GAIL DARLENE LEDFORD, F/K/A LEIRER, APPELLANT,
v.
DANIEL GENE LEIRER, APPELLEE
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In a child support enforcement case, the trial court found the former husband in contempt for failing to pay child support arrearages totaling $7,900.90 but only entered judgment for $5,000 with a $100/month purge provision. The appellate court affirmed the contempt finding and attorney's fee award but remanded to require judgment for the full arrearages plus interest, as unpaid child support installments constitute vested property rights that cannot be reduced absent compelling circumstances.
The court affirmed the finding of contempt and the award of attorney's fees but held that unpaid installments of child support constitute vested property rights which cannot be reduced absent compelling circumstances. The court remanded with directions to enter judgment for the entire amount of arrearages plus interest thereon.
[1] A court may decline to hold a party in contempt for the full amount of child support arrearages.
[2] Unpaid child support installments constitute vested property rights that a court cannot reduce in the absence of compelling circumstances.
Previewing 2 of 4 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“the unpaid installments of child support constituted vested property rights which the court had no power to reduce”
Establishes that courts cannot reduce or forgive child support arrearages without compelling circumstances
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe former wife sought to hold the former husband in contempt for failure to make child support payments required by a Final Decree of Dissolution ent…
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GRIMES, Acting Chief Judge.
Appellant (wife) sought to hold appellee (husband) in contempt for failure to make child support payments required by the final judgment of dissolution. At the hearing-it was determined that the husband was in arrears by the sum of $7,900.90. The court entered judgment which provided in its entirety as follows:
ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that
1. Former Husband, DANIEL GENE LEIRER, is in Contempt of Court for his failure to pay periodic permanent child support as provided for in the Final Decree entered February 11, 1969 in the captioned cause in the amount of $4,000.00, along with payment toward Former Wife’s reasonable attorney fee in the amount of $1,000.00, for a total of $5,000.00 which shall not accrue interest and for which Judgment is entered.
2. Former Husband may purge himself of contempt by paying on account of said judgment the sum of $100.00 per month payable on the first day of each calendar month hereafter until said judgment is paid in full.
3. This court retains jurisdiction of this cause and the parties hereto enter such other and further Orders as may be necessary to enforce compliance with this judgment.
The court was within its discretion in declining to hold the husband in contempt for failure to pay the total arrear-age. Smithwick v. Smithwick, 343 So. 2d 945 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977). However, in the absence of compelling circumstances, which were not present in the instant case, the unpaid installments of child support constituted vested property rights which the court had no power to reduce. Teta v. Teta, 297 So. 2d 642 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974); Petrucci v. Petrucci, 252 So. 2d 867 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971). Moreover, the wife was entitled to interest on the unpaid arrearages. Melvin v. Melvin, 391 So. 2d 691 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980), petition for review denied, 399 So. 2d 1144 (Fla.1981).
We approve of the judgment as it relates to matters of contempt and the award of attorney’s fees. However, we remand with directions to supplement the provisions thereof by entering judgment in favor of the wife for the entire amount of the ar-rearages plus interest thereon.
SCHOONOVER and HALL, JJ., concur.
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Romans v. Romans, 611 So. 2d 92 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)…child support arrearages. Melvin v. Melvin, 391 So. 2d 691 (1st DCA1980), pet. for rev. den., 399 So. 2d 1144 (Fla. 1981); Holt v. Holt, 596 So. 2d 106 (Fla. 1st DCA1992); Applegate v. Applegate, 566 So. 2d 865 (Fla. 1st DCA1990); Ledford v. Leirer, 486 So. 2d 42 (Fla. 2d DCA1986). We affirm the orders in all other respects. Absent any evidence on which the trial court could base a finding that the amounts spent by Appellant and Appellee were for “reasonable and necessary major repairs” pursuant to their o…
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State v. Behnke-Coolidge, 598 So. 2d 293 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992)…tatutes (1989), thus allowing Coolidge to recover the unpaid debt by reducing her monthly payments from $210.88 to $50. If so, that approach ignores that the child support not paid by Behnke is a vested property right in Coolidge, Ledford v. Leirer, 486 So. 2d 42 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986); Guarino v. Guarino, 431 So. 2d 189 (Fla. 2d DCA), pet. for rev. dismissed, 441 So. 2d 632 (Fla.1983), and that she is entitled to interest on the accrued debt. Melvin v. Melvin, 391 So. 2d 691 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980), rev. denied, 39…
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Fla. Dep't OF Revenue v. Barranco, 673 So. 2d 923 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996)…e was not entitled to prejudgment interest on the $8,207 judgment for arrearage. Prejudgment interest accrues from the date of the last support payment to the date of the arrearage judgment only where there has been a default. See Ledford v. Leirer, 486 So. 2d 42 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986); Melvin v. Melvin, 391 So. 2d 691 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980). The father had been making timely support payments since the last judgment for arrearage in 1991, which was $14,-065. The trial court improperly denied attorney’s fees by eva…
Authorities Cited
- Smithwick v. Smithwick, 343 So. 2d 945 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977)
- McCONNELL v. Brumos Porsche Audi Corp., 297 So. 2d 642 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974)
- Dina Teta v. Teta, 297 So. 2d 642 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974)
- Melvin v. Melvin, 391 So. 2d 691 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980)
- Ross v. State, 252 So. 2d 867 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971)
- Emilie S. Petrucci v. Petrucci, 252 So. 2d 867 (Fla. 3d DCA 1971)