In re the Marriage of Mintzer

21 Fla. Supp. 2d 1
CourtCircuit Court for the Judicial Circuits of Florida
DecidedJanuary 29, 1987
DocketCase No. 83-27881 FC 20
StatusPublished

This text of 21 Fla. Supp. 2d 1 (In re the Marriage of Mintzer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Circuit Court for the Judicial Circuits of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re the Marriage of Mintzer, 21 Fla. Supp. 2d 1 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1987).

Opinion

[2]*2OPINION OF THE COURT

PHILIP BLOOM, Circuit Judge.

FINAL JUDGMENT OF DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE

THIS CAUSE duly came before the Court for Final Hearing on Dissolution of Marriage and related issues. The Court saw and heard the witnesses, adjudged their demeanor and credibility, and reviewed other matters of evidence before it including numerous documents, correspondence, financial data and other papers, and accordingly makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:

1. This matter should have been one for “usual” dissolution of marriage, but instead it turned into warfare the way the participants abused each other and the court system. The victims here are variously the parties, the grandparents, a child, the attorneys, the judges sitting on the case, and the court system. During the course of the final hearing in this cause, the parents of the Respondent/Husband, Issac and Florence Mintzer (hereinafter “Grandparents”) were heard from, and the alleged rights of each of the persons claiming any interest in the condominium in which the Grandparents reside were presented to the Court for determination as they relate to this matter.

2. The Respondent/Husband (hereinafter “Husband”) never earned more than Thirty Five Thousand ($35,000.00) Dollars annually in his thirty (30) years of marriage to his Petitioner/Wife (hereinafter “Wife”). The Wife took her wifely and motherly duties seriously and did not pursue a permanent profession or business. For most of the marriage, the Husband pursued his business interests, but later in the marriage, a female interest, as well.

3. Each party obtained an attorney, and the attorneys, whether through zeal or client instigation, treated this case and the parties as if they were the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Gettys or Camegies. Over one hundred seventy five (175) docket entries are recorded in this case. The file is about seventeen (17”) inches high and weighs approximately four (4) pounds. The file reflects a multitude of motions, hearings, claims and prayers for relief not called for by the plight of these parties. After being sued for dissolution of marriage, the Husband then countered for two years on a prayer for alimony from his Wife, thereby instigating pre-trial discovery on that issue; and then, at the moment of trial, the Husband abandoned that claim. Court proceedings here were used and abused in varying degrees by the parties and at least one lawyer to the extent that this case was elongated and the Court was precluded from hearing other matters.

[3]*34. The Husband, with about Twenty Thousand ($20,000.00) Dollars of spendable income annually, prior to the final hearing paid fees to his own lawyer of Nineteen Thousand ($19,000.00) Dollars, and to his Wife’s lawyer of Six Thousand ($6,000.00) Dollars. A substantial part of those monies came from the Husband’s aged parents in the form of loans when those Grandparents cannot afford such expenditures in their retirement years. That Twenty-five Thousand ($25,000.00) Dollars does not include any payment for trial preparation for the attorneys, or for the final hearing which took approximately thirty-two (32) hours including over a weekend. Those monies do not include research and preparation of four (4”) inches of legal memoranda and proposed findings “dumped” upon the trial court subsequent to the conclusion of the hearing. The Husband conceivably may ultimately be responsible for attorney’s fees totalling in excess of Fifty Thousand ($50,000.00) Dollars, or two and a half times (2-1/2) times the Husband’s annual spendable income, prior to being able to repay his parents’ loans advanced to him in this case, pay any alimony, support, food, clothing, shelter, or medical expenses for his wife, or for his child, or for his girlfriend or for himself.

5. The parties are apparently unaware that a Court cannot live the daily lives of the litigants who come before it. The best that can be expected of a Court is that it be fair, just, equitable and wise in considering the means, wishes, needs and abilities of persons before it, and to apply applicable law to the existing facts and circumstances. Venom between parties as litigants, or their attorneys, cannot change the role of the Courts; and ill feeling cannot infuse the wherewithal to live in a situation where there is not sufficient monies or property to divide or to provide adequately for the needs of the parties and those dependent upon them. In short, not even this Court can get blood from a turnip, and hard compromises must be made. The Court has therefore disallowed some arguable claims and adjusted some property rights in order to set this matter at rest and to avoid future disputes.

6. Although Florida has “no fault” dissolution of marriage, nevertheless, the Court specifically finds here that adultery as to duration of circumstances and economic impact, misrepresentation, fraud, abuse of court processes and proceedings, improper claims and defenses, are all proper matters to be considered in the award of alimony, support and the adjustment of property rights between the parties as well as the imposition or award of attorneys’ fees.

7. The instant proceedings are equitable in nature and the Court will apply established legal and equitable principles in considering the matters before it.

[4]*4Based on the evidence presented to this Court and the equities and law applicable herein, it is upon consideration hereby ORDERED AND ADJUDGED as follows:

1. This Court has jurisdiction of the parties and of the subject matter of this action.

2. The equities of this cause and the credibility of the parties are with the Wife, Margo Mintzer, and not with the Husband, Lawrence Mintzer.

3. The Wife is and has been a resident of Dade County, Florida, for more than six (6) months preceding the filing of her Petition for Dissolution of Marriage.

4. The parties were duly married to each other on May 30, 1955, and cohabited together as Husband and Wife thereafter.

5. There were three (3) children bom of this marriage to-wit: Brooke Mintzer, Glenn Mintzer and Joseph Mintzer.

6. The marriage of the parties is irretrievably broken.

7. The son, Joseph Mintzer, is over the age of eighteen (18) years and is still legally dependent due to his current physical and emotional status.

8. The Husband misrepresented to, and defrauded the Wife out of sums of money properly belonging to the Wife or in which the Wife has a substantial interest, and this Court will provide redress to Wife for Husband’s improper conduct.

9. The Husband shall pay to the Wife as and for permanent, periodic alimony the sum of Two Hundred ($200.00) Dollars per week with payments to commence on the first Friday after the execution of this Final Judgment and to continue on the Friday of each and every week thereafter. The obligation shall terminate upon the death or remarriage of the Wife.

10. The Wife is hereby awarded as lump sum alimony the real property located at 21031 N. E. 5th Court, North Miami Beach, Dade County, Florida, known as “North Pointe” and all the personal property and effects therein and this shall include any and all interests the Husband may have in and to said real and personal property. The Husband shall have no interest in the foregoing.

11.

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21 Fla. Supp. 2d 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-the-marriage-of-mintzer-flacirct-1987.