Retirement Divorce Specialist
Pensions, retirement accounts, real estate — Florida's equitable distribution requires expertise. This guide shows you what to protect.
Leanne Ozaine, CDFA® & CFP® | Specializing in gray divorce for 50+
Turn Panic Into Power — $97You spent 40 years building retirement savings. Now you're dividing them in 6 months — at an age when there's no second chance.
If you're 65 and give up $200,000 in pension benefits you were entitled to, you're not going to make that back. There's no overtime at this stage. No side hustle. No waiting 15 years for the market to recover.
Florida's 2023 alimony reform eliminated permanent alimony — even for marriages of 30+ years. If you were counting on support to maintain your lifestyle, your strategy must change. Asset division isn't about monthly checks anymore. It's about getting assets that generate income for 25 years.
Your pension has survivor benefit options. Your Social Security has spousal and ex-spousal claiming strategies. Your home has a cost basis from 1992 that affects capital gains. Every asset has rules — and getting them wrong costs more than you can afford.
You need someone who can project exactly what you'll live on for the next 25 years — before you sign anything you can't take back.
Florida isn't just the Sunshine State—it's America's retirement capital, with 22% of its population over age 65 (over 4.5 million seniors). If you're over 50 and facing divorce in Florida, you're part of a massive demographic shift as "gray divorce" reshapes the state's legal and financial landscape.
Here's what makes Florida unique for gray divorce: Your divorce likely isn't about custody battles over young children—your children are grown, independent, or launching their own families. Instead, your divorce centers entirely on dividing decades of accumulated retirement wealth, real estate, investment portfolios, and pensions in a state with no income tax but recent major alimony changes.
If you've never personally managed the household finances—perhaps your spouse handled investments, retirement accounts, and tax planning while you focused on family and home—you're now facing critical questions about your financial future.
Effective July 1, 2023, Florida eliminated permanent alimony and imposed duration caps on all alimony awards.
This is especially critical for gray divorce clients who expected lifetime support after long marriages. The new law includes:
What this means for 50+ divorcing Floridians: If you're divorcing after 25 or 30 years of marriage and haven't worked outside the home, you can no longer count on permanent support to replace your spouse's income for life. Asset division becomes absolutely critical to your long-term security.
Unlike California's strict 50/50 community property rule, Florida uses equitable distribution—assets are divided "fairly" but not necessarily equally. For gray divorce, this creates both opportunities and challenges.
Florida courts divide only marital property, defined as assets acquired during the marriage from the date of marriage to the date of filing for divorce.
Marital property includes:
Separate property (not divided):
The commingling trap: In long marriages (20-40 years), it's very common for separate property to become commingled with marital property. For example, if you inherited $100,000 before marriage but deposited it into a joint account used for household expenses, it may have become marital property.
Florida law requires an equal (50/50) distribution unless the court finds specific reasons to deviate. Factors courts consider include:
For gray divorce: After 20-40 years of marriage, courts often start with a 50/50 presumption. However, if you sacrificed your own career to support your spouse's advancement or business, you may argue for a larger share based on your contributions.
Florida has some of the nation's strongest homestead protections, which can significantly affect divorce planning:
Primary Residence: In many Florida gray divorces, the home is the largest asset. Florida's homestead law protects primary residences from creditors, but it also creates divorce complications:
Multiple Properties: Many Florida retirees own multiple properties—primary residence plus vacation condo, rental properties, or out-of-state homes. Each must be valued and divided.
For 50+ divorcing Floridians, retirement accounts are often the most valuable assets:
401(k) and IRA Division: The marital portion (contributions + growth during marriage) must be divided. This requires a QDRO (Qualified Domestic Relations Order) for 401(k)s or proper IRA transfer language.
Pension Plans: Florida has no state employee pension system, but many retirees have private pensions, military pensions, or federal pensions (VA, Social Security Administration). Dividing pensions requires understanding:
For those new to retirement planning: If your spouse managed all retirement investments, now is the time to understand what you have, how it's invested, and how to manage it post-divorce.
Florida has no state income tax, which creates unique divorce planning opportunities:
While not controlled by state law, Social Security is critical for Florida gray divorce clients:
If you were married for 10+ years, you can claim Social Security benefits based on your ex-spouse's earnings record (up to 50% of their benefit) without affecting their benefits. This is especially valuable if you didn't work outside the home or had lower earnings.
Important: Remarrying before age 60 terminates your ability to claim on an ex-spouse's record.
Under Florida's 2023 alimony reform, permanent alimony is gone. Here's what replaced it:
For gray divorce: Even if you've been married 30 years, you cannot receive more than 15 years of alimony under the new law. This makes asset division even more critical—you need assets that generate income for life, not just temporary support.
While our primary focus is gray divorce (50+ with grown children), some clients have high school or college-age children. Florida uses a guideline-based formula considering both parents' income and number of overnights each parent has. However, for most 50+ clients, children are financially independent, and divorce planning centers entirely on asset division and retirement security.
Highest concentration of retirees: With 4.5+ million residents over 65, Florida has the infrastructure, services, and legal expertise for gray divorce financial planning.
Retirement destination divorces: Many couples move to Florida for retirement, then realize their marriage isn't sustainable. Divorcing in Florida after relocating from high-tax states requires understanding both Florida law and tax implications of assets from prior states.
Snowbird complications: If you maintain residences in both Florida and another state (e.g., New York, Michigan), you must carefully establish Florida domicile to divorce under Florida law.
We provide virtual divorce financial planning services throughout Florida. Explore detailed guidance for these major metro areas:
High-net-worth international divorces, real estate portfolios, business valuations in Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, and Brickell.
Learn more →Gulf Coast retirement divorces, Pinellas County real estate, healthcare professional practices.
Learn more →Military pension division (Naval Station Mayport, NAS Jacksonville), banking industry assets, Ponte Vedra wealth.
Learn more →Ultra-high-net-worth retirement divorces, Naples estates, Marco Island properties, country club memberships.
Learn more →Mixed corporate/tourism industry divorces, vacation property division, Lake Nona wealth, Winter Park estates.
Learn more →America's largest active-adult community, recreation memberships, golf cart assets, Central Florida retirement planning.
Learn more →The 5-step system that shows you what you'll actually live on, so you stop guessing and start knowing.
Calculate your real post-divorce income — including spousal support, assets, and earning potential — so you negotiate from facts, not fear.
Document gathering checklists tell you exactly what to bring to your attorney — so you walk in prepared, not panicked.
Map out your real expenses as a single person — before you fight for something you can't actually maintain.
The asset identification system helps you find accounts and property you might not even know exist.
22-page guide + video tutorials + checklists + templates
$97
Instant access. 100% money-back guarantee.
Get the Clarity You Need — $97The 2023 alimony reform changed everything for gray divorce in Florida. Whether you've managed finances for decades or you're learning about retirement accounts for the first time, we provide the education and guidance you need.
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