You built it together.
Florida law decides how it gets divided.

Most Florida property division cases aren't complicated by business interests or executive compensation. They involve what most working people accumulate over a marriage: equity in a home, contributions to a 401(k) or pension, and savings built up over years of combined income. Under § 61.075, all of it is marital property subject to distribution — regardless of whose name is on the account or whose paycheck funded it.

The house is usually the most emotionally charged asset and the most practically complicated. It needs to be valued, and the equity needs to be divided — either through a buyout, a sale, or a deferred distribution. Retirement accounts require a Qualified Domestic Relations Order drafted correctly after the judgment. Savings need to be traced if either party claims any portion as non-marital. None of it is automatic.

Allyson represents clients at every income level across Tampa Bay. A straightforward case handled carefully produces a better outcome than one that gets away from you — and she gives you a realistic picture of what property division should look like in the first meeting.

If you work in the trades — for a company, a union, or on your own — the assets in your divorce look like most working people's assets. A home with equity in it. A retirement account with years of contributions. Tools, a work vehicle, maybe a small savings account. Under § 61.075, all of it accumulated during the marriage is marital property subject to equitable distribution — regardless of whose name is on the account.

The house is usually the most important asset to get right. It needs a current valuation, and the equity needs to be divided fairly — through a buyout, a sale, or a deferred arrangement if children are involved. Retirement accounts — a 401(k), a pension, a union annuity — require a Qualified Domestic Relations Order drafted correctly after the judgment. Done wrong, the tax consequences can cost real money.

Allyson has represented tradespeople through equitable distribution disputes across Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Hernando counties for over thirty years. She gives you a straight picture in the first meeting — what the law says, what your situation looks like, and what a fair outcome is.

For a corporate executive, a regional director, a car dealership owner, an insurance agency principal, or a real estate agency owner, the equitable distribution question starts with identifying what's marital and what isn't — and for complex compensation and ownership structures, that question requires real expertise to answer correctly. For a corporate VP or agency principal, the W-2 is only the beginning. The rest of the compensation structure — deferred compensation, restricted stock units, stock options, ownership distributions — and how it's characterized determines what gets divided.

Each of these has a different answer under Florida law — and the answer depends on how the asset is characterized, when it was acquired, how it was funded, and what role each spouse played in its growth. Getting those characterizations right before anyone sits down to negotiate is what determines which assets are in play and which aren't.

Allyson has represented executives and business owners through complex equitable distribution disputes across Tampa Bay. She has the forensic accounting relationships to move carefully on valuation and characterization. The income and asset picture is more complex here, and she handles that complexity with the same care and diligence that she handles everything else.

Whether you own a contracting company, a retail operation, a franchise, or a services business, property division is where the most consequential financial argument in your divorce gets made. The question isn't just what the business is worth. It's what portion of that value is marital property — and what portion isn't.

A business started before marriage can still have a marital component if it grew during the marriage through either spouse's efforts. A business started during marriage isn't automatically split down the middle — who contributed what, how profits were handled, and how the business was funded all matter. These are fact-specific arguments, not formulas.

Allyson has relationships with forensic accountants who specialize in business valuation for divorce. She knows how to prepare them, how to cross-examine the other side's expert, and how to keep the argument focused on what the law actually requires — not what the other side argues it should be.

For physicians, dentists, attorneys, accountants, and other licensed professionals, the valuation of a practice comes down to a distinction that most attorneys — and a lot of accountants — get wrong. Florida courts separate enterprise goodwill, the value of the practice as a going concern that doesn't depend on you, from personal goodwill, the value that attaches to your relationships, your reputation, and your skill.

Personal goodwill is not a marital asset. It can't be divided. But the other side's expert will often blend the two — inflating the enterprise number and pulling personal goodwill into the marital estate unless someone on your side draws that line clearly and argues it in front of the judge.

There's also the double-dipping problem. If your practice income is being used to calculate alimony, and the same income stream is being capitalized into the business valuation, you're being counted twice. Allyson has handled this issue across Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Hernando counties.

For nurses, CRNAs, physician's assistants, and employed physicians, the largest marital asset in the divorce is often the retirement account — not the house. A 403(b) or hospital pension built up over fifteen years of marriage is subject to equitable distribution under § 61.075 regardless of whose name is on the account. The question isn't whether it gets divided. It's whether it gets divided correctly.

Dividing a retirement account in a Florida divorce requires a Qualified Domestic Relations Order — a separate court order issued after the divorce is final that instructs the plan administrator how to split the account. The language matters. The valuation date matters. Survivor benefit elections matter. A Qualified Domestic Relations Order drafted without precision can cost the receiving spouse years of compounded growth, or trigger taxes and penalties that didn't need to happen.

Allyson has divided retirement accounts in Florida family courts across Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Hernando counties for over thirty years. She knows how to get the order right the first time — and what it costs when it isn't.

Real property produces some of the most contested tracing arguments in property division. A home you owned before the marriage but paid down with joint income. A rental property in your name that your spouse helped manage. An investment bought with a mix of inherited funds and marital savings. Each of these has a different answer — and the answer depends entirely on the evidence you can produce and how it's argued.

Appreciation is a separate fight. Passive appreciation — the market went up — generally stays non-marital on an asset you owned before the marriage. Active appreciation — driven by either spouse's work or investment during the marriage — can get pulled into the marital estate. Proving which is which takes appraisals, market data, and testimony about who did what and when.

If the marital home is on the table, there are more layers: who stays, who buys the other out, what happens if the market shifts between filing and resolution. Allyson has worked through every variation. She'll tell you what the court is likely to do with your specific property situation and structure your position from day one to protect what matters most.

Whether you're 55, 62, or 70, ending a long marriage means more than dividing up a household. The retirement plan was built for two. The Social Security timing was designed around a future you no longer share. The pension was earned over decades of a career that's winding down. All of that has to be sorted out — and in a gray divorce, property division and alimony don't get decided in isolation. They get decided together, and the order matters.

For the higher earner approaching retirement, the question is what the financial picture looks like when income drops and assets start getting drawn down. For the lower earner — often the spouse who stepped back from work to support the marriage — the question is whether what they're walking away with is actually enough to support them for the next twenty or thirty years. Both sides need those numbers done right before they agree to anything.

Social Security ex-spouse benefits, health insurance coverage in the years before Medicare, the order in which retirement accounts get drawn down for tax purposes — none of it gets handled by accident. Allyson has worked through the full financial structure of long-marriage divorces across Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Hernando counties for over thirty years. She knows what the right picture looks like and how to make sure it's the one that ends up in the settlement.