JANICE DAHLHOFER, APPELLANT,
v.
GARY DAHLHOFER, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1986-10-08
No. 85-157
ANSTEAD and GLICKSTEIN, JJ., and WARNER, MARTHA C., Associate Judge, concur.
495 So. 2d 858 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1986) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

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Holding

The court held that the final judgment should be clarified to avoid unintended consequences regarding the wife's exclusive possession of the marital home and the husband's financial obligations.


Headnotes

[1] Exclusive possession of the marital home may be granted to a wife and mother for the shelter of herself and children until the younger child is no longer a parental oblig…

[2] A trial court should consider terminating a wife's exclusive possession of the marital home if another man adversely affects the children's welfare, takes advantage of th…

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Facts & Procedural History

The parties were divorcing, and the final judgment granted the wife exclusive possession of the marital home for the benefit of the children. The judg…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

While we basically affirm the final judgment of the now retired trial judge, we are compelled to clarify some aspects of same, which either are the result of ministerial error or which require action on this court’s part to eliminate as much uncertainty as we can.

The marital home is to be within the exclusive possession of the wife and mother to provide shelter for her and for the children until the younger child, not the older child, is no longer an obligation of the parents. Should a man, other than the husband and father, enter into joint possession of the home under such circumstances as (a) to affect adversely the welfare of the children or (b) to substantially and materially take advantage of the benefits of the husband and father’s payments, without contribution which said individual is capable of making or (c) to substantially and materially contribute to the support of the wife, the trial court should consider termination of exclusive possession upon appropriate motion.

In our view, the way that the final judgment is written, should an infirm father or other male relative of the wife and mother — incapable of contributing to the home — move therein, the children and the wife would forfeit their present shelter automatically. Moreover, thereafter the wife would be responsible for mortgage payments. Both would be inappropriate results of the final judgment.

Further, it is clear to us that upon the termination of the wife’s possession or the sale of the marital home, the husband is entitled to no credit for any payments made upon the encumbrances or other debts related to the property. The husband is the sole and exclusive obligor — as between himself and the wife — upon the obligations requiring monthly payments of $302.00 and $218.00 described in paragraph 11 of the final judgment. It is only the $672.00 payment upon which the wife could have any future obligation. That obligation will begin — as between herself and the husband — only if and when her exclusive possession terminates; and will, in no respect, be retroactive therefrom.

While we could not locate any case directly on point, we call to the attention of bench and bar those which we have located, dealing with problems of the moving in of an adult male. See Sency v. Sency, 478 So. 2d 432 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985) (unrelated male). Schneider v. Schneider, 467 So. 2d 465 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985) (boyfriend; alimony); Lambert v. Lambert, 403 So. 2d 484 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981) (remarriage of wife); and Markham v. Markham, 485 So. 2d 1299 (Fla. 5th DCA 1986) (remarriage of wife; alimony v. child support); Kenyon v. Kenyon, 496 So. 2d 839 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986) (sufficiency of evidence to establish permanency of relationship between wife and nonre-lated adult male).

ANSTEAD and GLICKSTEIN, JJ., and WARNER, MARTHA C., Associate Judge, concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Aycock v. Aycock, 498 So. 2d 999 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986)
    …and materially take advantage of the benefits of the husband and father’s payments, without contribution which said individual is capable of making or (3) to substantially and materially contribute to the support of the wife. Dahlhofer v. Dahlhofer, 495 So. 2d 858 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986); (b) the children — by the amendment we direct — shall be the beneficiaries of the husband’s $100,000 life insurance policy and (c) the husband shall make all payments on any encumbrance upon the marital home, as well as taxes an…
  • Mummaw v. Mummaw, 532 So. 2d 737 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988)
    …tage of the benefits of the husband and father’s payments, without contribution which said individual is capable of making or (3) to substantially and materially contribute to the support of the wife. Id. at 1000. See also Dahlhofer v. Dahlhofer, 495 So. 2d 858 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986). . See Martin v. Martin, 507 So. 2d 1136 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1987); Miller v. Miller, 423 So. 2d 638 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982); Danoff v. Danoff, 501 So. 2d 1361 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987); Nichols v. Nichols, 491 So. 2d 617 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986);…

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