CARL T. GINGOLA, APPELLANT/CROSS-APPELLEE,
v.
LAURA VELASCO, F/K/A, LAURA GINGOLA, APPELLEE/CROSS-APPELLANT

Fla. 2d DCA | 1996-02-23
No. 94-04492
RYDER, A.C.J., and LAZZARA, J., concur.
668 So. 2d 1054 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1996) Caution
Cited by 28 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.

Synopsis

In a dissolution of marriage case with complex child support calculations and a nonvested pension issue, the Florida appellate court affirmed the trial court's final judgment in its entirety, addressing both the treatment of the husband's nonvested state pension as a marital asset and the detailed child support calculation methodology that allocated 54% of the total obligation to the husband.


Holding

A nonvested pension is a marital asset that the trial court may treat as such and reserve jurisdiction to resolve later if necessary. The trial court's child support calculation, which provided each child with a pro rata share of the statutory basic obligation plus their specific share of additional obligations while crediting the paying parent for health insurance and daycare costs, properly allocated 54% of the total support responsibility to Mr. Gingola consistent with his pro rata share of combined net monthly income.


Headnotes

[1] A nonvested pension is a marital asset.

[2] A trial court has discretion to reserve jurisdiction to resolve parties' rights to a nonvested pension at a future date.

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Key Quotes

“Such a nonvested pension is a marital asset. § 61.075(5)(a)4., Fla.Stat. (1991).”

Establishes the legal principle that even nonvested pensions qualify as marital property divisible in dissolution proceedings.

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Facts & Procedural History

Mr. Gingola accepted employment with the state of Florida shortly before the dissolution proceeding began and does not yet have a vested right to a st…

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Opinion of the Court
ALTENBERND, Judge.

ALTENBERND, Judge.

We affirm the amended final judgment of dissolution in its entirety. Two difficult aspects of this case, however, warrant brief explanation.

First, Mr. Gingola accepted employment with the state of Florida shortly before the parties commenced this dissolution proceeding. He does not have a vested right to any state pension at this time, but will earn such a right if he remains employed. The trial court treated Mr. Gingola’s nonvested pension as a marital asset and reserved jurisdiction to resolve the parties’ rights to the pension, if necessary, at an undetermined future date. Such a nonvested pension is a marital asset. § 61.075(5)(a)4., Fla.Stat. (1991). Although it seems unfortunate that the parties were unable to settle this small monetary issue and that the judgment leaves the matter unresolved for the indefinite future, this decision was within the trial court’s discretion. Kirkland v. Kirkland, 618 So. 2d 295 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993).

Second, the calculation of child support in this case is extraordinarily complex. When the amended final judgment was entered, two of the children resided with Mr. Gingola and one with Mrs. Gingola. Mr. Gingola was paying day care expenses for a daughter who resided with him and health insurance premiums on all three children. Judge Charles Cope carefully determined the items necessary to complete the child sup port guidelines worksheet and performed the proper calculations. He concluded, however, that neither that form nor this court’s opinion in Winters v. Katseralis, 623 So. 2d 613 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993), provided more than a general solution to the problem.1 Judge Cope provided each child with a pro rata share of the statutory basic obligation and their specific share of the additional obligations. He then made certain that Mr. Gingola received credit for his payments on the health insurance and on the allowable child care costs when calculating each parent’s share of the total child support responsibility. In the end, because Mr. Gingola had primary residential custody of two children, Mrs. Gingola was required to pay Mr. Gingo-la $230 each month, and he paid her nothing. We conclude that this payment accurately split the total child support obligation in a manner that placed 54% of the responsibility upon Mr. Gingola, as warranted by his pro rata share of the combined net monthly income.

Affirmed.

RYDER, A.C.J., and LAZZARA, J., concur. . The author of this opinion also wrote Winters v. Katseralis, 623 So. 2d 613 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993), and concedes that it contains a mathematical error. The opinion, at 623 So. 2d 613, 614, should have stated: "All things being equal, the father should pay the mother half the difference between their respective obligations, i.e., $105 per month.” The general approach taken in Winters is still correct. In a split custody case, the trial court first determines the total child support obligation and each child’s share of that obligation. Thereafter, the court determines the method of parental payment that gives each child his or her share while assuring that each parent pays no more than the proper percentage of the total support. Having established his mathematical prowess in Winters, the author suggests that even he might benefit from an article on this complex subject written by a lawyer who paid better attention in high school algebra.


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Citator

Cited By (14 total)

  • Ingrid Parry v. Parry, 933 So. 2d 9 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006)
    …t or pension benefits accrued during the marriage constitute a marital asset); Diffenderfer, 491 So. 2d at 266-67 (rejecting contention that pension cannot be marital asset when there are contingencies and problems in valuation); Gingola v. Velasco, 668 So. 2d 1054 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996) (recognizing marital component in nonvested pension husband might earn if he remains in a state job that he accepted shortly before dissolution proceedings). On remand we leave to the parties to argue, and the trial court to deter…
  • Brock v. Voncile Brock, 695 So. 2d 744 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997)
    …t DCA 1994). With respect to the appropriate methodology to use in calculating the parties’ respective support obligations, we adopt the approach employed in Winters v. Katseralis, 623 So. 2d 613 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993), explained in Gingola v. Velasco, 668 So. 2d 1054 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996), as follows: In a split custody case, the trial court first determines the total child support obligation and each child’s share of that obligation. Thereafter, the court determines the method of parental payment that gives each…
  • McKENNA v. McKENNA, 31 So. 3d 890 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010)
    …Thereafter, the court determines the method of parental payment that gives each child his or her share while assuring that each parent pays no more than the proper percentage of the [*892] total support.’” Id. at 1043^44 (quoting Gingola v. Velasco, 668 So. 2d 1054, 1054 n. 1 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996)). In Kelley v. Kelley, 987 So. 2d 1246, 1248 (Fla. 5th DCA 2008), the fifth district agreed that the method of calculation proposed by the husband, which conformed with Devereaux and Gingola, was appropriate in that it…

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