Articles Tagged with “Civil Procedure”

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Your Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyer should join you and your spouse’s corporation as a party to your dissolution of marriage case if you are requesting the transfer of any of the corporate assets as part of the equitable distribution. In the event that the corporation is not a party to your action, the marital and family law court does not have jurisdiction to order that corporate assets to be transferred to you as part of the equitable distribution. In addition, if your spouse is ordered to transfer a corporate asset to you, you may not be able to have the corporation do so and then you would be left with no recourse. Another reason that a corporation owned by you and your spouse should be joined as a party is when both parties have access to the corporate books, checkbooks, bills and personal expenses are paid by the corporation
Joining a corporation is not necessary when a party is not requesting a claim against the corporate entity or an unequal distribution in any of the corporation’s property. In the event that your divorce lawyer in Broward does not join you and your spouse’s corporation, the Florida marital and family law judge can still prevent the disposal of corporate assets or corporate stock to a third party.

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Many times a client will come into their Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyer’s office and not know where there spouse is currently residing or located. Sometimes parties may have been separated for many years for a variety of reasons. A spouse may have returned to their home state or country. Others separated at the beginning of a marriage for reasons of domestic violence and have not seen their spouse in twenty years.

While your Broward marital and family lawyer can assist you in filing for divorce and requesting alimony, child support, attorney’s fees and costs as well as equitable distribution, a preliminary step requires that your spouse be served with your Petition for Dissolution of Marriage, even when he or she has disappeared, before the court can enter a Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage.

If you are unable to locate your spouse, he or she will have to be served by constructive service of process or service by publication (i.e service in your local newspaper). You must first make a diligent search and inquiry with the United States Post Office, last known employment, unions that your spouse may be affiliated with, regulatory agencies, relatives, death records, telephone listings, internet people finder sites, law enforcement arrest or criminal records and highway patrol records in the state of your spouse’s last known address. In addition, you should also check the department of motor vehicle records, department of corrections records, child support enforcement agency records, hospitals in the last known area of your spouse’s residence, utility companies (water, sewer, cable and electric), the armed forces and the tax assessor’s and tax collector’s offices.

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