CHARLES S. HANSKAT, APPELLANT,
v.
LYNDA R. HANSKAT, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1998-08-31
No. 97-3305
BARFIELD, C.J., and KAHN and WEBSTER, JJ., concur.
716 So. 2d 347 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1998) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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Synopsis

Former husband Charles Hanskat appeals a trial court order modifying child support and denying his motion to modify permanent periodic alimony. The court affirmed the alimony determination and child support modification in part, but reversed and remanded the child support calculation due to an error in accounting for health insurance costs.


Holding

The court affirmed the trial judge's imputation of income and denial of alimony modification, finding the former husband failed to establish that his income reduction was permanent and involuntary. However, the court reversed the child support calculation because the trial judge erred in failing to include the $105 monthly health insurance cost in the former wife's income and deduct it from the former husband's income.


Headnotes

[1] A voluntary reduction in income resulting from an ultimatum does not warrant a modification of alimony or child support.

[2] A trial court does not abuse its discretion in imputing income to a party based upon the evidence available at the time of the hearing, even if the party's current income…

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Key Quotes

“To warrant modification of alimony, there must be a substantial change in circumstances, such change must not have been contemplated at the time of the final judgment of dissolution, and such change must be sufficient, material, involuntary, and permanent in nature.”

Establishes the legal standard for modification of alimony, requiring a substantial and permanent change in circumstances.

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Facts & Procedural History

In the dissolution judgment, the former husband was ordered to pay permanent periodic alimony of $1,850 per month, rehabilitative alimony, child suppo…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Charles Hanskat, the former husband, appeals an order modifying child support and denying his motion to modify permanent periodic alimony. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.

In the final judgment of dissolution, the former husband was ordered to pay permanent periodic alimony, rehabilitative alimony, child support, and $105 per month medical insurance for the former wife. The former wife was awarded primary physical residence of the two minor children.

After one of the minor children moved in with the former husband, he filed a petition to modify the final judgment with regard to primary physical residence and child support. He later filed a petition for modification of permanent periodic alimony. The alleged substantial changes were that his income had decreased and the former wife’s income had increased.

The trial judge changed the primary physical residence of the child that lived with the former husband. With regard to reducing alimony and child support, the trial judge found:

The former husband has left his employment with Crom Corporation. This was an alternative, the terms of which were structured by the former husband having issued an ultimatum. His subsequent reduction in income is voluntary as a result of the circumstances of his ultimatum. His new business is still in transition and his income is not presently at the same level as previously. However, the potential and expectation is that income will increase to the prior level of $6,417.50. The former level of income should be imputed to the Former Husband.

The trial judge concluded that permanent periodic alimony awarded to the former wife would remain at $1,850 per month. Because the former wife had obtained employment and the husband was awarded primary physical residence of one child, the trial judge recalculated child support.

We reject the former husband’s argument that the trial judge erred in imputing income because there was no evidence to support a finding that he had an actual ability to earn more than he was currently earning or that there was a deliberate refusal to work at a higher earning capacity. To warrant modification of alimony, there must be a substantial change in circumstances, such change must not have been contemplated at the time of the final judgment of dissolution, and such change must be sufficient, material, involuntary, and permanent in nature. Pimm v. Pimm, 601 So. 2d 534 (Fla.1992). The former husband, had the burden to prove that modification was warranted. The former husband did not establish that, at the time of the hearing below, the reduction in earnings was permanent. The trial judge did not abuse his discretion in imputing income based upon the evidence available as of the date of hearing.

The former husband also argued that in arriving at net income for child support obligations, the trial judge erred in failing to deduct from his income, and include in the former wife’s income, the $105 per month he pays for the former wife’s medical insurance premiums. The former wife concedes error in this regard.1

We reverse the trial court’s order with regard to child support. We remand with instructions that the trial court properly recalculate the parties’ incomes by including the cost of health insurance in the former wife’s income, and deducting the same from the former husband’s income, and then recalculate child support. In all other respects, the order on appeal is affirmed.

BARFIELD, C.J., and KAHN and WEBSTER, JJ., concur. . The former husband also argued the trial judge erred in failing to include in the former wife's income $585.13 per month interest income she was receiving from the closely held corporation in arriving at net income for child support obligations. We conclude this argument is without merit.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Gibson v. Gibson, 858 So. 2d 360 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003)
    …find that the trial court abused its discretion in modifying Appellee’s alimony obligation because there was no evidence of a substantial change in circumstances occurring after the entry of the original alimony award. See, e.g., Hanskat v. Hanskat, 716 So. 2d 347 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998). The financial circumstances of the parties are essentially the same as they were at the time of the original alimony award. We, therefore, reverse the trial court’s order modifying the original alimony award, and remand. ALLEN…

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