Sumlar v. Sumlar

827 So. 2d 1079, 2002 WL 31295118
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedOctober 14, 2002
Docket1D02-0039
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 827 So. 2d 1079 (Sumlar v. Sumlar) 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
Sumlar v. Sumlar, 827 So. 2d 1079, 2002 WL 31295118 (Fla. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

827 So.2d 1079 (2002)

Arizona L. SUMLAR, Appellant,
v.
Donald K. SUMLAR, Appellee.

No. 1D02-0039.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

October 14, 2002.

*1081 John Paul Howard, Jacksonville, for Appellant.

Pro se, for Appellee.

BROWNING, J.

Arizona L. Sumlar (Appellant), the former wife, raises four key issues in her appeal of a final judgment dissolving her marriage to Donald K. Sumlar (Appellee). Appellant contends that the trial court reversibly erred by awarding retroactive child support to Appellee; by denying her attorney's fees, costs, general master's fees, and mediator's fees; by failing to award Appellant legal interest on certain sums due her; and by failing to order reimbursement to her for repairs she had made to the parties' rental home. We affirm the final judgment insofar as it dissolves the parties' marriage, but reverse and remand for factual findings and further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

Child Support

The trial court found that after the parties separated in February 1996, their three older children resided with Appellee in the marital residence through their respective 18th birthdays. Shortly after the parties' separation, the remaining child resided *1082 mainly with her paternal grandparents, who (along with Appellee) supported her until she achieved majority in November 2001. The court also found that after moving out of the marital home in 1996, Appellant did not contribute financial support for the youngest child. No child support was sought from Appellant until Appellee filed his petition for dissolution in late April 2000. The trial court ordered Appellant to pay retroactive child support from the filing date of the petition for dissolution to age 18, in an amount totaling $8,114.90 (calculated at $427.10 per month). Appellant argues the trial court erred by awarding this support for a period when the child allegedly never lived with Appellee.

Florida law sets out criteria for determining entitlement to child support, and the amount thereof. § 61.13, Fla. Stat. (2000). Competent substantial evidence supports the finding that Appellee is entitled to a child-support award. Appellee testified that his employment as a truck driver necessitated his being away from home for extended periods when the youngest child was a minor in Appellee's custodial care. Appellee relied on his own parents' watching over the youngest child during Appellee's work-related travels. The paternal grandfather testified that the child in question moved in with him and his wife shortly after the parties' separation and remained there until the child's graduation from high school in June 2001, when she moved in for a short time with her adult sister. The grandfather indicated he had supported "the family," including the parties' youngest child, during that period of time. Appellee testified that he had contributed to the support of the youngest child, and that he had received no monetary support from Appellant after the parties' separation. The paternal grandfather testified that Appellee had repaid him for the out-of-pocket amounts spent for the child's care. Therefore, an award of retroactive child support in some amount is proper. Beal v. Beal, 666 So.2d 1054 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996) (holding that trial court abused its discretion by failing to award child support retroactively, where record demonstrated child's need, and former husband's ability to pay existed when dissolution petition was filed); Campbell v. Campbell, 635 So.2d 44 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994).

The child support guidelines presumptively establish the amount to be ordered as child support in an initial proceeding for such support. § 61.30(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2000); Swanston v. Swanston, 746 So.2d 566 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999). According to the final judgment, the $427.10 monthly amount of support was calculated from unspecified "financial records admitted into evidence by each party" and constitutes Appellant's "guidelines obligation." The support guidelines statute requires the trial court to determine the obligor's and obligee's respective monthly incomes according to certain enumerated factors. § 61.30(2), Fla. Stat. (2000). Then, each parent's percentage share of the support need is calculated by dividing the respective net income by the combined net income. § 61.30(9). "Each parent's actual dollar share of the child support need shall be determined by multiplying the minimum child support need by each parent's percentage share." § 61.30(10).

