How Assets and Debts Are Divided in Florida
Florida is an equitable distribution state. The name misleads people — it doesn’t mean “whatever seems fair.” It’s a two-step framework, and the first step decides most fights.
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 Follow the Same Framework
Liabilities go through the same two steps. A debt incurred during the marriage is presumptively a marital liability no matter whose name is on the account — credit cards, car loans, mortgages, tax debts. A pre-marital debt, or one taken on after filing that serves only one spouse, stays nonmarital. Two caveats people miss: first, dissipation — spending marital funds on nonmarital purposes after the marriage has irretrievably broken down can be charged back against the spender’s share. Second, the court’s allocation binds the spouses, not the creditor: a joint card assigned to one spouse can still be collected from the other unless the creditor releases them, which is why hold-harmless language — and refinancing the debt into one name — matters. 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.