American University of the Caribbean v. Tien

These three consolidated cases were begun by foreign companies impleaded in a dissolution of marriage proceeding between one spouse in Florida and another in Taiwan. The legal issues involve a Florida circuit court’s ability to enjoin access to some $100 million on deposit in Florida bank accounts of bona fide international companies that are themselves owned in part by the non-resident spouse. We conclude that the trial court’s well-intentioned attempt to protect the Florida-based spouse’s rights to equitable distribution impermissibly violates the rights of the international companies; that…