Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Alimony

What type of discovery is relevant in a proceeding concerning contempt of an alimony obligation? Generally documents showing the financial standing of the party ordered to pay support are relevant to the issue of whether or not the payor had the ability to pay support during the period of non-payment. Relevance of discovery was an issue in the case Schultz v. Schultz, 3D21-1231 (Fla. 3d DCA July 21, 2021).

In their final judgment of divorce, the former husband was ordered to pay alimony to the former wife until the former wife’s death, remarriage or cohabitation. The former husband stopped making payments and the former wife filed a motion for contempt. The former husband responded by arguing that his obligation ceased due to the former wife’s cohabitation. The former wife requested, as part of discovery, the former husband’s financial records and records of any surveillance and investigatory records related to the former husband’s claim that the former wife was cohabitating. The former husband objected to these requests as irrelevant and work product, but the trial court overruled his objections and ordered him to produce his financial records, as well as any surveillance records he intended to use at trial. The former husband appealed.

The appellate court noted that while the former husband’s claim that his financial records were irrelevant to the former wife’s motion for contempt was “alluring”, the records were still relevant to the issue of his ability to pay alimony. The former husband stipulated, for the first time, during the appeal that he had the ability to pay the alimony, but the appellate court noted this stipulation was nowhere in the record of the trial court, therefore the trial court did not err in forcing him to produce the records. As to the surveillance records, the appellate court rejected the former husband’s claim of work product, holding “The former wife is obviously entitled to the documents that the former husband intends to use at the hearing, and the trial court did not depart from the essential requirements of law by requiring the former husband to produce such documents.”

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