G. BRUCE DOUGLAS, APPELLANT,
v.
NANCY DOUGLAS, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 2001-03-09
No. 5D00-518
PETERSON and PLEUS, JJ., concur.
795 So. 2d 99 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2001) Caution
Cited by 11 cases

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Synopsis

Douglas appeals from orders denying his petition to modify child support and holding him in contempt for nonpayment. The court affirmed the denial of modification but reversed and remanded the contempt order for child support due to the trial court's failure to make required statutory findings regarding income calculations under Florida's child support guidelines.


Holding

The court affirmed the denial of modification but reversed and remanded the contempt order as to child support because the trial court failed to make required findings regarding income calculations, adjustments, and the parties' respective incomes as mandated by section 61.30, making meaningful appellate review impossible.


Headnotes

[1] A child support award incorporated into a final judgment may provide for recalculation based on child support guidelines upon a change in circumstances, such as a child r…

[2] A contempt order for nonpayment of child support must include specific findings and calculations regarding the parties' incomes and the basis for the support amount pursu…

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Key Quotes

“At such time as wife is primary residential parent for only one child, child support shall be fixed for that child in accordance with the Florida Child Support Guidelines in effect at that time.”

The stipulation's provision requiring automatic recalculation of child support according to guidelines when the eldest child reached majority

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Facts & Procedural History

A final judgment of dissolution was entered in January 1996, incorporating a stipulation that set child support at $2,500 per month for two children, …

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Opinion of the Court
SHARP, W., J.

The former husband, Douglas, appeals from an order entered on his petition to modify a final judgment of dissolution, and an order which held him in contempt for nonpayment of alimony and child support. Finding no error, we affirm the order on modification,1 but reverse and remand that portion of the contempt order which pertains to child support.

The final judgment was entered in January of 1996 and incorporated a stipulation and agreement which settled all of the issues between the parties, including alimony and child support. The child support provision provided, in part:

[Hjusband shall pay wife child support of $2,500.00 per month. Such child support shall be payable to wife so long as she continues to be primary residential parent for two children who are entitled to be supported. A child’s entitlement to child support shall continue until that child becomes 18, married or self-supporting, whichever occurs soonest..'.. At such time as wife is primary residential parent for only one child, child support shall be fixed for that child in accordance with the Florida Child Support Guidelines in effect at that time. (Emphasis added)

The settlement stipulation set the child support award without regard to consideration of the child support guidelines.

The child support award at issue here is not a modification of the earlier child support. Rather it is a recalculation based upon the eldest child’s majority and the stipulation, incorporated into the final judgment.2 Pursuant to the stipulation, when the eldest child reached her majority and was no longer eligible for child support, the child support guidelines would determine the amount of child support for the youngest child. However, when the eldest child attained her majority, Douglas merely cut his child support obligation by fifty percent.

The contempt order found Douglas’ child support obligation to be $1,573 per month, based on the child support guidelines, and fixed his arrearage based on that amount. However, the contempt order on child support contains none of the required findings, including no calculations as to how the trial court arrived at this amount, and no fact findings as to the parties’ respective incomes pursuant to section 61.30, the child support guidelines.

Under the guidelines, income must be computed considering various factors, including any spousal support received. § 61.30(2). Adjustments to income are also made for tax deductions, health insurance payments and spousal support payments paid by that party. § 61.30(3). The failure to make these findings was therefore error. Harbin v. Harbin, 762 So. 2d 561 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000). See also Kranz v. Kranz, 737 So. 2d 1198 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999); Calderon v. Calderon, 730 So. 2d 400 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999). Without appropriate findings, meaningful appellate review is impossible. Harbin. We there fore must reverse and remand to the trial court for findings.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

PETERSON and PLEUS, JJ., concur. . In Rykiel v. Rykiel, 795 So. 2d 90 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000), we reversed a final judgment of dissolution, in part, because the trial court adopted verbatim a final judgment prepared by one party. That case is distinguishable from the facts of this case because in Rykiel there were numerous indicia of the judge’s lack of participation and knowledge in the final judgment. We note, however, that the better practice is for a trial court to make fact findings and indications of its review of the judgment or order on its face.

. To modify an award of alimony or child support, the petitioner must show a substantial change in circumstances, not contemplated at the time of the divorce judgment, and that the change is sufficient, material, involuntary and permanent in nature. Harbin v. Harbin, 762 So. 2d 561 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000).


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Esig Perlow v. Berg-Perlow, 875 So. 2d 383 (Fla. 2004)
    …rgument that its holding conflicted with the Fifth District’s holding in Rykiel. Id. To support its conclusion, the Fourth District referred to two subsequent Fifth District cases which, in its view, clarified the Rykiel holding: Douglas v. Douglas, 795 So. 2d 99 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001), and Thomas v. Thomas, 781 So. 2d 540 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001). In Douglas, the Fifth District stated that the trial judge in Rykiel had not been prepared and was not knowledgeable of the case before adopting the final judgment. There…
  • Esig Perlow v. Berg-Perlow, 816 So. 2d 210 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002)
    …has no corrections, additions or deletions on its face. Under these circumstances, meaningful review by this court is impossible. Id. at 92 (citations omitted). Shortly after Rykiel issued, the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Douglas v. Douglas, 795 So. 2d 99 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001), in a footnote, explained its Rykiel holding: In Rykiel v. Rykiel, 795 So. 2d 90 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000), we reversed a final judgment of dissolution, in part, because the trial court adopted verbatim a final judgment prepared by on…
  • Ferguson v. Ferguson, 921 So. 2d 796 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006)
    …ing. To modify an award of alimony, the petitioner must show a substantial change in circumstances, not contemplated at the time of the divorce judgment, which is sufficient, material, involuntary, and permanent in nature. E.g., Douglas v. Douglas, 795 So. 2d 99 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001). Such modification can only be based on changed conditions occurring since entry of the prior award or modification thereto. E.g., Hosford v. Hosford, 362 So. 2d 973 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978); § 61.14, Fla. Stat. (2004). Where the alim…

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