Fort Lauderdale Divorce Lawyer Blog
Many times when a client meets with their family law attorney in Fort Lauderdale, they question whether an asset is marital or non-marital. They also question their rights to the future income of marital and non-marital assets. In the case of Morenberg v. Morenberg, the Fourth District Court of Appeal recently addressed the wife’s entitlement to equitable distribution of royalties from labor which took place after she filed her Florida marital and family law case.
On August 20, 2008, the wife filed for divorce after being married for 46 years to the husband, an English professor. After the filing of the petition for dissolution of marriage, the husband began working on the fourth edition of one of his books. In the final judgment of dissolution of marriage, the trial court ordered that the parties were to equally divide the royalties from two books that he wrote while he was an English professor, one of which he wrote after the filing of the petition for dissolution of marriage.
At the trial, the husband testified that he began working on the second book in December 2008 or January 2009. He also testified that he finished the book one day before trial. On the otherhand, the wife testified that there was no post-dissolution of marriage labor related to the husband’s second book. She believed that all of the husband’s labor occurred prior to trial and the final judgment of dissolution of marriage.