Fla. 1987), a spouse can ask the court to set one aside for fraud, deceit, duress, coercion, misrepresentation or overreaching, or because it is unfair or unreasonable to that spouse given the circumstances. Unfairness raises a presumption of concealment, which the other spouse can rebut by showing full disclosure or that the challenging spouse had general knowledge of the finances. We can review yours.

Both start out as nonmarital (section 61.075(6)(b)). The risk is mixing. When an inheritance goes into a joint account, pays family bills or is combined with marital savings, it can become hard to show which dollars are separate, and anything not shown to be nonmarital is presumed marital (section 61.075(8)). Growth on a separate asset can also become partly marital if it came from either spouse's work during the marriage or from marital money. Statements going back to the date the money arrived are the usual proof.

Retirement can be a reason to change alimony. Under section 61.14, as amended in 2023, a paying spouse's reasonable retirement can support a modification. The court looks at factors such as the payor's age and health, the type of work and the customary retirement age in that field, and a payor may file up to six months before the planned retirement date. Modification is not automatic, and the court still considers the recipient's situation. When retirement is already in view, it can be addressed directly in the settlement terms.

Divorce files in Florida are generally public records, so financial papers filed with the court can be seen by others unless protected. Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.420 makes certain information confidential, such as Social Security numbers and certain bank account numbers, and in limited circumstances a court can order specific parts of a file sealed after a proper request. Sealing is never automatic. We talk with you at the start about what has to be filed, what can be protected and how to limit what is exposed.

The court can help balance that. Under section 61.16, a judge may order one spouse to pay a reasonable amount of the other spouse's attorney's fees, suit money and costs, based on need and ability to pay, and can do so before the final hearing. Suit money can include costs such as appraisals and accounting work needed for the case. Section 61.071 also allows temporary support while the case is pending. We can discuss your options in a free consultation.