LOREN ARTHUR EAKIN, APPELLANT,
v.
VIRGINIA SMYTHE EAKIN, APPELLEE

Fla. | 1958-01-24
TERRELL, C. J., and THOMAS, HOB-SON and ROBERTS, JJ., concur.
99 So. 2d 854 Florida Supreme Court (1958) Caution
Cited by 42 cases

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Synopsis

In this Florida divorce case, the trial court initially denied both parties a divorce due to recriminatory conduct, but upon rehearing granted the wife an absolute divorce and awarded her the marital home. The Supreme Court reversed the property award to an adulterous wife, holding that no equity supporting such an award was demonstrated and that alimony cannot be granted to an adulterous spouse under Florida law.


Holding

The court held that an award of property to an adulterous wife cannot be made as alimony under Florida law. While a trial court may award specific property to a wife when there is evidence of an equity in the property arising from her contribution of funds or services beyond ordinary marital duties, no such equity was shown in this case. Therefore, the property award was erroneous and reversed.


Key Quotes

“Although Section 65.08, Florida Statutes 1955 F.S.A. provides that no alimony shall be granted to an adulterous wife, this Court has held that under some circumstances it is within the power of the trial court to make an award to the wife of certain specific property.”

Establishes the distinction between prohibited alimony and potentially permissible property awards, setting the framework for analyzing the trial court's decision.

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Facts & Procedural History

The husband and wife engaged in a bitterly contested divorce proceeding initiated by the wife. The trial court initially denied both parties a divorce…

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Opinion of the Court
DREW, Justice.

DREW, Justice.

At the conclusion of a long and bitterly contested divorce proceeding initiated by the wife, the learned chancellor below concluded that neither party could be granted a divorce because of the recriminatory conduct of •each. The custody of the male child was .awarded to the father. Provision was made for the child to visit the mother from Saturday afternoon until Sunday afternoon •during each week. The decree contained other provisions which are not pertinent to •the disposition of this appeal.

On rehearing the trial court amended the •decree by vacating that portion of it which denied a divorce to either party and amended the original decree to provide “that the -marriage between the plaintiff * * * and the defendant * * * be and the same is hereby dissolved and defendant is given .and granted an absolute divorce from plain-tifi * * *.” In the same amended decree •the court determined “in lieu of alimony .and all other claims against the defendant and his estate the whole and complete title to the home place of the parties * * * is transferred and vested in the plaintiff and defendant’s interest in said real estate as tenant by the entirety is transferred to and vested entirely in the plaintiff subject to •encumbrances.”

The husband, on this appeal, questions that portion of the final decree vesting the title to the real property in the wife.

After the proceedings had been commenced, the husband filed a counterclaim seeking a divorce from his wife on the sole ground of adultery. The wife argues in support of that portion of the decree with reference to the home place that the evidence would sustain the awarding of a divorce on grounds other than the ground of adultery and that, therefore, that portion of the decree is valid. We cannot agree that this is true. While the decree does not contain a finding that the wife is guilty of adultery, such finding is inherent in the decree because no other ground for divorce against the wife was either alleged or proven and the record contains ample evidence to support such a finding.

Although Section 65.08, Florida Statutes 1955 F.S.A. provides that no alimony shall be granted to an adulterous wife, this Court has held that under some circumstances it is within the power of the trial court to make an award to the wife of certain specific property. Such an award may be made when it is shown to be warranted by facts and circumstances sufficient to support a finding of an equity in the property in favor of the wife arising from the contribution of funds or services made toward its accumulation above and beyond the performance of ordinary marital duties. Such an allowance, however, is not alimony. See Heath v. Heath, 103 Fla. 1071, 138 So. 796, 82 A.L.R. 537.

There is no evidence in this cause which will support a decree awarding the adulterous wife the husband’s interest in the property held by the parties as an estate by the entirety under the holding of this Court in Heath v. Heath, supra. Because of the provisions of Section 65.08, supra, the award cannot lawfully be made as alimony. It was, therefore, erroneous to make such award. That portion of the final decree awarding the husband’s interest in the subject real property to the wife is reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings.

Reversed.

TERRELL, C. J., and THOMAS, HOB-SON and ROBERTS, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By (21 total)

  • Canakaris v. Canakaris, 382 So. 2d 1197 (Fla. 1980)
    …been used. The term “special equity” was created to describe a vested interest in property brought into the marriage or acquired during the marriage because of contribution of services or funds over and above normal marital duties. Eakin v. Eakin, 99 So. 2d 854 (Fla.1958); Heath v. Heath, 103 Fla. 1071, 138 So. 796 (1932). This vested interest is not alimony. The “special equity” doctrine was developed to avoid the inequities of the existing statutory provision which denied alimony to an adulterous wife de…
  • Duncan v. Duncan, 379 So. 2d 949 (Fla. 1980)
    …3 Fla. 1071, 138 So. 796 (1932). In its true sense, a “special equity” is a vested interest which a spouse acquires because of contribution of funds, property, or services made over and above the performance of normal marital duties. Eakin v. Eakin, 99 So. 2d 854 (Fla.1958). See, e. g., Ball v. Ball, 335 So. 2d 5 (Fla.1976) (property acquired with inherited/ funds of one spouse); Merrill v. Merrill, 357 So. 2d 792 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978) (one spouse entered the marriage with possession of realty and personalty);…
  • Tedford J. Cann v. Margery M. Cann, 334 So. 2d 325 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976)
    …upon special equities must not be confused with an award in a dissolution of marriage action to a spouse who has acquired a special equity in property accumulated during the marriage. Such an award is not alimony. (Bakin v. Eakin, Sup. Ct.Fla. 1958, 99 So. 2d 854) Periodic alimony is an allowance payable at intermittent times (usually by the week or by the month) in a definite amount over a definite or indefinite period of time. An award of periodic alimony is appropriate according to the needs of the spous…

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