How Assets and Debts Are Divided in Florida

Step 1: Classify — Marital or Nonmarital

Everything gets sorted first. Marital assets and liabilities are generally those acquired during the marriage, individually or jointly, by either spouse. Nonmarital assets are things like what each spouse brought into the marriage, plus inheritances and gifts made to one spouse individually — including gifts between the spouses, though Florida treats interspousal gifts of real property specially (more below).

The Commingling Gray Area

Classification sounds clean until money moves. A nonmarital account that receives marital deposits during the marriage; a pre-marital home whose mortgage was paid with marital earnings; a business started before the wedding and grown during it. Florida’s rule: nonmarital property that has been commingled with marital property or enhanced in value by marital labor or funds may lose its protected status, in whole or part. This is where tracing matters — being able to show, with records, which dollars were which.

What the 2024 Amendments Changed

The 2024 amendments to section 61.075 sharpened several classification rules:

• Tenancy by the entireties. All real property held by the spouses as tenants by the entireties — whether acquired before or during the marriage — is now presumed marital. A spouse claiming otherwise carries the burden of proof.
• Closely held businesses. The statute now expressly addresses the marital interests in a closely held business, including a defined standard of value for determining them.
• Interspousal gifts of real property. A gift of real property between spouses now requires a writing that complies with the deed requirements of section 689.01. No writing, no gift — the transfer doesn’t count as one.

Step 2: Divide — Equal Start, Statutory Adjustments

Once classified, the marital estate starts from an equal split — the premise of the statute. But equal is only the starting point: the court may make an unequal distribution based on listed factors, including each spouse’s contribution to the marriage (including homemaker contributions), the length of the marriage, each spouse’s economic circumstances, interruption of careers or education, and contributions to one spouse’s personal growth or career — the classic case being a degree or business built with the other spouse’s support.

Debts Go Through the Same Two Steps as Assets

Everything above — classify first, then divide — applies to what you owe, not just what you own. A debt isn’t automatically “whoever’s name is on its problem.” It goes through the identical framework.

Classification works the same way. A debt incurred during the marriage is generally marital, regardless of whose name is on the account or the loan — a credit card opened by one spouse to cover household expenses is still typically a marital debt. A debt one spouse brought into the marriage, or took on afterward for something entirely personal and unrelated to the marriage, is more likely to stay nonmarital. The same commingling questions that complicate asset classification can complicate debt classification too — for example, when a premarital loan gets paid down with marital income over the years.

Division starts from the same equal premise, adjusted by the same factors. Marital debt is divided starting from an equal split, adjusted by the same statutory factors used for assets — including, notably, which spouse actually benefited from what the debt paid for, and whether one spouse’s spending was reasonable or a form of intentional waste. Spending that qualifies as dissipation — marital funds spent on nonmarital purposes after the marriage irretrievably broke down — can likewise be charged back against the spender’s share.

Being the account holder doesn’t decide who keeps the debt in the divorce — but it does decide who the creditor can still come after. This is the practical trap: your divorce agreement allocates the debt between you and your spouse, but a credit card company or lender wasn’t a party to that agreement and isn’t bound by it. If your name is on the account, the creditor can still pursue you for the full balance regardless of what the settlement says — your only recourse at that point is going back to your ex for reimbursement under the terms you agreed to. This is exactly why closing joint accounts, refinancing debt into one name, or paying it off outright at the time of settlement matters more than the paper allocation alone. For the practical side, see dividing debt and protecting credit →

Valuation Cuts Both Ways

Before anything is divided, it must be valued — homes, retirement accounts, businesses, and debts alike. Disagreement about what something is worth is often the real dispute hiding under a disagreement about how to split it.

What This Means for Mediation

In mediation, the classification conversations happen with the parties instead of a judge: what’s on the marital side of the line, what each item is worth, and whether an unequal split (or a trade — the house against the pension) fits both spouses better than a mechanical divide. The statute’s factors become the agenda. For the practical side of specific assets, see our guides on degrees and businesses, dividing debt, and beneficiary designations.

This article is general information about Florida’s equitable distribution framework, not legal advice. Classification and valuation in an individual case are legal determinations for counsel and, if the parties don’t agree, the court.

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