Hollister v. Hollister

965 So. 2d 341, 2007 WL 2781121
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 26, 2007
Docket2D04-2803, 2D05-4834
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 965 So. 2d 341 (Hollister v. Hollister) 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
Hollister v. Hollister, 965 So. 2d 341, 2007 WL 2781121 (Fla. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

965 So.2d 341 (2007)

Teri HOLLISTER, Appellant/Cross-Appellee,
v.
Mark A. HOLLISTER, Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

Nos. 2D04-2803, 2D05-4834.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

September 26, 2007.

*342 Theodore J. Rechel of Rechel & Harriman, P.A., Tampa, for Appellant/Cross-Appellee.

James R. Schaffer of James R. Schaffer, P.A., Tampa, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

*343 SILBERMAN, Judge.

In these consolidated appeals, Teri Hollister (the Wife) appeals the final judgment of dissolution of marriage, arguing that the trial court erred in the equitable distribution and award of alimony in case number 2D04-2803. In case number 2D05-4834, the Wife appeals the order denying her motion for enlargement of time and amended motion for attorney's fees.[1] On cross-appeal in case number 2D05-4834, Mark A. Hollister (the Husband) contends that the trial court erred in granting the Wife's motion for rehearing on attorney's fees. We reverse the final judgment of dissolution of marriage with respect to the equitable distribution and alimony provisions. We strike the order granting the Wife's motion for rehearing on attorney's fees because the trial court lacked jurisdiction at the time it entered that order. We reverse the original order denying fees and remand for further proceedings on the Wife's request for fees.

The parties had been married for twenty-two years when the Husband filed a petition for dissolution of marriage on June 6, 2003. The parties have two children who have attained the age of majority since entry of the final judgment. The parties raise no issues with respect to the provisions of the final judgment that relate to the children, and we affirm those portions of the final judgment. However, based on numerous errors in the final judgment, as detailed below, we reverse the equitable distribution and alimony components of the final judgment and remand for further proceedings.

At a hearing on October 23, 2003, Judge Timmerman ordered the Husband to pay $5750 per month in temporary alimony. The case went to trial in February 2004 before Judge Gomez. The parties stipulated to the value and distribution of many of their assets and liabilities. The Husband agreed that the Wife was entitled to permanent periodic alimony but disputed the amount.

At the time of trial, the Husband was fifty-two years old, had a college degree, and was employed as a regional vice president for Nortrax, Inc., earning an income of $221,000 per year. The Husband receives a car allowance of $1000 per month, and for 2003 he received a net bonus of approximately $25,000. The Husband has been employed with Nortrax since 1999, and the only other bonus he received was in 2001. He characterized the 2001 bonus as a "stay" bonus to encourage him to remain with the company.

At the time of trial, the Wife was forty-seven years old, had a high school diploma, and had worked outside the home only intermittently during the marriage. Based on the parties' agreement, the Wife had managed the household and cared for the parties' children. Early in the marriage she had worked as an administrative assistant. Her last part-time employment was in 1995 as a pharmaceutical representative. Her highest annual salary was $26,000, but she did not earn that amount because she did not remain in that position the full year. After moving to Tampa in 1987, the most she had earned in any one year was $13,536.

I. EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION

Failure to equitably distribute the parties' assets and liabilities

Decisions regarding equitable distribution are subject to an abuse of *344 discretion standard of review. Augoshe v. Lehman, 962 So.2d 398 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007); Pomeranz v. Pomeranz, 901 So.2d 895, 896 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005). Section 61.075, Florida Statutes (2003), requires the trial court to equitably distribute the parties' marital assets and liabilities. Here, the trial court listed and valued assets and liabilities in the final judgment but failed to distribute them. The parties pointed this out to the trial court in their motions for rehearing, but, inexplicably, the trial court denied the motions. The judgment recognizes that the parties agreed to the values of the majority of the assets. Neither party sought an unequal distribution, as evidenced by their proposed equitable distribution worksheets. However, their worksheets distribute the assets and liabilities somewhat differently.

The trial court abused its discretion in failing to equitably distribute the parties' assets. Thus, we remand and direct the trial court to effect an equal equitable distribution, subject to any specific issues discussed below.

Stock Appreciation Rights

The Wife takes issue with the trial court's finding that the Husband's stock appreciation rights (SARs) with his employer have no marital value. Further, the Wife contends that the trial court should have imposed a constructive trust in the Wife's favor on one-half of the Husband's vested but unvalued SARs.

The Husband began working for Nortrax in November 1999. In 2000 or 2001, Nortrax granted to the Husband 46,667 SARs with a base equity value of $10 per share. The SARs plan documents reflect that the Husband agreed to the replacement of the "old SARs" with 50,000 "new SARs" having a base equity value of $6.81 per share. A letter dated March 1, 2003, from the Nortrax Board of Directors reflects that the new SARs were "100% vested as of this writing." The SARs plan documents indicate that the original grant date of the new SARs was January 18, 2002, and at that time 70% of the SARs were vested. The remaining 30% vested on December 1, 2002. Thus, the record reflects that the Husband's SARs were fully vested before he filed the petition for dissolution on June 6, 2003.

The Husband testified that he is not entitled to the base equity value of the SARs but only the amount of any appreciation above the base equity value. At the time of trial, the Nortrax Board of Directors had not determined the value of the SARs and had no obligation to do so until January 18, 2006. After that date, the Husband could elect to redeem up to 20% of his SARs, and at that time the Board would be obligated to determine the equity value of the Nortrax stock. The Husband contended that any appreciation would be due to his future performance and thus would be nonmarital. The trial court found that the SARs "have no marital value" because any appreciation would be based on the company's future performance.

A court presumes that an asset is marital when a spouse acquires the asset after the date of the marriage and the asset has not specifically been established as nonmarital. § 61.075(7), Fla. Stat. (2003). The cut-off date for determining marital assets, unless the parties enter into a valid separation agreement, is the date the petition was filed. § 61.075(6). Section 61.075(5)(a)(4) defines marital assets to include "[a]ll vested and nonvested benefits, rights, and funds accrued during the marriage in retirement, pension, profit-sharing, annuity, deferred compensation, and insurance plans and programs[.]" The SARs were fully vested before the petition for dissolution was filed and should have been designated as a marital asset. See *345 Parry v. Parry, 933 So.2d 9, 13 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006) (stating that the trial court properly treated vested stock options as marital assets and included them in the equitable distribution scheme).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
965 So. 2d 341, 2007 WL 2781121, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hollister-v-hollister-fladistctapp-2007.