Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Florida Divorce

In a Florida divorce case, equitable distribution is usually something that needs to be decided, no matter how long the parties were married. Equitable distribution concerns the division of assets and debts that were acquired from the date of marriage until the date of filing for divorce. It also concerns assets and debts owned or owed separately by each spouse. This was one of the issues in the case Lifaite v. Charles, 4D21-1038 (Fla. 4th DCA February 9, 2022).

Equitable distribution and child support were at dispute in the parties’ divorce case. The trial court awarded an equal split of existing bank account funds, monies paid by the former husband for his child support obligation for a child not born of the parties’ marriage, and rental income proceeds. The trial court also calculated child support without including daycare payments made by the former wife and declined to award retroactive child support to the former wife. She appealed.

As to equitable distribution, the appellate court found it was error for the trial court to equally divide the bank account funds and the child support monies where the former husband had sole control over these assets. However, the appellate court upheld the trial court’s division of the rental income proceeds on the basis that the trial court properly found that “[N]either party made any effort to ensure the LLC [which held the rental properties] maintained accurate financial/accounting records. … [T]he Court is unable to determine what if any of the LLC investment properties produced any net profits. ... [T]he parties[’] questionable business practices were not only known to both parties but were also readily accepted by both parties.”

Moving on to child support the appellate court found there were errors in the incomes used for each party for calculating support. Additionally, the court found it was error for the trial court to fail to include the former wife’s daycare payments in the guidelines. The court held “In sum, because the circuit court used incorrect income amounts for both parties, and failed to include childcare costs in its child support calculation, we reverse the final judgment’s prospective child support determination and remand for the circuit court to recalculate prospective child support using the correct figures.”

The appellate court also reversed the trial court’s denial of retroactive support to the former wife. The court held “Section 61.30(17), Florida Statutes (2020), provides: ‘In an initial determination of child support … the court has discretion to award child support retroactive to the date when the parents did not reside together in the same household with the child, not to exceed a period of 24 months preceding the filing of the petition.’ § 61.30(17), Fla. Stat. (2020). However, ‘[a] trial court abuses its discretion when it denies retroactive child support where there is a demonstrated need for the child support and the parent has the ability to pay the retroactive support.’ Fla. Dep’t of Revenue o/b/o Simpson v. Carreira, 313 So. 3d 175, 177 (Fla. 1st DCA 2021) (citation omitted). Here, the former wife demonstrated a need for the retroactive child support and the former husband has the ability to pay the retroactive support. Thus, we remand for the circuit court to calculate and award retroactive child support through the final judgment’s date.”

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