DEORTHA A. MOORE, APPELLANT,
v.
RONALD E. MOORE, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1981-07-01
No. 80-1328
DAUKSCH, C. J., and COBB, J., concur.
401 So. 2d 841 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1981) Positive Treatment
Cited by 26 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

In a marital dissolution case, the wife appeals the trial court's award of $1.00 per year nominal alimony and denial of a special equity claim in jointly-titled Oklahoma real property. The court affirms both rulings, interpreting the nominal alimony as a reservation of jurisdiction for future alimony awards and holding that the special equity doctrine does not apply to gifts from third parties.


Holding

The court affirmed both rulings. The nominal alimony award, though not sustainable on its face because the husband showed no present need for support, should be interpreted as a valid reservation of jurisdiction to award periodic alimony in the future based on the long-term marriage and the husband's uncertain future earning capacity. The special equity doctrine does not extend to gifts from third parties to both spouses; the normal rule of deed construction applies, creating a presumption that a joint deed reflects an intent to gift to both grantees, which the father's post-hoc regrets did not overcome.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court may reserve jurisdiction to award future alimony when a spouse may require support in the foreseeable future due to deteriorating health and lack of assets,…

[2] A nominal alimony award of $1.00 per year may be interpreted as a reservation of jurisdiction by the trial court to award future alimony.

Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“An award of periodic alimony should be based on the trial court's finding that the paying spouse has the ability to pay a certain sum to the other and that the other has a need for the support funds.”

Establishes the legal standard for alimony awards requiring both ability to pay and need for support

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

The parties married young and were married 31 years. The husband worked as an electrician while the wife raised children and later became a community …

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
SHARP, Judge.

SHARP, Judge.

The wife argues that the trial court erred in its final dissolution judgment by failing to award her a special equity in some Oklahoma real estate and by awarding her husband nominal alimony of $1.00 per year. We affirm the judgment.

Nominal Alimony

The parties had been friends from childhood. They married young and had two children. At the time of the dissolution they had been married thirty-one (31) years and the children were adults. The husband worked hard and long hours as an electrician. The wife raised the children and ran the household. The husband accumulated some modest sums he intended to invest in property or in a business, but instead the parties spent their extra funds to send the wife through junior college, and to Stetson University where she earned her masters degree. They also sent both daughters through college. The parties had not accumulated any substantial assets or property.

At the time of the dissolution, the wife had been working as an instructor at a community college in the humanities de partment for nine (9) years. She was fifty (50) years old and in good health, and was building an adequate retirement investment under the State system. She earned a salary of approximately $15,000 per year. The husband was fifty-three (53) years old. He testified he was presently working as an electrician earning $14.00 per hour but he had been injured in his work and was in constant pain. Due to his “deteriorating” health, he was not certain how much longer he could continue working as an electrician. He had a minimal retirement with his current employer and his future was very insecure. The husband strongly opposed the dissolution. The wife did not fault the husband for the marital break-up. Their different values and diverging life-styles had gradually made them incompatible.

An award of periodic alimony should be based on the trial court’s finding that the paying spouse has the ability to pay a certain sum to the other and that the other has a need for the support funds.1 In this case, the record shows the wife is able to contribute support to the husband, since she has a good job, good health, and no other major financial commitments. However, the record fails to show the husband has any present need for support. He is working, and earning more than the wife. The record does show that in the near or foreseeable future, he may need support from her because he may not be able to work any longer at his sole trade — that of electrician, and he has no retirement and no other assets to sustain him.

Because the parties had such a long-term marriage, and the husband expended his earnings putting his family through college, foregoing building up future security for himself, we cannot say the trial court erred in concluding it should retain jurisdiction in this case to award the husband periodic alimony in the future.2

We find no Florida cases directly in point, but in view of Canakaris v. Canakaris, 382 So. 2d 1197 (Fla.1980), and section 61.08, Florida Statutes (1979), and under the facts and circumstances present in this case, we see no reason why the trial court should not be empowered to reserve jurisdiction indefinitely over the parties to make an alimony award to the husband. The award of $1.00 per year alimony to the husband was an obvious device to achieve this result. It is not sustainable literally because the husband failed to prove any present need 3 for alimony. However we shall interpret the judgment as a reservation of jurisdiction over the issue.4 In the future we urge that the trial courts expressly state their reservation of jurisdiction in these cases without resort to “nominal” alimony awards.

