Stern v. Stern

636 So. 2d 735, 1993 WL 502183
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 6, 1994
Docket92-2699
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 636 So. 2d 735 (Stern v. Stern) 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
Stern v. Stern, 636 So. 2d 735, 1993 WL 502183 (Fla. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

636 So.2d 735 (1993)

Mark STERN, a/k/a Mark Allen, Appellant,
v.
Jackie STERN, Appellee.

No. 92-2699.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

December 8, 1993.
Order Modifying Opinion on Limited Grant of Rehearing April 6, 1994.

*736 Steven D. Rowe of Law Offices of Steven D. Rowe and Nancy Little Hoffman of Nancy Little Hoffman, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for appellant.

Domenic L. Grosso of Domenic L. Grosso, P.A., and Amy D. Shield of Amy D. Shield, P.A., Boca Raton, for appellee.

DONNER, AMY STEELE, Associate Judge.

Mark Stern, the former husband, brings this appeal from a final judgment dissolving his marriage to Jackie Stern, the former wife, and distributing their marital property. Finding error in three of the numerous points raised, we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

*737 The parties were married for twelve years but never had any children. On their wedding day they executed a premarital agreement which provided, among other things:

5. That Mark S. Stern waives any right to any stock in NRC Electronics, Inc. currently belonging to Jacqueline Eisen as of this date. Same shall apply to any future subsidiaries of NRC Electronics, Inc.
6. That anything purchased by both parties or assets accumulated from this date forward shall be divided equally by both parties.

According to the former husband's trial testimony, approximately six months later, the parties executed an addendum to that agreement. The addendum provided that if they purchased a home, then: (1) each party would furnish one-half the down payment and both parties would own the home equally; (2) the former wife would be responsible for all monthly payments on the mortgage and maintenance on the home; in return, she was allowed the entire tax deduction for interest and taxes; and (3) the former husband would reimburse her for a portion of these expenditures. In the event of a divorce, the addendum further provided that, upon the sale of the home, the equity was to be divided equally between the parties, as would the contents of the home, unless owned by either party prior to the marriage. At trial, the former wife acknowledged her signature on all four original copies of the addendum, but claimed her husband had her sign them without her knowing what she was signing. In fact, she testified the first time she saw this document was at her deposition. Further, in the parties' pretrial stipulation, she disputed the validity of the addendum.

In March of 1980, the parties purchased a home in Coral Springs, where they lived until 1987. The evidence is in dispute in regard to whether the former wife made all the mortgage and maintenance payments, and whether the former husband reimbursed her for some of the household expenses as required by the addendum.

At the time of the marriage, the former wife was a 25% owner of NRC Electronics, Inc. Howard Eisen, her former husband, owned the rest of the company. By the time of trial, the former wife owned a 25% interest in several other corporations and a partnership which had grown out of the mother company (NRC) — Jaro Components, Inc.; Jaro-Dixie, Inc.; and Hojack Partnership.

On various applications for disability insurance which the former husband submitted during the marriage, he claimed a yearly salary in excess of $80,000. In 1988, the former husband's major business, Mark Allen Productions, showed a profit of $375,000, which decreased slightly to $345,000 in 1989. As of December of 1989, Mark Allen Productions had accounts receivable of $1,900,000, although the former husband claimed at trial that those accounts were probably no longer collectible. In addition, the former husband was involved in a corporation with his brother, Gary Stern, called Brothers Entertainment Group, which was eventually dissolved. At some point prior to going out of business, the company entered into a settlement with Pan American Insurance on a business interruption policy. Without revealing this settlement to his brother or his wife, the former husband received $78,000.

In November of 1987, the parties sold their Coral Springs home and, after paying off the mortgage, placed the entire $90,000 in equity into the purchase of a $375,000 condominium. The former wife added $35,000 from her earnings to cover the $125,000 down payment.

In February of 1990, the former husband alleged he was seriously injured in a slip and fall accident. The various insurance carriers with whom he had carried disability policies found him to be 100% disabled, both physically and neurologically, and began issuing benefits under the policies.

On July 31, 1991, the former wife filed a petition for dissolution seeking, inter alia, enforcement of the premarital agreement, a declaration that each party owned his or her own separate assets, a distribution of marital assets, and exclusive possession of, as well as a special equity in, the jointly-owned condominium. The former husband answered and counter-petitioned for essentially the same relief. Interestingly enough, the addendum was not attached to the former husband's *738 counter-petition, even though he was seeking exclusive possession of the condominium.

During the pendency of the dissolution proceedings, the former husband also sought temporary support based on his need and the former wife's ability to pay. According to the former husband's August 1991 financial affidavit, he was only receiving a total income of $3,281, which came from his worker's compensation and various disability payments. On his October 1991 financial affidavit, he claimed this income was reduced to $2,065. Further, in both affidavits the former husband claimed to have monthly medical expenses in the amount of $4,775, as well as car and boat expenses. And at the temporary support hearing, he maintained he was receiving only $2,065 a month and getting no other disability income. As a result, the trial court ordered the former wife to pay $2,500 per month in temporary support.

At trial, it was revealed that the former husband was actually receiving approximately $13,000 per month in worker's compensation and disability payments. In particular, the husband's worker's compensation carrier paid out a total in medical bills from the date of the accident to the time of trial of $106,200.11. The former husband also received periodic benefit payments from both the worker's compensation and disability carriers totalling $311,285 during that same period. He was also having his medical bills paid, and his car and boat payments were being satisfied by various disability carriers. At the same time, he was running up some $48,000 in credit card debt. Notwithstanding this evidence, the former husband testified he was no longer receiving either of these payments, and that those already received had been spent.

Because the former husband sought to share in any enhancement in the value of the wife's various businesses as a marital asset, a highly contested issue in the proceedings was the evaluation of the wife's 25% interest in those businesses. Several expert opinions were offered on the subject, ranging from a value of $3,000,000 to $300,000.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

ELROY CROCKER vs ROBIN TRUMAN CROCKER
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2023
Hahamovitch v. Hahamovitch
133 So. 3d 1008 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2014)
Kay v. Kay
988 So. 2d 1273 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2008)
Fulmer v. Fulmer
961 So. 2d 1081 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2007)
Vaughn v. Vaughn
714 So. 2d 632 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1998)
Pilny v. Pilny
658 So. 2d 1110 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1995)
Rosen v. Rosen
655 So. 2d 153 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
636 So. 2d 735, 1993 WL 502183, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stern-v-stern-fladistctapp-1994.