• Theft of marital assets is called dissipation of marital assets in Florida.Padlocks image by DSL from Fotolia.com
  
  In Florida, if one spouse steals or hides marital property, that is, any property that has been acquired during the marriage, he will be held accountable for those takings. Under Florida law, the act of stealing or hiding marital property is referred to as dissipation of marital assets.
  
  

Marital Property

• Marital property is any property acquired during the marriage with some exceptions. Common examples of marital property include real estate, physical personal property, earned pensions and wages. Property owned before a marriage or acquired after separation is separate property and gifts or inheritances obtained during the marriage are also separate property. During the marriage, all marital property is owned by each party and separate property is owned individually. If a spouse steals his spouse's separate property, that rightful owner spouse can bring an action against the spouse to retrieve it and Florida criminal theft laws may also apply. Marital property, on the other hand, cannot be stolen per se, but it can be dissipated.
  
  

Dissipation of Marital Assets

• A dissipation of marital assets occurs when one spouse depletes the couple's financial reserves, destroys physical marital property such as a car or household good or otherwise squanders away marital property. For example, a spouse who intentionally engages in excessive gambling has dissipated marital assets. A spouse that does extensive spending or unreasonably gifts away marital property to third parties to decrease the marital state has also dissipated marital assets. Dissipation of marital assets is the only form of marital theft that occurs with marital property.
  
  

Punishments

• Any dissipation of marital assets that occurs within two years before divorce will be taken into account by the court. The party who dissipated assets will be awarded less property by the court at dissolution. Additionally, depending on the severity of the dissipation, the amount of spousal support owed, if any, may also be increased to offset past dissipation. If the parties are not getting a divorce there is little recourse for spousal theft, unless the spouse steal's separate property.