At the dissolution trial, the parties sharply disagreed as to what sums should be calculated in Appellee's income for purposes of determining his percentage share and the corresponding actual dollar share. The figure $427.10 does not appear in any of the financial data in the record on appeal. After the trial judge made oral findings that Appellant is obligated to pay child support, he stated on the record that Appellee's counsel had "made figures of 427.80," but the judge said he did not know *1083 whether that amount is correct or not. The court instructed Appellee's attorney to let Appellant's lawyer know how that amount was calculated. At that point in the transcript, the discussion moved to other matters. In the motion for rehearing, Appellant's counsel characterized the sum $427.10 in monthly child support as "a figment of the former husband's attorney's imagination." Appellant's counsel indicated that Appellee's attorney had not timely complied with his stated intent to file a child-support guidelines worksheet to explain the figure. The motion for rehearing was denied.

A final judgment must include factual findings sufficiently specific to allow the reviewing court to ascertain the basis of calculations relating to child support. Cooper v. Cooper, 760 So.2d 1048 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000); Swanston, 746 So.2d at 566; McDaniel v. McDaniel, 653 So.2d 1076 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995). Neither the final judgment of dissolution of marriage nor the accompanying record discloses the specific numbers that were used to calculate the amount of child support due and the parties' respective shares. On remand, the trial court is directed to make sufficient findings to permit meaningful review of its ruling on any child support amount.

As an alternative to her argument that the child-support award is unjustified under the circumstances, Appellant contends that at a minimum, she is entitled to a credit of one-half the fair rental value of the Finch Avenue marital residence (according to her, $1,500.00/2 = $750.00) during the period for which child support was awarded. This argument relates to the child-support issue in that Appellant asserts that the trial court should have added one-half of the fair rental value of the marital residence to Appellee's monthly income before determining his percentage of the support.

To support her position, Appellant relies on Bryan v. Bryan, 765 So.2d 829 (Fla. 1st DCA 2000); Cooper; and Thomas v. Thomas, 712 So.2d 822 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998). In Bryan, we recognized that pursuant to section 61.30(2), fair rental value is a factor to be considered in determining "income." From the instant record, it appears the trial court failed to take into account the fair rental value of the former marital residence. On remand, the court is instructed to consider the applicability of this factor in light of the facts (and to determine an amount, if applicable), and any other factor, appropriate under the statutory provision for calculating "income" before determining an appropriate amount of child support.

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

Related

WILLIAM A. JULIA v. MELISSA RAMOS-BAEZ
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2024
Barbara Triana Lopez v. Juan Lopez
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2024
ESTHER ALARCON v. SETH DAGEN
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2023
SHARIN KAYE JOHNSON vs ERIC PAUL JOHNSON
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2022
CYNTHIA MAE ALLEN v. EDWARD JUUL
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2019
Gregory Rawson, Former Husband v. Lisa L. Rawson, Former Wife
264 So. 3d 325 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2019)
J.A.D. v. K.M.A.
264 So. 3d 1080 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2019)
J. A. D. v. K. M. A.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2019
MICHAEL LENNON v. SIMONE LENNON
District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2018
Mahmoud Nassirou v. Nellie N'Gessan Borba
236 So. 3d 1180 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2018)
Henderson v. Henderson
162 So. 3d 203 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2015)
Exter v. Diodonet-Molina
152 So. 3d 699 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2014)
Hahamovitch v. Hahamovitch
133 So. 3d 1020 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2014)
Allen v. Allen
114 So. 3d 1102 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2013)
Phillips v. Ford
68 So. 3d 257 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2010)
Rashid v. Rashid
35 So. 3d 992 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2010)
Hindle v. FUITH
33 So. 3d 782 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2010)
Welch v. Welch
22 So. 3d 153 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2009)
Schwartz v. Schwartz
965 So. 2d 832 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
827 So. 2d 1079, 2002 WL 31295118, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sumlar-v-sumlar-fladistctapp-2002.