Special Equity

The wife’s parents had a large farm in Oklahoma. When the wife’s father, Mr. Hurst, suffered a serious illness in 1974, he and Mrs. Hurst executed various deeds to nine (9) parcels of the farm to their seven (7) children. The deed to appellant was made out jointly with appellee, as was a deed to another daughter and son-in-law. Mr. Hurst testified he told the lawyer how to make out the deeds and had he known of his daughter’s future dissolution, he would have put the property in her sole name.5 The special equity rule set forth in Ball v. Ball, 335 So. 2d 5 (Fla.1976) deals with married persons who transfer property to their spouses which they purchased with separately owned property or previously owned separately from the marital relationship. It does not address the situation in this case where the gift is made to the spouses by a third person. Because of the difficulties in dissolution eases with the application of Ball,

we do not choose to extend it beyond its present scope.

Therefore, the normal rule concerning construction of deeds should apply here: the deed’s form creates a presumption that a gift to both was intended.7 To overcome this presumption, the person challenging the effect of the deed must come forward with evidence or testimony that there was no gift to the grantee.8 Here the testimony of Mr. Hurst failed to rise to this level. He now regrets putting the deed in joint names, but he was unable to testify he did not intend a conveyance to both when he executed the deed. His intent at that time, not six years later, is the critical factor. AFFIRMED.

DAUKSCH, C. J., and COBB, J., concur. . Canakaris v. Canakaris, 382 So. 2d 1197 (Fla. 1980); Kirchman v. Kirchman, 389 So. 2d 327 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980); Cann v. Cann, 334 So. 2d 325 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976); Lee v. Lee, 309 So. 2d 26 (Fla.2d DCA 1975); cf. Ferguson v. Ferguson, 243 So. 2d 439 (Fla.3d DCA), cert. denied, 247 So. 2d 325 (Fla.1971) (Wife was awarded $1.00 per year alimony where she was in need of financial assistance but husband was not financially able to pay adequate amount for alimony).

. Shaw v. Shaw, 334 So. 2d 13 (Fla.1976); Chayka v. Chayka, 361 So. 2d 430 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978), cert. denied, 367 So. 2d 1122 (Fla.1979).

. George v. George, 360 So. 2d 1107 (Fla.3d DCA 1978).

. Munger v. Munger, 249 So. 2d 772 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971).

. The deed to the parties was never delivered to them; they paid no taxes on the real estate and the acreage continued to be used as part of the family farm. Mr. and Mrs. Hurst continued to live on the farm, and believed they had a right to do so for Mr. Hurst’s lifetime. In another proceeding to which the Hursts are parties, these facts may call into question the effectiveness of the gift to the parties. In this case we do not reach that question.

. Wright v. Wright, 388 So. 2d 1319 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980); Marsh v. Marsh, 399 So. 2d 433 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981) (Cowart, J., dissenting).

. Atkins v. Atkins, 326 So. 2d 259 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976).

. Lieber v. Lieber, 40 So. 2d 111 (Fla.1949); Lindquist v. Lindquist, 351 So. 2d 391 (Fla.2d DCA 1977); Maryea v. Maryea, 320 So. 2d 882 (Fla.2d DCA 1975).


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (13 total)

  • Kennedy v. Kennedy, 622 So. 2d 1033 (Fla. 5th DCA 1993)
    …eniority, or vested retirement, while the husband is a banker with many years experience and clearly earns considerably more than the wife. This failure compounds both the injustice of, and the error in, the plurality’s decision. See Moore v. Moore, 401 So. 2d 841 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981) (proper for trial court to retain jurisdiction to award alimony to husband in future). See also Walter, 464 So. 2d at 540; Canakaris, 382 So. 2d at 1201; Strahan v. Strahan, 605 So. 2d 1316 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992); Mullins v. Mullins…
  • Blanchard v. Maran L. Blanchard, 793 So. 2d 989 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001)
    …s needs, however, required an award of a nominal amount of permanent alimony to permit the wife to pursue a future increase should the husband’s full earning potential materialize. See Wing v. Wing, 429 So. 2d 782 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983); Moore v. Moore, 401 So. 2d 841 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981). See also Stock v. Stock, 693 So. 2d 1080 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997). Under these circumstances, the trial court abused its discretion in failing to award the wife a nominal amount of permanent periodic alimony, thus reserving jurisdicti…
  • McCLAY v. McCLAY, 447 So. 2d 1026 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984)
    …hould have made some small award of permanent alimony to preserve her future right to such assistance, see Munger v. Munger, 249 So. 2d 772, 773 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971), or at least have reserved jurisdiction to do so at a later day, see Moore v. Moore, 401 So. 2d 841 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981). Furthermore, in view of the disparity between the incomes of the parties the husband should have been required to pay appellant’s reasonable counsel fees. Finally, we reverse the prohibition on adult males living in the marita…

Previewing 3 of 13 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited (18 total)

View all 18 cited authorities →

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw