Kranz v. Kranz

737 So. 2d 1198, 1999 WL 518821
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJuly 23, 1999
Docket98-3196
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 737 So. 2d 1198 (Kranz v. Kranz) 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
Kranz v. Kranz, 737 So. 2d 1198, 1999 WL 518821 (Fla. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

737 So.2d 1198 (1999)

Jane E. KRANZ, Appellant,
v.
David A. KRANZ, Appellee.

No. 98-3196.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

July 23, 1999.

*1199 Joan Stefanec Briggs of Adams, Briggs and Briggs, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.

M. Katrina Muse of Muse & Jones, St. Augustine, for Appellee.

PER CURIAM.

We have for review a final judgment dissolving the marriage between Jane ("the wife") and David ("the husband") Kranz. We affirm the judgment insofar as it dissolves the marriage and denies the wife's motion for attorney's fees. However, due to numerous errors in the final judgment, we reverse and remand for further proceedings on several issues.

The parties married on October 26, 1977, and the petition for dissolution was filed on November 26, 1997. Two children were born of the marriage, one of whom is a minor. Some of the issues attendant to the dissolution were resolved by mediation, and the remaining issues were submitted to the court for resolution following a trial.

At the time of trial, the wife was fortyfour years old and the husband was fortyone, and both were in good mental and physical health. The husband has worked for Florida Power and Light since 1981, and the parties relocated many times due to the husband's job. Since 1992, the husband's annual income has been $45,000 or greater, and at the time of trial his gross monthly income was just over $4800.

The wife worked during most of the marriage, including nearly ten years at Southern Bell (now BellSouth). She quit her Southern Bell job in 1990 because her commute of 55 miles each way—necessitated by a move due to the husband's job a year earlier—was too lengthy. The husband did not oppose the wife's resignation, and at the time of resignation the wife was earning approximately $22,000 annually. The wife did not work again until 1993, at which time she gained employment with Wal-Mart. At the time of trial, the wife was working for Wal-Mart earning $6.30 per hour or about $13,000 annually.

The wife is a high school graduate and completed eight credits toward a criminology degree at Miami Dade Community College in 1985 and 1986. She attended Brevard Community College for several months in 1992 and obtained a medical terminology certificate in a 36-hour course. She never received a job in the medical field; she had applied at a doctor's office but would have earned the same salary she commands at Wal-Mart. However, the wife acknowledged that if she dedicated time to the medical field she could earn more than her present salary.

In March 1997, the wife moved out of the marital home to live with her sister in Miami after the husband expressed doubts about the marriage. During the separation she lived on her credit cards and the husband paid the mortgage and other household expenses. On the advice of her attorney, the wife moved back into the home in September 1997, and the husband continued to pay the mortgage and other household bills as he had prior to and during the separation.

Both parties submitted proposed final judgments as requested by the trial judge. The court signed and entered the final judgment submitted by the husband, without alteration. The final judgment denies the wife's request for alimony and attorney's fees, awards the husband credit in the amount of $2650 for mortgage payments made after the separation, notes *1200 that child support had been established at $650 during the pendency of the case but also states that the wife receives $700 in child support, and lists the property and debt distributed to each party. Several of the findings in the order are without record support and require reversal.

CHILD SUPPORT

The wife challenges the "$700 child support award" as more than a 5% deviation from the guidelines amount. However, in fact the order fails to impose any child support obligation on the husband; it merely reflects two different amounts—it notes a $650 temporary child support obligation and also refers to a $700 child support award in its discussion of alimony. This discrepancy and the omission of an express obligation require reversal. On remand, a new child support worksheet should be prepared, and if the court chooses to impute income to the wife it should use the imputed amount in the computation of the husband's child support obligation. If the amount deviates by more than 5% from the guideline amount, the court should state written reasons for such deviation as required by paragraph 61.30(1)(a), Florida Statutes (1997).

ALIMONY

The wife next challenges several findings regarding the decision not to award her alimony. First, she is correct that the child support paid by the husband should not be included in her income for the purpose of determining alimony. The child support computation provisions state that in computing net income, alimony received is counted as income to the payee spouse and alimony paid is deducted from the payor spouse's income. § 61.30(2), (3), Fla. Stat. (1997). This indicates that alimony should be computed before child support, not vice versa. See Cornett v. Cornett, 713 So.2d 1083 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998) ("[I]n citing the enhanced child support award as a basis to deny alimony the trial court has put the cart before the horse. Pursuant to section 60.30(2)(a)9 and (3)(g), Florida Statutes (1997), the trial court must add to a party's income any alimony received and then subtract alimony paid. Thus, in a case in which one party is paying alimony to the other party, alimony, if ordered, must be determined before child support can be calculated under the guidelines.").

The finding that the wife enjoys the same standard of living as she did during the marriage is also erroneous. The order merely notes that the wife pays less rent now than the mortgage payment on the marital home, and then concludes that her standard of living is the same. The wife is correct that the order places undue emphasis on the fact that her housing obligation is lower than during the marriage, especially considering that the husband paid the mortgage and that the wife is now living on significantly less income than she enjoyed during the marriage. She testified that during the marriage, every house purchased was nicer than the previous home; the parties ate out a lot, owned nice cars and two boats; and the husband belonged to a golf club. The wife is now living in a duplex rather than a house, and her financial affidavit does not reflect expenditures commensurate with the marital standard of living.

The order also erroneously refers to the wife commuting for nine years to her Southern Bell job, apparently in support of the finding that she is unreasonably refusing to commute from Flagler County to Orlando or Jacksonville. In fact, the wife only had to make a lengthy commute for one year after the parties moved for the husband's job, and the parties agreed for her to quit because the drive was too far and the family no longer needed the wife's income.

The finding in the order that the parties have equivalent financial resources is also without support. Although the parties did receive a roughly equivalent distribution of assets, the husband has far superior earning power, earning about four times as much as the wife. Even with the imputation of income at her former Southern Bell *1201 salary, she earns less than half of what the husband makes, and she was ordered to pay more of the debt. There is no evidence to support the conclusion in the order that the wife could earn $30,000 to $35,000 based on her education.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
737 So. 2d 1198, 1999 WL 518821, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kranz-v-kranz-fladistctapp-1999.