Orlando Divorce Law Blog

There are a million things that can get under your skin in a divorce. Emotions can get the better of people and anger or resentment can cloud anyone's judgment. This is especially true for divorcing parents, who have to deal with the issue of child custody during the divorce proceeding. It may feel like a battle for the very children themselves, but the outcome is seldom this black and white.

Under Florida law, there are numerous child custody arrangements available, and parents can agree to have the time sharing and visitation schedules tailored to meet their unique situations. This is negotiated as part of the parenting agreement, which will largely dictate the time each parent can spend with the child, including week-to-week schedules and special occasions like holidays and vacations.

Earlier this month the Florida Senate moved to approve a controversial alimony reform bill, which would put an end to permanent alimony within the state. Advocates, including a group called Florida for Alimony Reform, have been working for the past several years to block a judge's ability to require a divorced person to pay their spouse alimony for the duration of the spouse's life, and are cheering the Senate's approval of the new bill. The bill still has to be approved by the Florida House before it becomes law.

In addition to ending permanent alimony, the bill would cut the judge's discretion by capping spousal maintenance awards based on the length of the marriage and the income and earning capacity of the parties. However, the bill does provide the court the authority to stray from alimony guidelines in "special circumstances," a vague standard which will have to be interpreted by the courts.

Harold and Sue Ann Hamm are not household names to some to Orlando, Florida residents, but for Orlando shareholders of Continental Resources, an Oklahoma-based oil services corporation, their divorce will be as closely followed as anything in the news. In fact, experts are anticipating that this divorce settlement could be the biggest in history, and could easily reach billions of dollars by the time it is all said and done. Shareholders are understandably anxious about the divorce, as it could result in a liquidation of shares and other shakeups in the governance of the company.

Other notable high net worth divorces include Rupert Murdoch's split from his wife in 1999, which totaled $1.7 billion, a figure that could be surpassed by the impending Hamm divorce settlement. Harold Hamm's business holdings in Continental are worth an estimated $11 billion, and with over 126 million shares of company stock, he controls 68% of the company's shares.

Readers of this blog have seen a lot of articles about how important it is to get one's finances in a row both before, and, of course, during a divorce. The separation agreement a person signs can be pivotal in determining the course of that person's financial future. This is especially true in Florida, one of the only states that still requires some people to pay alimony for their spouse's entire lifetime.

Of course people want to save money, but people should never compromise when it comes to getting the best legal representation available. People who have an amicable divorce and want a quick resolution might be tempted to take shortcuts, or even do it themselves, but this can prove disastrous, especially in a high net worth divorce.