WILLIAM VEIGA, III, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
COBB, Judge.
The trial court utilized criminal contempt authority to punish the petitioner/husband in a dissolution action for failure to comply with a court order to pay $25,000.00 to the respondent/wife “as lump sum alimony for purposes of equitable division of the interest in his business.” Property division awards may not be enforced by contempt; the only remedies are those available to creditors against debtors. Underwood v. Underwood, 64 So. 2d 281 (Fla.1953); Hine v. Hine, 558 So. 2d 496 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990); Carlin v. Carlin, 310 So. 2d 403 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975); Howell v. Howell, 207 So. 2d 507 (Fla. 2d DCA 1968); 25 Fla. Jur.2d Family Law § 383 (1981). Only provisions for payment of support, spousal or child, are enforceable by contempt proceedings. See Howell at 512; cf. Gibson v. Bennett, 561 So. 2d 565 (Fla.1990). The order in the instant case clearly deals with the division of property and not with any support obligation. Therefore, the trial court lacked jurisdiction to enforce its order through contempt proceedings. See Art. I, § 11, Fla. Const. REVERSED.
DAUKSCH and PETERSON, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Braswell v. Braswell, 881 So. 2d 1193 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004)…ch, 643 So. 2d 115 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994); Filan v. Filan, 549 So. 2d 1105 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989). The remedies available to enforce an equitable distribution or property division award are those available to creditors against debtors. See Veiga v. State, 561 So. 2d 1335, 1336 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990). In addition, marital settlement agreements should be construed and interpreted as other contracts. See Bacardi v. Bacardi 386 So. 2d 1201, 1203 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980). Contract construction is a question of law if the languag…
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Pipitone v. Pipitone, 23 So. 3d 131 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009)…510-12 (Fla. 2d DCA 1968); see also Masterman v. Masterman, 835 So. 2d 1261, 1261 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003); Bongiorno, 920 So. 2d at 1210 (holding contempt may not be used to enforce lump sum alimony award effecting property distribution); Veiga v. State, 561 So. 2d 1335, 1336 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990) (holding property division awards not enforceable by contempt, but only remedies are those available to creditors against debtors) (citing Underwood v. Underwood, 64 So. 2d 281 (Fla.1953); Howell, 207 So. 2d 507); Rosenberg…
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Seng v. Seng, 590 So. 2d 1120 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991)…. Florida courts retain jurisdiction in dissolution cases to enforce dissolution judgments whether or not there is a specific reservation of such power. See Diette v. Diette, 471 So. 2d 1372 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985). Appellee argues that Veiga v. State, 561 So. 2d 1335 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990) prohibits the dissolution court from enforcing a property award, which was part of a dissolution decree. We disagree. Veiga held that contempt proceedings were inappropriate to enforce an award of property to a spouse by way of e…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Underwood v. Underwood, 64 So. 2d 281 (Fla. 1953)
- Gibson v. Bennett, 561 So. 2d 565 (Fla. 1990)
- Howell v. Howell, 207 So. 2d 507 (Fla. 2d DCA 1968)
- Carlin v. Stan Carlin, 310 So. 2d 403 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975)
- Shelton v. State, 558 So. 2d 496 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990)