Bell v. Bell

68 So. 3d 321, 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 12502, 2011 WL 3477036
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedAugust 10, 2011
Docket4D10-40
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 68 So. 3d 321 (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, 68 So. 3d 321, 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 12502, 2011 WL 3477036 (Fla. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

TAYLOR, J.

The former wife, Jodie C. Bell, appeals the trial court’s final judgment of dissolution of marriage and the denial of her motion for rehearing. The wife asserts the trial court erred in: (1) calculating the equalization payment by not including the wife’s half of the husband’s accounts receivable from loans he made to Royce and Bell Brothers, Inc.; (2) failing to make factual findings before denying the wife bridge-the-gap alimony; and (3) failing to reserve jurisdiction on the determination of the wife’s attorney’s fees. The former husband, Mitchell K. Bell, filed a cross-appeal as to the court’s final judgment, asserting that the court erred in equitably distributing the equity in the home he inherited from his mother, and in equitably distributing the Ford Explorer, an asset that was disposed of during the dissolution proceedings by the parties’ agreement. We reverse and remand as to all issues, except the wife’s third issue regarding failure to reserve jurisdiction on the determination of attorney’s fees. On this issue, we affirm.

The husband and the wife were married on January 19, 1997. The wife filed a petition for dissolution of marriage on February 28, 2007. Several hearings were held on the dissolution petition in September 2009. Gary Trugman, the wife’s expert C.P.A. and business appraiser, testified that the husband was a fifty-percent owner in both Precision Time Systems, Inc. (“Precision”) and Royce Parking Control Systems (“Royce”). The husband is the CEO and manager of Royce; the husband’s brother, Robert Bell, manages Precision. The valuation date, by stipulation, was February 28, 2007. Trugman testified that as of this date, the husband’s interest in Precision was worth approximately $2,731,000. He testified that the husband’s stock in Royce was worth $647,000. Royce had a negative book value, but still had a positive fair market value.

Richard Briscoe, a C.P.A., testified for the husband. He said that Precision Time Systems, Inc. was started before the parties married, in August 1992; Robert and the husband are fifty-percent owners. Briscoe testified that Bell Brothers, Inc. was set up to hold ownership of Royce’s stock. Royce was purchased in 2001. Bell Brothers held the stock and financed the transaction. Briscoe agreed that “they borrowed money to purchase Royce in which the borrowed money is still outstanding, and so whatever value Royce could have, the other entity, Bell Brothers, Inc., which holds the stock of Royce, must be paid if there was a sale, and therefore, on a net asset sale, the debt would wipe out any gain.”

Regarding equitable distribution, Bris-coe testified that “my value for receivables from Royce are, if you add them together, are roughly $650,000. And then I have a zero value for Royce itself in Bell Brothers. If you look at their schedule, they have zero on the notes, but they have about 670 on Royce.” Briscoe stated that if you take the value of Royce, it has to be in consideration of the debt.

In his valuation of the husband’s assets contained within his Exhibit book, Briscoe showed a Note Receivable Summary, which indicated a Royce Note Receivable equaled $275,283 and a Bell Brothers Note Receivable equaled $385,328. Briscoe testified to these amounts at the hearing as follows:

WEISSMAN [the husband’s counsel]:
... Then what else about notes receivable?
*324 BRISCOE: Notes receivable, there’s a number of different receivables from tax payments that were coming back. Mr. Kridel and I have worked all those out.
I think the largest items there deal with a note receivable from Royce and then a note receivable from Bell Brothers.
WEISSMAN: You need to stop for a moment and kind of explain that to the Court, please.
BRISCOE: Well, the way I valued them, Your Honor, is a net asset value, so since I left the liabilities on the books, then I had to pick up an asset individually-
In their particular instance, they took the liability off the books so they didn’t pick up the asset. That’s the only difference. But actually, when you look at the difference, my value for the receivables from Royce are, if you add them together, are roughly $650,000. And then I have a zero value for Royce itself in Bell Brothers. If you look at their schedule, they have zero on the notes, but they have about 670 on Royce.
So as far as Royce goes, we’re not apart. It’s either in the receivables or it’s in the entity. So that’s really just a few thousand dollars apart on the valuation of Royce as it affects this marital net worth.
* ⅜ *
WEISSMAN: ... I understand how you and Mr. Trugman differed on the valuation. But the receivable notes are assets of [the husband]?
BRISCOE: Individually.
WEISSMAN: Individually?
BRISCOE: Yes.
WEISSMAN: Because they belong to the entity known as Royce?
BRISCOE: They are payables on Royce’s books. And if we could use Royce as Bell Brothers and Royce together-
WEISSMAN: I understand what you’re saying. If you’re going to give a value to Royce, you have to take into consideration the debt?
BRISCOE: Yes.
WEISSMAN: Okay. And if you’re going to say Royce is worthless, which you do, then you still have to take into consideration that Royce has an asset and that assets are the notes?
BRISCOE: They have liability to [the husband] individually.
WEISSMAN: Individually?
BRISCOE: That’s right.
WEISSMAN: And he has to account for that to [the wife]?
BRISCOE: Exactly.
WEISSMAN: And so the way you accounted for it is to put it under “other”? BRISCOE: Yes.
WEISSMAN: I see. Not that you were trying to tell the Court that [the husband] should be forgiven of the monies that were receivable against the value of Royce?
BRISCOE: No. No.
WEISSMAN: Okay.
BRISCOE: If you collapse my value with the notes, it’s very similar to their value with the notes. It just happens— It’s just a different manner of valuing them.
WEISSMAN: Okay. So [the husband] picks up what in receivable notes?
BRISCOE: He picks up from Royce, he picks up $275,283.
WEISSMAN: Yes.
BRISCOE: And from Bell Brothers he picks up $385,328.
WEISSMAN: So we’re not forgetting that fact that there really is an asset out *325 there that [the husband] now has to account to [the wife] for?
BRISCOE: We are not.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
68 So. 3d 321, 2011 Fla. App. LEXIS 12502, 2011 WL 3477036, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bell-v-bell-fladistctapp-2011.