Benjamin Franklin said, "The only two sure things are death and taxes." When you are going through a divorce in Florida, you must remember that there are tax consequences to certain parts of it.

Suppose that you bought some rental property with your spouse a few years back and it looks as if you are going to get the property as part of a settlement proposal from your spouse's expert Florida divorce lawyer. Of course you will consider the amount of mortgage debt that is on the property when you analyze what the property is really worth to you, but you need to be aware of a hidden debt. The amount by which the property has increased in value since its purchase will be subject to capital gains tax (currently 15%). There will be no tax due at the time of the divorce, but when you later sell the property you will have to pay that tax.

For that reason, you may not wish to put that property in your column on the property division balance sheet. If your spouse is not willing to factor that debt into the equation, then your expert divorce lawyer may suggest that your spouse get that property and you get something else that has no future tax burden.

Bottom Line: Your Florida divorce lawyer can help you look at all of the tax factors involved in the property division aspect of your divorce.

(copyright Stann Givens 2009)