What if my IRA value goes down while my divorce is pending?

     This case exams the problems judge's face when establishing value of retirement accounts at the time of trial.  In the case of Lilly v. Lilly, 35 So.3d 1022 (Fla. 5th DCA 2010), the court stated that a spouse must prove the value of an asset beyond a mere assertion in a pleading.

TRIAL COURT ERRED BY AMENDING FINAL JUDGMENT TO CHANGE VALUATION DATE AND VALUES OF RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS TO REFLECT A DOWNTURN IN THE ECONOMY BASED SOLELY ON HUSBAND'S BARE ASSERTIONS IN REHEARING MOTION.

In the Final Judgment the lower court awarded the Wife one-half of the marital portion of three retirement accounts, valued as of the trial date based on the evidence presented. But in the Amended Final Judgment, the court valued the accounts as of the date the Final Judgment was entered, to reflect a downturn in the economy as asserted by the husband in his rehearing motion. The District Court reversed:

1. "The court erred by changing the valuation date and values without any evidentiary basis."

2. "Although section 61.075(7), Florida Statutes, gives the trial court discretion to pick an equitable date to value assets, section 61.075(3) requires the trial court to establish a value based on competent, substantial evidence."

3. "The wife correctly argues that the husband's bare assertions in a motion for rehearing were not evidence. Although the value of the assets may well have dropped, as the husband asserted, he failed to present any evidence to support this assertion or the court's findings."

            It is important to have experience legal representation so values can be properly proved at trial.