ALFRED SPENCER, APPELLANT,
v.
CARLENE SPENCER, APPELLEE
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In this divorce case, the Florida First District Court of Appeal reversed an award of rehabilitative alimony to the former wife, finding that after a four-year marriage, the wife failed to demonstrate she lacked capacity for self-support and that the trial court provided no justification for the alimony amount or schedule.
The court reversed the rehabilitative alimony award, finding that the wife failed to demonstrate she lacked capacity for self-support as a result of the marriage, and that the trial court provided no justification for the amount or payment schedule of the alimony award.
[1] Rehabilitative alimony is inappropriate when the requesting spouse has not demonstrated a need for it to establish capacity for self-support through skill redevelopment o…
[2] A short marriage does not, in itself, preclude an award of rehabilitative alimony.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The wife has failed to demonstrate that after this four year marriage an award of rehabilitative alimony is appropriate to establish her capacity for self support, either through the redevelopment of previous skills or provision of the training necessary to develop potential supportive skills.”
Establishes the legal standard for rehabilitative alimony and the wife's failure to meet it in this case.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAlfred and Carlene Spencer were married for approximately four years. At marriage, Mrs. Spencer was unemployed and relied on public assistance. By fin…
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KAHN, Judge.
In this domestic case, we reverse the award of rehabilitative alimony to the former wife.1 Alfred and Carlene Spencer had lived together as husband and wife for approximately four years when they invoked the jurisdiction of the circuit court to dissolve their marriage. At the time of the marriage, Mrs. Spencer was without a job and relied, at least partially, upon public assistance. By the time of the final hearing, Mrs. Spencer, then 45 years old, worked for the Duval County School Board earning approximately $18,800.00 a year. Mr. Spencer earns approximately $40,-000.00 a year with the United States Postal Service. The final judgment requires Mr. Spencer to pay his former wife $400.00 a month for 48 months as “temporary rehabilitative alimony.”
The wife has failed to demonstrate that after this four year marriage an award of rehabilitative alimony is appropriate to establish her capacity for self support, either through the redevelopment of previous skills or provision of the training necessary to develop potential supportive skills. Lee v. Lee, 540 So. 2d 1083 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989). While a short marriage alone does not preclude an award of rehabilitative alimony, the record in the present case provides no support for the notion that the wife is without the means of self support, as a result of anything that has transpired during the marriage. Also, the record lends no support for the amounts or payment schedule adopted by the trial court. Mrs. Spencer has gone from earning nothing to annual earnings of almost $19,000.00. She has also received an award of the former marital home. Under these circumstances we can find no justification for an award of rehabilitative alimony that would exceed $19,000.00, if paid in full by the former husband.
We reverse the award of rehabilitative alimony and affirm the final judgment in all other respects.
ERVIN and WEBSTER, JJ., concur. . Appellant’s other point on appeal, concerning whether the trial court erred in failing to find that the wife had committed marital infidelity, and further erred in finding that "as to the allegation of the wife threatening the husband with a handgun, this allegation was vehemently denied by the wife,” has no merit.
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Kremer v. Kremer, 595 So. 2d 214 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992)…the marriage without permanent alimony. In fact, the very size of the award, $3,000 per month, reinforces our conclusion that an inappropriate standard was utilized by the trial court. As did the First District Court of Appeal in Spencer v. Spencer, 590 So. 2d 553 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991), concerning an award of rehabilitative alimony which was reversed, we conclude in this case concerning permanent periodic alimony that [wjhile a short marriage alone does not preclude an award of ... alimony, the record in the p…
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Levy v. Levy, 900 So. 2d 737 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005)…ne the problem further, the question is whether the spouse requesting permanent alimony is “without the means of self[-]support, as a result of anything that has transpired during the marriage.” Kremer, 595 So. 2d at 216 (quoting Spencer v. Spencer, 590 So. 2d 553, 554 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991)); see also Reeves v. Reeves, 821 So. 2d 333, 334-35 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002); Wright v. Wright, 613 So. 2d 1330, 1333 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992). The short-term marriage cases in which awards of permanent alimony have been deemed appro…
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Kunzweiler v. Kunzweiler, 698 So. 2d 1251 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997)…on resulted from anything that transpired during the eight month marriage; to the contrary, the evidence indicates the former wife’s disability due to her manic depression existed well before the parties’ short term marriage. See Spencer v. Spencer, 590 So. 2d 553, 554 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991) (award for rehabilitative alimony inappropriate in marriage of four years where spouse seeking support did not lose his or her ability to be self-supporting as a result of anything that transpired during the marriage). We a…
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