DAVID J. MINER, II, APPELLANT,
v.
SHARON N. MINER, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1999-02-26
No. 98-2047
COBB and PETERSON, JJ., concur.
727 So. 2d 1080 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1999)

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

A husband appeals a divorce judgment challenging the award of rehabilitative alimony, the court's refusal to treat his medical expenses as marital debt, and the denial of a motion for rehearing based on newly discovered evidence regarding property value and tax liability. The court reverses the alimony award and remands for reconsideration of the medical expenses, attorney's fees, and asset distribution.


Holding

The court reverses the rehabilitative alimony award due to lack of evidentiary support. The court reverses the determination that medical expenses are not marital obligations merely because they were incurred after separation or characterized as 'elective,' and remands to determine when the injury occurred. The court remands for reconsideration of attorney's fees, asset distribution, property valuation, and the tax liability.


Headnotes

[1] Rehabilitative alimony cannot be awarded without evidence justifying the award.

[2] Medical expenses incurred after separation may be considered marital obligations if the underlying injury occurred during the marriage.

Previewing 2 of 5 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

Key Quotes

“We reverse the award of rehabilitative alimony because there was no evidence presented to the court justifying the award.”

Establishes that alimony awards require evidentiary support; the court found none here.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

The husband and wife divorced. The husband suffered a shoulder injury before separation and complained of pain the year before they separated. He unde…

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
HARRIS, J.

HARRIS, J.

The husband appeals the grant of rehabilitative alimony and attorney’s fees. He also challenges the refusal of the court to determine that his medical expenses were marital debts. Finally, he appeals the denial of his motion for rehearing based on the newly discovered evidence that property awarded to him that had been in the possession of the wife (he had been ordered to keep away from the home) was not eared for and was worth less than indicated by the court, and that an IRS tax liability assessment issued shortly after the final judgment for a period during the marriage should be considered by the court.

We reverse the award of rehabilitative alimony because there was no evidence presented to the court justifying the award. See Brock v. Brock, 682 So. 2d 682 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996); Martin v. Martin, 582 So. 2d 784 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991).

We reverse the court’s decision not to consider the husband’s medical expense as a marital liability merely because it was “elective” and because the expenses were not incurred until after separation. The testimony was that the husband was injured before the separation. The wife conceded that her husband complained of pain in his shoulder the year before they separated. The court did not determine when the injury which led to the expense at issue actually occurred. If the cause for the expenses occurred during the time the parties lived together and the expenses actually became due before the complaint was filed, the fact that the ex penses were not incurred until after separation does not justify a finding that the expense is not a marital obligation. It is when the injury causing the expense occurred, rather than when the expenses of treatment become due, that should determine whether the debt is marital or not. Further, the fact that the operation was for the purpose of alleviating pain rather than for a medical emergency does not make it “elective.” We remand for a factual determination as to when the injury causing the expense occurred. However, even if the court determines that the medical expenses are marital obligations, proper distribution of such liability remains in the sound discretion of the trial judge.

Because the elimination of rehabilitative alimony and a review of the treatment of the large medical expense may drastically affect the financial position of the parties, we also remand the partial award of attorney’s fees for reconsideration. Likewise, because the distribution of assets must necessarily be reconsidered by the court, we remand for consideration of the value of the formerly distributed assets and the newly discovered tax liability.

REVERSED and REMANDED for further action consistent with this opinion.

COBB and PETERSON, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw