If your husband or wife is spending down the marital estate on an affair, gambling, or transfers to third parties, Florida law gives you a way to recover. The dissipation of marital assets in Florida is one of the statutory factors a judge can use under Florida Statute 61.075 to depart from the default 50/50 split and award you a larger share of what’s left.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 61.075 – Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets and Liabilities The claim isn’t automatic, though. You have to prove intent, show the spending fell within a specific time window, and document it well enough for a judge to write a finding that survives appeal.
What Qualifies as Dissipation Under Florida Law
Florida draws a sharp line between poor judgment and misconduct. A bad stock pick, an impulse purchase, or a stretch of overspending isn’t dissipation. Being the less financially disciplined spouse isn’t enough either. The statute targets the intentional depletion or destruction of marital assets, which means the spending has to be deliberate and it has to serve a purpose outside the marriage.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 61.075 – Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets and Liabilities
A spouse who gambles $50,000 away during the collapse of the marriage sits on one side of that line. A spouse who lost the same amount on a legitimate investment that went south sits on the other. Intent is what separates them, and intent is what you’ll need to prove.
Spending Patterns That Come Up Repeatedly
- Spending on an affair — hotel stays, gifts, vacations, or rent for someone outside the marriage. This is the most frequently litigated form.
- Gambling losses well beyond the couple’s historical habits.
- Transfers to third parties: money moved into a relative’s account, “loans” to friends with no expectation of repayment, or cryptocurrency purchases used to obscure funds.
- Destroying property out of spite, or letting valuable assets like real estate deteriorate on purpose.
- Business manipulation, such as inflated family payroll, artificial expenses, or deliberately tanking a profitable company.
What Doesn’t Qualify
Reasonable living expenses, routine maintenance, necessary business costs, and payments on existing debts don’t count. Courts look at the couple’s established financial pattern. If your spouse has always spent a certain amount on dining out or clothing, keeping that up during the divorce won’t move a judge. The spending has to be both unusual and unrelated to the marriage.
The Two-Year Look-Back Window
Florida Statute 61.075(1)(i) sets the timeframe: spending is on the table from the date the divorce petition is filed, plus the two years immediately before filing.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 61.075 – Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets and Liabilities Money burned three years before the petition typically falls outside that window.
The statute also lets a court consider “any other factors necessary to do equity and justice between the parties.”1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 61.075 – Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets and Liabilities Florida appellate courts have read that catch-all to give judges some room to look further back when the dissipation is substantial. Two years is the primary boundary; older transactions are a harder sell but not always off the table.
Only Marital Assets Can Be Dissipated
A dissipation claim only reaches marital property. If your spouse spends money that was always separate — property owned before the marriage, an inheritance received by one spouse alone, or assets excluded by a valid prenuptial agreement — the framework doesn’t apply.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 61.075 – Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets and Liabilities
The good news for the spouse making the claim is that the statute presumes anything acquired during the marriage is marital unless proven otherwise. Property held as tenants by the entireties is presumed marital regardless of when it was acquired.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 61.075 – Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets and Liabilities The marital estate is usually broader than people expect, which means more transactions can be pulled into a dissipation analysis than a spending spouse might assume.
Proving the Claim
The spouse alleging dissipation carries the initial burden. You need evidence that marital funds were spent for a non-marital purpose, that the amount was substantial, and that it broke from the couple’s normal financial behavior. Bank statements, credit card bills, wire transfer confirmations, and account ledgers do most of the work.
Once you build a credible case, the burden shifts to the spending spouse to justify the expenditures. If they can’t offer a satisfactory explanation, the judge can find dissipation. For that finding to hold up on appeal, the judge has to document a specific factual basis showing the spending was intentional, not merely unwise.
Florida’s Mandatory Financial Disclosure
You don’t have to guess at your spouse’s finances. Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.285 requires both parties to serve a complete set of financial documents within 45 days of the respondent being served with the petition, including three years of tax returns, recent pay stubs, loan applications, and a detailed financial affidavit.2Florida Courts. Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.285 – Mandatory Disclosure The affidavit is filed under penalty of perjury on Form 12.902 and covers all income, monthly expenses, and every asset and liability, including digital wallets and virtual currency.3Florida Courts. Florida Family Law Financial Affidavit – Long Form 12.902(c)
Many dissipation claims take shape at this stage. When the affidavit numbers don’t line up with the bank records, or when large sums have no explanation, that gap becomes the foundation of the claim.
Social Media and Digital Evidence
A spouse who pleads financial hardship in court filings while posting photos from expensive vacations, luxury purchases, or gifts to a new partner leaves a trail that contradicts their sworn disclosures. Those posts prompt deeper investigation and work as circumstantial evidence that funds went to non-marital purposes.
When to Hire a Forensic Accountant
If large sums are unaccounted for or the financial structure is complex (a closely held business, multiple accounts, retirement plans, or suspected hidden assets), a forensic accountant can trace where the money actually went. They compare tax returns across years, scrutinize bank and card records for unusual patterns, and examine business books for inflated expenses or shifted revenue. Rates typically run $300 to $500 per hour, and in a murky case that expense often pays for itself.
Stopping the Bleeding Right Now
Florida is not one of the states that freezes assets automatically when a petition is filed. There’s no blanket restraining order. If you believe your spouse is actively draining accounts, you need to move.
Under Section 61.11, a Florida court can issue a temporary injunction prohibiting a spouse from transferring, concealing, or destroying marital property when there’s evidence the other party is about to remove assets from the state or fraudulently conceal them. Florida appellate courts have read that authority broadly enough to cover injunctions preserving the marital estate during divorce. You’ll need specific facts showing the threat is real; general anxiety about what your spouse might do won’t get an injunction issued.
Practical steps to take immediately:
- Document the current state of every marital account with screenshots and statements.
- Secure copies of tax returns and any financial records you can access.
- Watch for unusual activity — large withdrawals, new accounts, unfamiliar transfers.
Speed matters. Once assets are spent or hidden, the court can rebalance the property division on paper, but actually clawing back cash is much harder.
How a Florida Court Fixes the Imbalance
The primary remedy is an unequal split of what’s left. Florida judges use an “add-back” method: the dissipated amount is added back to the marital estate on paper and then assigned entirely to the spending spouse’s share. If your spouse wasted $100,000, that $100,000 is treated as already received. You then take a larger share of the remaining assets to arrive at what would have been an equal division.
There’s a ceiling on this. Florida courts have held that the distribution should be adjusted only to the extent needed to offset the dissipation. A judge can’t use the finding to punish the offending spouse with a lopsided split that goes beyond the amount actually wasted. The point is to put you back in the financial position you would have occupied if the dissipation had never happened, not to hand out extra as a penalty.1Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 61.075 – Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets and Liabilities
When adjusting property alone isn’t enough — say, the remaining estate is too small to fully offset what was drained — Florida courts can also factor the dissipation into alimony. A spouse left in a worse economic position because of the waste may receive a higher alimony award to close the gap that property division couldn’t.