JOANN S. CARR, N/K/A JOANN S. BURNS, APPELLANT,
v.
WILLIAM H. CARR, JR., APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1986-06-13
No. BI-475
BOOTH, C.J., and ERVIN and WENT-WORTH, JJ., concur.
489 So. 2d 889 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1986) Caution
Cited by 6 cases

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Synopsis

In a divorce modification case, the Florida appellate court reversed the trial court's transfer of venue from Leon County to Gulf County, holding that the special venue statute for support modifications (§ 61.14) rather than the general venue statute (§ 47.011) controlled, and that Leon County was a proper venue as the former wife's residence.


Holding

The court held that § 61.14, the special venue statute for modification of support agreements, controls the venue analysis rather than § 47.011. Under § 61.14, venue is proper where either party resides, making Leon County (the former wife's residence and filing location) a proper venue.


Headnotes

[1] Venue for an action to establish a foreign divorce decree and modify child support provisions is governed by the special venue statute for modification of support, not th…

[2] The special venue statute for modification of support allows for venue in the county where either party resides.

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Key Quotes

“the petition to modify the foreign judgment at bar is quite different from the petition at issue in Carr I, and thus, section 61.14, not section 47.-011 controls the issue on appeal”

Establishes the court's key holding that the special support modification statute rather than the general venue statute controls

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Facts & Procedural History

Joann S. Carr filed a petition in Leon County (her residence) to establish a Georgia divorce decree as a Florida judgment and to modify child support …

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant, the former wife, appeals from a non-final order granting appellee’s (former husband’s) motion to abate venue. We reverse.

Appellant filed a petition in Leon County, Florida, her place of residence, to establish a Georgia divorce decree as a Florida judg ment, and to modify or increase the amount of child support, alleging a change in circumstances since the original foreign decree and stipulation were entered into in 1975. Finding that the husband was a resident of Gulf County, Florida, and relying upon Section 47.011, Florida Statutes, and an earlier opinion of this court involving the same parties in Carr v. Carr, 464 So. 2d 221 (Fla. 1st D.C.A.1985) (Carr I), the trial court concluded that venue should be transferred from Leon to Gulf County. The lower court erroneously relied upon the wrong venue statute.

In Carr I, the husband brought an action to establish the foreign divorce decree and to modify certain provisions in that decree relating to child visitation. This court there observed that the general venue statute, Section 47.011, Florida Statutes, applies to an action to establish a foreign divorce judgment, and the special venue provision, Section 61.14, Florida Statutes, to a modification of a support agreement. Id., at 222. Upon determining that no modification of support was at issue in Carr I, this court held that section 47.011 applied, and that proper venue lay in the county of defendant’s (appellant herein) residence in Leon County. We conclude that the lower court’s reliance upon our earlier Carr opinion as justification for its decision to transfer venue to Gulf County was erroneous, in that the petition to modify the foreign judgment at bar is quite different from the petition at issue in Carr I, and thus, section 61.14,

not section 47.-011 controls the issue on appeal.

Stewart v. Carr, 218 So. 2d 525 (Fla. 2d DCA 1969), provides additional support for the conclusion reached. Stewart held that the special venue provision, section 61.14, applies to an action to establish a foreign decree and to modify that decree as it relates to support. We adopt the holding in Stewart and apply section 61.14 to the facts at bar.2 Under section 61.14, as it pertains to modification of child support obligations, venue is proper where either of the two parties resides. Applying section 61.14 to the case at bar, we hold that venue is proper in Leon County, appellant’s place of residence and filing.

REVERSED.

BOOTH, C.J., and ERVIN and WENT-WORTH, JJ., concur. . Section 61.14 states:

61.14 Modification of support, maintenance, or alimony agreements or judgments.—

(1) When the parties have entered into, or hereafter enter into, an agreement for payments for, or instead of, support, maintenance, or alimony, whether in connection with a proceeding for dissolution or separate maintenance or with any voluntary property settlement, or when a party is required by court order to make any payments, and the circumstances or the financial ability of either party has changed or the child or children who are beneficiaries of an agreement or court order as described herein have reached the age of 18 years since the execution of such agreement or the rendition of the order, either party may apply to the circuit court of the circuit in which the parties, or either of them, resided at the date of the execution of the agreement or reside at the date of the application, or in which the agreement was executed or in which the order was rendered, for a judgment decreasing or increasing the amount of support, maintenance, or alimony, and the court has jurisdiction to make orders as equity requires, with due regard to the changed circumstances or the financial ability of the parties or the child or children, decreasing, increasing, or confirming the amount of separate support, maintenance, or alimony provided for in the agreement or order. (e.s.)

. We note that a party may modify a divorce decree pursuant to § 61.14, as it relates to support obligations, notwithstanding its foreign origin. Muss v. Muss, 390 So. 2d 415 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980).


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Torres v. Wilfredo Torres, 516 So. 2d 11 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987)
    …te support, maintenance, or alimony provided for in the agreement or order. The courts have held that under this special venue provision, venue in a proceeding to modify child support is proper where either of the two parties resides. Carr v. Carr, 489 So. 2d 889 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); Sikes v. Sikes, 286 So. 2d 210 (Fla. 1st DCA 1973); Stewart v. Carr, 218 So. 2d 525 (Fla. 2d DCA 1969). In the present case, the wife was residing in Orange County at the time she filed her petition and thus venue was proper in…
  • Bryant v. Bryant, 566 So. 2d 65 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990)
    …ication action); Torres v. Torres, 516 So. 2d 11 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987) (former wife’s modification action in which she sought an increase in child support improperly transferred from Orange County, where she resided, to Sarasota County); Carr v. Carr, 489 So. 2d 889 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986) (former wife’s modification action in which she sought an increase in child support improperly transferred to Gulf County where former husband resided). Finally, as the court in Bailey v. Malone, 389 So. 2d 348, 350 (Fla. 1st DC…
  • Robbins v. Robbins, 526 So. 2d 1053 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988)
    …n action, was entitled to bring the action in the county of her residence, notwithstanding that venue was also proper in the county where the order sought to be modified was entered, Torres v. Torres, 516 So. 2d 11 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987); Carr v. Carr, 489 So. 2d 889 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); Sikes v. Sikes, 286 So. 2d 210 (Fla. 1st DCA 1973); Stewart v. Carr, 218 So. 2d 525 (Fla. 2d DCA 1969); and (2) apart from the showing that the dissolution was entered in Broward County, where the appellee-hus-band resides — fac…

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