ROBERT MILLER, APPELLANT,
v.
SUSAN MILLER, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1995-11-03
No. 94-2788
PETERSON, C.J., and HARRIS, J., concur.
662 So. 2d 391 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1995) Caution
Cited by 6 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The court held that while the valuation of marital assets and alimony were not an abuse of discretion, the total financial obligations imposed on the husband endangered his financial status.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court does not abuse its discretion by declining to apply a marketability discount to the valuation of a closely held business when evidence demonstrates the busi…

[2] The imposition of interest on payments to be made in an equitable distribution is a discretionary matter for the trial court.

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

Facts & Procedural History

During a divorce, the parties' business was valued, and marital assets were distributed. The husband was ordered to pay alimony, child support, and hi…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
W. SHARP, Judge.

W. SHARP, Judge.

Robert Miller appeals from a final judgment dissolving his seventeen-year marriage to Susan Miller. On appeal, Robert challenges the trial court’s evaluation and distribution of marital assets and the propriety of awarding permanent alimony to Susan. We find no abuse of discretion in these matters.1 However, we agree with Robert that the total of the court-ordered obligations imposed on him endangers his financial status. Accordingly, we reverse and remand to the trial court for reconsideration of this issue.

The parties were married in 1977 and have one daughter, who is now sixteen years old. Robert is a pharmacist and Susan is a homemaker and part-time algebra tutor. During the marriage, Robert formed a company, Healthcare Consultants, Inc., which provides pharmacists for various businesses on a temporary basis. Healthcare has steadily grown over the years and its gross sales were over 2 million dollars in 1993.

Both parties retained experts to value Healthcare. Robert’s expert valued the company at $414,410, but applied a “marketability discount.” That is, the expert discounted the value of the business because its stock is privately held and there is no ready market for it. Susan’s expert valued the company at $391,000 but did not apply a marketability discount. Her expert testified that a marketability discount was not justified because Healthcare was very marketable — it was producing a very high rate of return and high income and could be readily sold.

The trial court valued Healthcare at $414,-410 but did not apply the marketability discount. The court deducted capital gains tax from Susan’s one-half interest in the business which resulted in an equitable distribution to her of $149,188. The court accepted Robert’s evaluation of the marital home of $156,-000 and awarded it to Susan. In order to equalize the assets, Robert was required to pay Susan an additional $6,612, for a combined total of $155,800. The court required Robert to pay Susan this amount over a period of sixty months at the rate of $2,596.67 per month plus interest at twelve percent until fully paid.

Given the testimony of the ready marketability of Healthcare, we find that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in declining to apply the marketability discount. We have also previously held that the imposition of interest on payments to be made in an equitable distribution is a discretionary matter with the trial court. Rey v. Rey, 598 So. 2d 141 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992).

However, we do find that the total of the court-imposed obligations exceeds Robert’s available resources, short of forcing a sale of the pharmacy business. The parties stipulated that Robert earned $121,500 per year or $10,125 per month. After deducting social security, medicare and withholding for income tax, Robert was left with about $7,000 per month. From this amount, Robert was ordered to pay $1,746 in alimony, $1,122 in guidelines child support, $167 for dance lessons for the parties’ daughter, medical insurance benefits for the parties’ daughter not to exceed $150 per month, and counseling sessions for the daughter at $40 per session for five months. Robert was also required to maintain life insurance to secure payment of the alimony, child support and equitable distribution payments. Finally, Robert was ordered to pay Susan her portion of Healthcare in the amount of $2,597 per month plus twelve percent interest, which Robert calculated as averaging $795 per month. After payment of these court-imposed obligations, Robert only has about $400 to $500 for his personal expenses.

Since we find no abuse of discretion in the amount of permanent alimony and child support (which was the guidelines amount), we remand solely for the purpose of reducing Robert’s total payment obligations as to the equitable distribution payout. The trial court may wish to consider spreading the payments out longer over time or reducing them for the immediate future while Robert still has his child-support obligations. The trial court is also free to consider imposing a rate of interest less than twelve percent, in view of the statutory change in calculating interest. See § 55.03(1), Fla.Stat. (Supp. 1994).2

REVERSED and REMANDED.

PETERSON, C.J., and HARRIS, J., concur. . See Walter v. Walter, 464 So. 2d 538 (Fla.1985); Canakaris v. Canakaris, 382 So. 2d 1197 (Fla.1980); Mundy v. Mundy, 498 So. 2d 538 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986); Cosgrove v. Cosgrove, 491 So. 2d 1219 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986).

. The legal rate of interest for 1995 is eight percent.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Ingrid Parry v. Parry, 933 So. 2d 9 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006)
    …cern no abuse of discretion and affirm on this point. See Williams v. Williams, 683 So. 2d 1119 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996) (affirming exercise of court’s discretion in applying marketability discount because supported by expert testimony); Miller v. Miller, 662 So. 2d 391 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995) (finding no abuse of discretion in trial court’s decision not to apply marketability discount when evidence showed that stock was readily marketable). Neither do we find an abuse of discretion in the trial court’s decision to aw…
  • ERP v. ERP, 976 So. 2d 1234 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008)
    …has been applied in dissolution of marriage cases involving the valuation, but not the distribution, of corporate stock. See Parry v. Parry, 933 So. 2d 9 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006); Williams v. Williams, 683 So. 2d 1119 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996); Miller v. Miller, 662 So. 2d 391 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995). We conclude that it is inappropriate for this court to prohibit the application of a marketability discount under these circumstances. Rather, a trial court should be accorded the discretion to determine whether a marketability…
  • Roger's Cushions, Inc. v. Baroody, 683 So. 2d 542 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996)
    …tablished by written contract or obligation. (Emphasis added). Thus, as of January 1, 1995, the applicable statutory interest rate on judgments was set by the state comptroller. For the year 1995 the legal rate of interest was 8%. Miller v. Miller, 662 So. 2d 391 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995). The issue in this ease concerns the effect of the statutory language that “Nothing contained herein shall affect a rate of interest established by written contract or obligation.” The written agreement between these parties prov…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw