STACY SARNOFF, APPELLANT,
v.
DAVID DAILY, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 2006-03-29
No. 4D04-4248
GUNTHER, POLEN and MAY, JJ., concur.
925 So. 2d 391 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2006)

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

Mother appealed a paternity judgment that required future increases in child support to be placed in a trust controlled by the father. The court affirmed the paternity judgment and child support award but reversed the trust provision, holding that child support cannot be placed in a trust without prior appointment of a legal guardian by the probate court.


Holding

A trial court may not order any portion of child support to be paid into a trust unless a legal guardian has been appointed by the probate court pursuant to Florida law. The trial court abused its discretion by establishing a trust for child support without first satisfying this requirement.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court abuses its discretion by establishing a trust for child support payments without first appointing a legal guardian.

[2] A trial court may order a portion of child support payments to be paid to a legally appointed guardian of the child's property when the necessity for such guardianship ha…

Previewing 2 of 4 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

“only when the necessity for a legal guardianship has been proven and a legal guardian appointed by the probate court pursuant to chapter 744 can the trial court use a guardian to protect the minor's assets.”

Establishes the requirement for probate court appointment before child support can be placed in a trust

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

In October 2004, a trial court entered a paternity judgment designating the mother as primary residential parent and father as secondary residential p…

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
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Appellant, Stacy Sarnoff, appeals from the trial court’s final judgment of paternity, child support, and timesharing.

We affirm in all respects, except we reverse that part of the judgment requiring any increases in child support payments to be placed in a trust on behalf of the child and controlled by the father. In the October 2004 paternity judgment, the court designated the mother the primary residential parent and the father the secondary residential parent, and both parents were awarded shared parental responsibility. The father was ordered to pay the mother $1,662 in monthly child support. The court also ordered the father’s accountant to determine any increases in child support should the father’s income in any year be greater so as to cause a percentage difference greater in child support.

Moreover, the court required that the increases in child support “be placed in a trust in the name of the father on behalf of the child to be under the total supervision of the father on behalf of the child.” The father was awarded “total authority” over the trust, which was to be used primarily for the child’s education and medical needs “at the father’s discretion.”

The mother argues on appeal that the trial court’s decision to impose such a trust is error and contrary to the Supreme Court’s decision in Finley v. Scott, 707 So. 2d 1112 (Fla.1998).

We agree. Similar to this case, Finley involved a paternity action. The father filed a petition in the probate division of the circuit court for the appointment of a guardian of the property of his minor child.

The trial court approved the father’s proposed guardian and declined to honor the preference of the mother in the appointment of the guardian because evidence • was presented that a large percentage of the minor’s funds were being used by the mother.

The trial court also ordered the father to pay $2,000 in child support to the mother and an additional award of $3,000 per month in child support to the guardian of the property. The mother appealed the final judgment, arguing that the trial court had no authority to require any of the support payment to be paid into a guardianship trust. The Supreme Court disagreed, and concluded that the trial judge acted within his authority in ordering that a portion of the money not needed for the child’s immediate custodial maintenance, or “good fortune award,” be paid to the legally appointed guardian of the child’s property. The court reasoned that once the probate court determined a need for a guardianship of the property, then the trial court, in the support proceeding, could use the guardian to protect the portion of the child support payment that the trial court determined pursuant to section 61.30 was not needed for the child’s day-to-day custodial expenses.

However, the court made it clear that “only when the necessity for a legal guardianship has been proven and a legal guardian appointed by the probate court pursuant to chapter 744 can the trial court use a guardian to protect the minor’s assets.” The court further explained that “the trial court is not to order any portion of the child support paid into a trust unless a legal guardian has been appointed.”

Here, the trial court’s paternity judgment requires that increases in child support payments be paid into a trust under the father’s control and supervision. However, The court’s holding in Finley clearly requires that a legal guardian be appointed by the probate court before “any portion” of the child support is paid into a trust. Therefore, according to Finley, we conclude that the trial court abused its discretion by establishing a trust for child support without first appointing a legal guardian.

Thus, we reverse that part of the paternity judgment requiring future increases in child support to be paid into a trust under the father’s control. We affirm the trial court’s judgment in all other respects.

Affirmed in Part, Reversed in Part.

GUNTHER, POLEN and MAY, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw