By: Mike Gora
Q. My wife and I have been involved in the divorce process for over a year. Our trial is now set for September.
About a month after the case began we had a temporary support mediation and reached an agreement on temporary alimony, child support and extras including reimbursement for uncovered medical expenses and the children’s extracurricular activities and summer camp expense.
At the time we reached this agreement my wife was unemployed, although she has had a history of employment in the entertainment management field.
Last week, for the first time, I found out that my wife had found employment at a rate of pay similar to mine within a month after we entered into temporary support agreement. At no time in the interim had she or her attorney put either my attorney or myself on notice that her financial circumstances had changed.
My attorney told me that he had never before been faced with these circumstances, but that he would do some legal research and get back to me. It has been three weeks and I have not heard from him. What can be done to rectify what I believe has been gross misconduct on the part of my wife and her counsel.
A. Under the procedural rules which regulate matrimonial cases all parties and their attorneys are required to update financial information as soon as there have been material changes.
In your case, opposing counsel should have sent your attorney an updated financial affidavit, copies of pay stubs, and perhaps an employment contract within a few days after being put on notice that your wife had gotten a job.
Your wife may have hidden her new employment information from her lawyer as she has from you. In either event, your counsel is now in a position to file a motion for a retroactive adjustment of the alimony and child support back to the date that your wife began receiving her paycheck.
Depending upon the availability for judicial time a hearing might be held on your motion within a few weeks or at the time of the September trial. Under the law, until you have an order granting you retroactive relief, you should continue to pay what you had agreed to pay.
A retroactive adjustment, if ordered, can be satisfied through the distribution of your assets, or, perhaps an order to contribute to your legal fees. There are a few sanctions which can be used against your wife’s attorney if he intentionally participated in hiding your wife’s income from you or your attorney.
Michael H. Gora has been Board Certified as a specialist in Marital and Family Law by The Certification and Education Committee of The Florida Bar and is a partner in the law firm of Shapiro Blasi Wasserman & Gora P.A. of Boca Raton Florida. Mr. Gora can be reached at: mhgora@sbwlawfirm.com.