GARY DALE BURTON, APPELLANT,
v.
MICHELLE R. BURTON, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 2003-08-08
No. 5D02-3014
SAWAYA, C.J., and SHARP, W., J., concur.
851 So. 2d 861 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2003) Positive Treatment
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.

Synopsis

In this equitable distribution dispute, the former husband appeals an enforcement order requiring him to pay $22,945.58 plus interest to his former wife for her IRA distribution award. The court affirmed the principal amount owed but reversed the interest calculation, finding the trial court improperly assessed interest at an incorrect rate and from an incorrect date.


Holding

The former husband was properly ordered to pay the $22,945.58 deficiency as part of enforcing the equitable distribution award, as legal title to the IRA remained with him and he bore the investment risk of delay. However, the trial court erred in calculating interest; the correct interest rate is nine percent per annum, accruing from May 13, 2002 (when the partial payment was made), not ten percent from the dissolution decree date.


Headnotes

[1] A party awarded a fixed monetary sum from an asset in an equitable distribution decree remains entitled to that sum, regardless of fluctuations in the asset's value after…

[2] Legal title to an asset remains with the party who held it prior to a dissolution decree, unless the decree specifically awards the asset itself to the other party.

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Key Quotes

“The final judgment of dissolution did not award the IRA to the former wife, but rather awarded the former wife the sum of $64,950.00 which was payable from said account. Whether the account value increased or decreased prior to payment of said sum, the former wife was entitled to $64,950.00.”

Establishes that the former wife received a fixed monetary award, not ownership of the IRA account itself, so the former husband bore the investment risk.

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Facts & Procedural History

The final judgment of dissolution awarded the former wife $64,950.00 payable from the former husband's IRA account. The former husband failed to timel…

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Opinion of the Court
PLEUS, J.

PLEUS, J.

The former husband appeals from an order enforcing final judgment/judgment for the former wife, raising two issues. We find merit only as to the second issue.

The trial court correctly ordered the former husband to pay $22,945.58 occasioned by his failure to timely pay the $64,950.00 equitable distribution award from his IRA account. The former husband’s argument that the former wife became owner of the IRA upon recording of the final judgment of dissolution and must suffer any losses sustained by the account occurring after that date is entirely without merit.

The final judgment of dissolution did not award the IRA to the former wife, but rather awarded the former wife the sum of $64,950.00 which was payable from said account. Whether the account value increased or decreased prior to payment of said sum, the former wife was entitled to $64,950.00. The final judgment of dissolution did not vest legal title in the IRA to the former wife because the court did not award the account to her. Under the terms of the dissolution decree, legal title to the IRA remained at all times in the former husband.

At the hearing where the court orally-announced the terms of the dissolution decree, counsel recognized that insofar as the IRA is concerned, the account holder would require both parties to execute a document instructing transfer of the $64,950. The former husband asserts that the dissolution decree did not order him to take any action to direct a transfer of the funds to the former wife. While this is true, the decree clearly awards the sum to the former wife as part of the equitable distribution of the marital assets and the court expressly reserved “jurisdiction to enter such orders which may be necessary to implement.” The former husband had legal title to the account and as such should have directed transmittal of the $64,950.00 to the former wife in accordance with the dissolution decree. Having failed to voluntarily transfer the fixed sum to the former wife in a timely manner, the former husband was taking the risk that if his IRA investment plummeted in value below $64,950.00 (as it did following the events of September 11, 2001), he would have to make up the resulting deficiency. The former husband cannot complain that the trial court did what it had indicated it would do, enter an order implementing the terms of dissolution decree. The former husband is seeking to be rescued from what turned out to be a poor decision on his part.

As to the second point, the former husband claims the final judgment/judgment for petitioner improperly assessed interest and the former wife concedes that it was error for the court to award interest of $537.49. The final judgment -should be corrected to find that the principal balance remaining due the former wife is $22,945.58 with interest at nine percent per annum from May 13, 2002, the date the former husband transferred the $49,725.28 in the IRA account to the former wife.1

AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART; REMANDED FOR ENTRY OF CORRECTED FINAL ORDER. SAWAYA, C.J., and SHARP, W., J., concur. . The trial court awarded interest at ten percent per annum on the $64,950.00 from March 6, 2001, the date of the dissolution decree, until the date of the transfer which occurred on May 13, 2002. Interest for this period totaled $7,720.86. The wife received the partial payment of $49,725.28 and applied $7,720.86 of this to interest and the balance of $42,004.42 to principal, leaving the unpaid principal balance due of $22,945.58.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Boca Burger, Inc. v. Forum, 912 So. 2d 561 (Fla. 2005)
    …. 4th DCA 2004); Dellicarpini v. Kerr, 873 So. 2d 536 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004); Gundotra v. Gundotra, 859 So. 2d 533 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003), review dismissed, 872 So. 2d 899 (Fla.2004); Christ v. Christ, 854 So. 2d 244 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003); Burton v. Burton, 851 So. 2d 861 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003); Yorke v. Yorke, 848 So. 2d 1215 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003); Low Cost Auto Pawn, Inc. v. Greco, 851 So. 2d 768 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003); Am. Home Assur. Co. v. Rosen Bldg. Supplies, Inc., 854 So. 2d 666 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003); Channel 68 Marina,…
  • Maritza Rivero v. Rivero, 963 So. 2d 934 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007)
    …to a valid separation agreement). Because the Former Wife was awarded a monetary interest in the Former Husband’s pension plan rather than an ownership interest in the plan, she is not entitled to any appreciation in its value. See Burton v. Burton, 851 So. 2d 861, 862 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003)(affirming final judgment of dissolution of marriage that awards former wife a specified monetary amount from the former husband’s pension but does not transfer any ownership interest in the pension itself); Doyle v. Doyle, 7…
  • Rosenbloom v. Rosenbloom, 932 So. 2d 277 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005)
    …[*278] PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Burton v. Burton, 851 So. 2d 861 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003). KLEIN, SHAHOOD and GERBER, JONATHAN D., Associate Judge, concur.…

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