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A Really Long, Frustrating Florida Divorce

By Janet Langjahr

How long does a divorce take? It depends …

Couple marries in 1984. Marriage is a successful partnership of complementary business skills.

Couple prospers. In 1990, Wife in car accident. Husband reportedly drags them down into debt.

Couple separates and, in 1995, files for divorce.

Husband moves to Alabama, never to return to Florida - or its courts. Husband remarries, putting all of his assets into his new wife’s name.

In 2001, Court orders Husband to pay alimony of $6,000 per month plus Wife’s medical insurance. Court also orders property distribution to Wife of $240,000 plus substantial interests in Husband’s businesses and patents. Court also orders Husband to pay Wife’s attorney’s fees.

Husband didn’t comply with court orders, and no income deduction was ever established. Husband was held in civil contempt and indirect criminal contempt and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

All to no avail.

New actions were filed in Alabama, which culminated in court orders awarding Wife considerably less, $162,000. Period.

But Husband paid that amount.

And the attorneys took about half of it and Wife used the balance to pay off marital debt left to her.

Leaving Wife with … nothing.

Although it’s been about 13 years, and the couple has gone through 16 different attorneys and 10 different judges to arrive at that point, Wife hasn’t given up yet.

But her Florida judges have all but flat out told her she is just wasting her time, accumulating more worthless pieces of paper in her court file.

An unsatisfactory outcome, for reasons that are not entirely clear …

Read more in this St. Petersburg Times article: A divorce, unsettled , cited to from the Overlawyered website.

Full post as published by Florida Divorce - Child Custody - Domestic Abuse Law on July 05, 2008 (boomark / email).