JEFFREY H. WAIT, APPELLANT,
v.
CHRISTINE R. WAIT, APPELLEE
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Unclean Hands Doctrine cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
Less than a year after rendition of the final judgment dissolving the marriage of Jeffrey and Christine Wait, the former husband filed a petition for a downward modification of the judgment’s child support and alimony obligations. The trial court denied the former husband’s petition, relying upon the “unclean hands” doctrine, and directed him to contribute $2,500 towards the attorney’s fees incurred by the former wife. The former husband appeals.
We find no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s application of the “unclean hands” doctrine and affirm the denial of the former husband’s petition. See Blender v. Blender, 760 So. 2d 950, 952 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999) (applying abuse of discretion standard of review to lower court’s determination to apply clean hands doctrine). We reverse, however, that portion of the order requiring the former husband to contribute to the former wife’s attorney’s fees since the only evidence before the lower court placed the parties in financial parity.
AFFIRMED in part and REVERSED in part.
KLEIN, STEVENSON and SHAHOOD, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Woolf v. Woolf, 901 So. 2d 905 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005)…la.1997). The financial resources of the parties are the primary factor to be considered. Id. at 700. Where the parties are in financial parity, yet the trial court has awarded fees to one spouse, we have hot hesitated to reverse. See Wait v. Wait, 886 So. 2d 318 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004); Hackney v. Hackney, 560 So. 2d 423 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990). The parties' in this case are in financial parity, making the partial award to the former wife erroneous and reversible. We recognize that there are cases where, despite e…
-
Enrico Novaro v. Novaro, 898 So. 2d 272 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005)…he order requiring the former husband to contribute to the former wife’s attorney’s fees, because the only evidence before the trial court showed that the former wife was in a superior financial position to pay her attorney’s fees. See Wait v. Wait, 886 So. 2d 318 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004); Hackney v. Hackney, 560 So. 2d 423 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990). KLEIN, SHAHOOD and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.…
-
Longarzo v. Castillo, 191 So. 3d 481 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016)…rial 'Court granted the husband’s motion and dismissed the petition. From this order, the wife appeals. Generally, an abuse of discretion standard of review applies to a lower court’s determination to apply the unclean hands doctrine. Wait v. Wait, 886 So. 2d 318, 318 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004). However, whether a trial court correctly applied the correct legal rule is reviewed de novo. Mills Corp. v. Amato, 72 So. 3d 814, 815 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011). “[T]he ‘clean, hands’ doctrine can act to bar modification to a spo…
Authorities Cited
- Blender v. Blender, 760 So. 2d 950 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)