Are Florida Divorce Records Public? How Your Divorce Lawyer Could Be Exposing Your Financial Information to Competitors.
Key Takeaways
- Yes. Generally speaking, divorce records and financial information filed in a traditional Florida Divorce, including financial affidavits, become part of the public court file.
- Business owners, physicians, executives, lawyers, and other professionals should carefully consider whether public financial disclosures could expose sensitive business information to competitors, clients, employees, vendors, or investors.
- Done correctly, Collaborative Divorce is designed to maximize privacy by keeping negotiations confidential and minimizing what gets filed in the public record while promoting complete financial transparency between the spouses.
- In a Collaborative Divorce, spouses generally still have to exchange financial affidavits, but they can choose to keep it out of the public court file.
- Other ways that Collaborative Divorce helps maintain financial discretion include filing far away from where the spouses live or work and choosing the county with the best privacy options.
Can Your Competitors See Your Financial Information During a Florida Divorce?
If you are an executive or own a business, a medical practice, a law firm, or another successful company, one of the biggest risks in a traditional Florida Divorce may have nothing to do with who gets what. It may be that your lawyer is preparing your case for trial instead of preparing it for resolution, and in the process, your private financial information could end up in the public divorce records.
Most people assume that divorce is a private matter. They are often surprised to learn that, in almost every Florida Divorce, each spouse must complete a financial affidavit listing their income, expenses, assets, and debts. Generally, in traditional divorce cases, that affidavit is filed with the court, where your divorce records become available to anyone who wants to read it.
If you have spent years building your business and your reputation, that should concern you.
Imagine a competitor learning how much income your business generates. Imagine a prospective client finding details about your personal finances. Imagine employees, vendors, or future business partners accessing information that was never intended for public view.
For entrepreneurs, executives, physicians, lawyers, and other professionals, privacy is not just a personal preference. It is part of protecting the business you worked so hard to build.
Quick Answer
Yes, in most Florida Divorce cases, sensitive financial information becomes part of your public divorce records through the filing of financial affidavit and other documents. If privacy matters to you, choosing the right divorce lawyer and divorce process from the very beginning can make a significant difference.
Collaborative Divorce takes a fundamentally different approach. Rather than preparing every case for the possibility of litigation, the process is designed to help spouses reach an informed agreement outside of court while protecting confidentiality and sensitive information whenever possible.
