Bell v. Bell

112 So. 2d 63
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 14, 1959
Docket58-380, 58-676
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 112 So. 2d 63 (Bell v. Bell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bell v. Bell, 112 So. 2d 63 (Fla. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

112 So.2d 63 (1959)

Rodney O. BELL, Appellant,
v.
LaVerne W. BELL, Appellee.
LaVerne W. BELL, Appellant,
v.
Rodney O. BELL, Appellee.

Nos. 58-380, 58-676.

District Court of Appeal of Florida. Third District.

May 14, 1959.
Rehearing Denied June 1, 1959.

*64 Mason & Foster, No. Miami Beach, for Rodney O. Bell.

Simons & Simons, Miami, for Laverne W. Bell.

PEARSON, Judge.

Two appeals between these parties are now lodged in this court. They were argued separately but will be considered together. The first is an appeal from an amended final decree of divorce and is brought here by the defendant-husband. In this first appeal the plaintiff-wife has filed cross assignments of error. The second appeal brought here by the plaintiff-wife, is an interlocutory appeal from a post decretal order.

The wife's complaint for divorce charged extreme cruelty. The husband answered denying the charge and cross-claimed for divorce charging adultery. The wife's reply denied the charge contained in the cross-claim. Upon these issues the case was tried and the chancellor found for the wife upon her complaint and her husband's cross-claim. The final decree, before amendment, granted the wife: (1) a divorce, (2) alimony, (3) custody of the two minor children and support, (4) attorney's fees and (5) apportioned the property of the parties as follows:

"That the parties be and they are hereby declared to be tenants in common of the real estate owned by the parties, known and described as 90 Red Maple Drive, North Levittown, Long Island, New York, and that the same be sold as reasonably soon after date as possible and no later than six (6) months from this date, and that the net proceeds thereof be divided between the parties.
"That the home presently occupied by the Plaintiff Counter-Defendant, LaVerne W. Bell, located at 995 West 32nd Street, Hialeah, Florida, and the furnishings therein, which is presently being occupied under an Agreement for Deed, be deeded by Quit-Claim Deed to the Plaintiff Counter-Defendant, LaVerne W. Bell from the Defendant Counter-Plaintiff, Rodney O. Bell, within seven (7) days from this date, and he is hereby required to make the payments therefor which presently amount to Seventy-seven Dollars ($77.00) per month each month on the date *65 when due until said property has been fully paid for.
"That the Defendant Counter-Plaintiff, Rodney O. Bell, is hereby ordered to pay forthwith to Simons and Simons, Attorneys for Plaintiff Counter-Defendant, the sum of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), for counsel fees of the Plaintiff Counter-Defendant herein.
"That the Defendant Counter-Plaintiff is hereby ordered to pay forthwith to the Plaintiff Counter-Defendant the sum of ____ Dollars ($247.64) as her costs incurred in the prosecution and defense of the above styled suit.
"That the Defendant Counter-Plaintiff, Rodney O. Bell, is hereby required to continue in full force and effect those insurance policies he presently holds, and to make the necessary payments therefor, with the Prudential Life Insurance Company in the sum of Fifteen thousand Dollars ($15,000.00) including health and accident insurance therein, and the insurance with Veterans Administration United States Government in the face amount of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00) and with the Travelers Insurance Company in the face amount of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00), and the beneficiaries therein shall remain as stated in the insurance company's records as of September 13, 1957."

The husband filed, on March 4, 1958 his "Motion to Vacate Final Decree, Etc." and without further testimony the chancellor, after argument, entered an amended final decree, which granted the wife: (1) a divorce, (2) reduced her alimony from $150 per month to $75, (3) custody of the two minor children and support, (4) increased the amount of attorney's fees allowed the wife from $500 to $600, and (5) changed the disposition of the property of the parties as follows:

"That the home presently occupied by the Plaintiff Counter-Defendant, LaVerne W. Bell, Located at 995 West 32nd Street, Hialeah, Florida and the furnishings therein, which is presently being occupied under the Agreement for Deed, be deeded by proper instrument to the Plaintiff for the use and benefit of the minor children. Said instrument to provide that upon Plaintiff's remarriage or death, said property to pass in fee simple to said minor children. The defendant is hereby required to make the payments for said homestead, which presently amounts to $77 (Seventy-Seven Dollars) per month. Said payments to be considered alimony and to terminate upon Plaintiff's remarriage or death."

The husband as appellant urges: (1) that the evidence is insufficient to support the wife's decree of divorce; (2) that the chancellor abused his discretion in granting the wife custody of the two minor children of the parties, permanent alimony, court costs, one half of the proceeds from the forced sale of the parties' New York home, permanent mortgage payments on the home, insurance benefits, and counsel fees, and (3) that the chancellor ought to have granted him a divorce on the ground of adultery.

The chancellor in his amended final decree, as in his first decree, declared that the parties became tenants in common of the real estate owned by them in New York. This declaration, if the property were located in Florida, is in accord with section 689.15 Fla. Stat., F.S.A., which provides that where a husband and wife own property, real or personal, as an estate by the entirety, and a divorce is granted, they thereupon become tenants in common. See also Strauss v. Strauss, 148 Fla. 23, 3 So.2d 727; Markland v. Markland, 155 Fla. 629, 21 So.2d 145; Andrews v. Andrews, 155 Fla. 654, 21 So.2d 205; Kollar v. Kollar, 155 Fla. 705, 21 So.2d 356; Giachetti v. Giachetti, 157 Fla. 259, 25 So.2d 658. The court further ordered that the New York property be sold and that the *66 proceeds from such sale be divided equally between the parties. The appellant-husband questions the propriety of the chancellor's order which required sale of the property. There is no provision in the amended decree providing that any portion of the proceeds of the sale is charged with the obligation of the husband to support his former wife or his minor children. Such a provision may be proper under some circumstances. Pollack v. Pollack, 159 Fla. 224, 31 So.2d 253; cf. Anderson v. Anderson, Fla. 1950, 44 So.2d 652. The forced sale with one-half of the proceeds going to the wife is not for the purpose of any lump sum settlement as alimony. See Bezanilla v. Bezanilla, Fla. 1953, 65 So.2d 754; Reid v. Reid, Fla. 1954, 68 So.2d 821; Kilian v. Kilian, Fla.App. 1957, 97 So.2d 201. The chancellor's findings fail to establish any special equitable right to the property in question in either party. See Heath v. Heath, 103 Fla. 1071, 138 So. 796, 82 A.L.R. 537; Eakin v. Eakin, Fla. 1958, 99 So.2d 854. It is error for the court, upon granting a divorce, to direct disposition of the parties' interest in property held by the entireties simply as an incident of the divorce. Valentine v. Valentine, Fla. 1950, 45 So.2d 885. See also Boles v. Boles, Fla. 1952, 59 So.2d 871.

We are not unmindful of the fact, as above indicated, that § 689.15, supra, is applicable only to real property situated in the State of Florida.

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112 So. 2d 63, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bell-v-bell-fladistctapp-1959.