Wagner v. Wagner

885 So. 2d 488, 2004 WL 2482436
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 5, 2004
Docket1D04-57
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 885 So. 2d 488 (Wagner v. Wagner) 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
Wagner v. Wagner, 885 So. 2d 488, 2004 WL 2482436 (Fla. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

885 So.2d 488 (2004)

Jami S. WAGNER, n/k/a Jami S. Washburn, Appellant/Former Wife,
v.
Thomas H. WAGNER, Appellee/Former Husband.

No. 1D04-57.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

November 5, 2004.

*489 Tracy S. Carlin and Rebecca Bowen Creed of Mills & Carlin, P.A., Jacksonville, for Appellant/Former Wife.

Michael T. Webster, Shalimar, for Appellee/Former Husband.

WEBSTER, J.

Appellant (the former wife) seeks review of a non-final order granting appellee's (the former husband's) "Motion for Temporary Relief," by which the former husband sought to terminate his spousal support obligation and reduce his child support obligation. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 4(b)(1), Fla. Const.; Fla. R.App. P. 9.130(a)(3)(C)(iii). To determine whether the trial court's rulings were correct, we must look to the parties' marital settlement agreement. Our examination of the pertinent provisions of that document satisfies us that, notwithstanding the parties' arguments to the contrary, both in the trial court and here, those provisions are patently ambiguous. The trial court did not hold an evidentiary hearing or make findings regarding the meaning of the ambiguous language. We cannot perform those responsibilities on appeal. Accordingly, because we cannot determine on the present record whether the trial court's rulings were correct, we must reverse and remand for such proceedings.

I.

The parties, who have two minor children, were divorced in California in 1999. The California court's judgment incorporates the parties' marital settlement agreement, and directs that spousal and child support be paid as set forth in the agreement. The pertinent provisions for our purposes are found in section 4.01 of the parties' agreement, which is titled "Family Support":

Husband shall pay to Wife family support. Family support shall all be deductible from taxable income by Husband, and included in taxable income by Wife. Husband shall pay [W]ife $35,000 *490 per year family support based on his gross annual pay of $70,000.... This $35,000 is to be distributed to [W]ife as follows: $1900 each month ($950 on the 1st of each month and $950 on the 15th of each month), $5400 due in the month of October upon [H]usband receiving his Air Force bonus, and the remaining $6200 Husband will pay Wife on or before April 15th of the following year. Any additional income [H]usband earns, including all bonuses and moonlighting income, Husband shall pay [W]ife a total of 42% of his gross, distributed as follows: within 14 days of [H]usband receiving income Husband shall pay to [W]ife 31% of the gross, and [H]usband shall pay Wife the additional 11% on or before April 15th of the following year. If Husband earns more than $113,000, Wife shall receive no family support on the increment Husband earns above $113,000 per year.
Family support at this rate shall remain in effect until June 30, 1999. Commencing on July 1, 1999, Husband agrees to pay Wife $2850 monthly (to be paid $1425 on the 1st and 15th of the month) as family support. Husband agrees to pay an additional $2000 family support to Wife on October 31, 1999 and October 31, 2000. Husband shall also pay to Wife an additional $4200 in family support on or before April 1, 2000 and $4200 on or before April 1, 2001. Family support at this rate shall terminate on August 15, 2001. On August 16, 2001, Husband agrees to pay [W]ife family support at the rate of thirty percent of his gross income with a cap on the gross income subject to the 30 percent assessment for family support. The cap shall be $150,000 of gross income including all bonuses and non-taxable income. Husband shall pay Wife family support at this rate bi-monthly until August 15, 2004. On August 16, 2004, Husband shall begin paying to Wife family support at the rate of 25 percent of his gross income including bonuses and non-taxable income up to a cap of $250,000 of gross income.
Husband shall pay family support in bi-monthly payments until August 15, 2015 [which is three days before the younger child's eighteenth birthday], or until his death. Family support shall terminate upon death of Wife or August 15, 2015, whichever is sooner. Family support shall not be subject to modification as to amount or duration based upon parental time shared with the parties' children. The parties agree that family support shall not be subject to modification based upon the earned income of Wife unless Wife's earned income exceeds $50,000 per year. Either party may apply for modification of family support based upon inflation, standard cost of living, changes in the value of the American dollar, or any extreme medical condition of the parties' children.

Family support and spousal support is [sic] non-modifiable as to duration, with the exception of the death of either party or remarriage of Wife. The termination date for family support and spousal support of August 15, 2015 is absolute and is not modifiable under any circumstances. Spousal support and/or family support may not be request [sic] for any period after August 15, 2015, nor will any court have jurisdiction to order spousal support and/or family support to be paid for any period after August 15, 2015, regardless of any circumstances that may arise and regardless of whether any motion to modify family support and/or spousal support is filed before, on or after August 15, 2015. Accordingly, in no event, and under no circumstances shall Husband be obligated to pay *491 spousal support and/or family support on or after August 15, 2015....

Also relevant is section 6.20, which provides that, except as otherwise specified in the agreement, "th[e] agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California."

The parties and their children eventually all found their way to Florida, where, in November 2002, the former husband filed a "Petition to Domesticate California Decree and Modify Same." In that petition, the former husband alleged that all of the parties resided in Okaloosa County; that, by virtue of the settlement agreement which had been made a part of the California judgment, he was "obligated to pay `family support' to the Former Wife in the current amount of $45,000.00 per year"; that such "`family support' [wa]s clearly support for the Former Wife and children of the parties"; that, "[u]nder the terms of the Marital Settlement Agreement, the parties contemplated the amount of `family support' would be modifiable upon the remarriage of the Former Wife"; that, because the former wife had remarried, "the Former Husband should have no further continuing obligation to pay any form of spousal support whatsoever to the Former Wife"; and that, while he acknowledged his continuing obligation to pay child support, the amount should be established by reference to Florida's child support guidelines.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
885 So. 2d 488, 2004 WL 2482436, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wagner-v-wagner-fladistctapp-2004.