Roth v. Roth

973 So. 2d 580, 2008 WL 80224
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJanuary 9, 2008
Docket2D06-3360
StatusPublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 973 So. 2d 580 (Roth v. Roth) 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
Roth v. Roth, 973 So. 2d 580, 2008 WL 80224 (Fla. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

973 So.2d 580 (2008)

Allan Michael ROTH, Appellant/Cross-Appellee,
v.
Pamela Gertrude ROTH, Appellee/Cross-Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

No. 2D06-3360.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

January 9, 2008.

*583 Timothy W. Weber and Stephen J. Wein of Battaglia, Ross, Dicus & Wein, P.A., St. Petersburg, for Appellant/Cross-Appellee.

David M. Wall, Clearwater, for Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

STRINGER, Judge.

Allan Michael Roth (the Husband) appeals from the amended final, judgment of dissolution of marriage to Pamela Gertrude Roth (the Wife), arguing that the trial court abused its discretion in fashioning its equitable distribution scheme and in imputing income for purposes of child support. He also appeals an order requiring him to pay portions of the Wife's attorney's fees and costs and an order holding him in contempt for failing to execute several documents. The Wife cross-appeals from the amended final judgment, arguing that the trial court erred by failing to award her alimony. We reverse the final judgment of dissolution of marriage with respect to the equitable distribution and child support provisions only and remand for further proceedings. Because of this ruling, we also, reverse the order on attorney's fees and remand for reconsideration. On the order finding the Husband in contempt, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND FACTS

The parties were married on February 14, 1995, and the Husband filed his petition for dissolution on July 26, 2001. When the parties married, the Husband was a stockbroker. He owned a house before the marriage, and the Wife and her daughter from a previous marriage moved into the Husband's residence shortly before the marriage. The, Wife was employed when the parties first married; however, after the parties' first child was born, the Wife worked only sporadically, primarily as an independent contractor furnishing and decorating *584 corporate apartments. There is no dispute that the Husband handled all of the parties' financial affairs during the marriage.

During the marriage, the Husband worked for two different brokerage houses. However, in 2000 after the dot.com bubble burst, he began to shift his focus away from brokerage activities and toward insurance products. After September 11, 2001, he essentially ceased his brokerage activities and focused almost exclusively on insurance. The parties do not dispute that during the Husband's best year as a stockbroker he earned $104,000. However, during the pendency of the dissolution proceedings, the Husband averaged an income of approximately $60,000 per year from his insurance business.

In the amended final judgment of dissolution, the trial court found that the parties had $590,749 in marital assets. The trial court divided these assets essentially in half, thus awarding each party $295,379 in the equitable distribution scheme. However, because many of the assets included in the equitable distribution scheme had been dissipated during the dissolution proceedings, there were insufficient liquid assets available to the Husband for him to pay an equalizing payment as a lump sum to the Wife. Therefore, the trial court required the Husband to sign a promissory note for $295,379 in favor of the Wife, and the trial court secured this promissory note with a mortgage on the Husband's nonmarital residence. The trial court ordered the Husband to pay $1500 per month to the Wife for sixty months in partial satisfaction of the promissory note, with the remainder due in a balloon payment at the end of the sixty months. The trial court also imposed an equitable lien on the Husband's nonmarital residence in favor of the Wife. Nowhere in the amended final judgment did the trial court value or distribute the significant liabilities listed on the parties' financial affidavits.

In calculating the child support award, the trial court imputed $150,000 in annual income to the Husband and $12,000 in annual income to the Wife. Based on these figures, the trial court ordered the Husband to pay $2005.85 per month in child support to the Wife. In addition, based on this imputed income, the trial court found that the Husband had the ability to contribute to the Wife's attorney's fees, and it ordered the Husband to pay a total of $38,347 to the Wife's two attorneys at the rate of $800 per month plus interest.

Finally, the amended final judgment ordered the Husband to sign the promissory note and mortgage in favor of the Wife by June 23, 2006. When the Husband failed to do so, the, trial court held the Husband in contempt and ordered him jailed until he complied. The Husband now appeals all of these orders.

II. EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION

Dissipation of Assets

The Husband's major argument concerning the equitable distribution scheme is that the trial court erred when it included assets in the scheme that had been dissipated during the course of the dissolution proceedings. Based on the evidence presented at the adjudicatory hearing, we agree.

As a general proposition, it is error to include assets in an equitable distribution scheme that have been diminished or dissipated during the dissolution proceedings. Cooper v. Cooper, 639 So.2d 153, 155 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994); Bush v. Bush, 824 So.2d 293, 294 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002); Knecht v. Knecht, 629 So.2d 883, 886 (Fla. 3d DCA 1993). However, an exception to this general proposition exists when misconduct during the dissolution proceedings *585 results in the dissipation of a marital asset. In that case, the misconduct may serve as a basis for assigning the dissipated asset to the spending spouse when calculating equitable distribution. Levy v. Levy, 900 So.2d 737, 746 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005); Romano v. Romano, 632 So.2d 207, 210 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994).

When considering whether the dissipation of an asset resulted from misconduct, the question for the trial court is whether "one spouse use[d] marital funds for his or her own benefit and for a purpose unrelated to the marriage at a time when the marriage is undergoing an irreconcilable breakdown." Romano, 632 So.2d at 210 (quoting Gentile v. Gentile, 565 So.2d 820, 823 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990)). The misconduct necessary to support inclusion of dissipated assets in an equitable distribution scheme does not include mismanagement or simple squandering of marital assets in a manner of which the other spouse disapproves. Segall v. Segall, 708 So.2d 983, 986 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998). Instead, to include a dissipated asset in the equitable distribution scheme, there must be evidence of the spending spouse's intentional dissipation or destruction of the asset, and the trial court must make a specific finding that the dissipation resulted from intentional misconduct. Levy, 900 So.2d at 746 (reversing award of dissipated asset because the wife's testimony that she used the asset for attorney's fees and living expenses during the dissolution proceedings was unrebutted and the trial court did not find the wife guilty of misconduct); Cooper, 639 So.2d at 155 (reversing award of dissipated asset when the husband's testimony that he used the IRA funds to pay temporary support obligations and his own living expenses was unrebutted and there was no finding of misconduct); Bush, 824 So.2d at 294 (reversing award of dissipated asset when the evidence showed that the husband exercised his stock options to pay the parties' financial obligations during the dissolution proceedings); Knecht,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
973 So. 2d 580, 2008 WL 80224, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roth-v-roth-fladistctapp-2008.