MELISSA KING, APPELLANT,
v.
DAVID KING, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 2012-02-01
No. 2D10-2564
NORTHCUTT and VILLANTI, JJ„ Concur.
78 So. 3d 689 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2012) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

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Synopsis

Melissa King appeals a trial court's denial of her motion to enforce a marital settlement agreement, arguing the court erred in finding it lacked jurisdiction. The appellate court reverses, holding that the trial court retained inherent jurisdiction to enforce the dissolution judgment and must consider the motion on its merits.


Holding

The trial court retained jurisdiction to enforce the dissolution judgment. Because the judgment expressly reserved jurisdiction to enforce its provisions in all other respects, and the motion was filed in the same court with the same case number as the original dissolution proceeding, the court had inherent jurisdiction to consider the enforcement motion on its merits.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court retains jurisdiction to enforce provisions of a final judgment of dissolution of marriage, even after the closing of the marital residence, when the judgmen…

[2] A trial court has inherent jurisdiction to enforce its own dissolution judgments.

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Key Quotes

“Except as to the dissolution of marriage granted in this Judgment, the Court specifically reserves jurisdiction to enforce provisions of this Judgment in all other respects”

The final judgment's explicit reservation of jurisdiction to enforce its non-dissolution provisions, which forms the basis for the appellate court's holding that the trial court retained jurisdiction.

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Facts & Procedural History

In 2007, a trial court dissolved an eleven-year marriage and entered a final judgment incorporating the parties' marital settlement agreement (MSA). T…

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Opinion of the Court
BLACK, Judge.

BLACK, Judge.

Melissa King, the former wife, appeals the trial court’s order denying her motion for contempt and for enforcement of the parties’ marital settlement agreement. Finding it lacked jurisdiction, the court denied the former wife’s motion. We reverse.

In 2007, the trial court entered a final judgment that dissolved the parties’ elev*690en-year marriage. The final judgment specifically incorporated the terms of the parties’ marital settlement agreement (MSA) and further provided: “Except as to the dissolution of marriage granted in this Judgment, the Court specifically reserves jurisdiction to enforce provisions of this Judgment in all other respects,” and “[t]he Court reserves jurisdiction for further proceedings in the above styled cause of action.”

Two years later, in 2009, the former wife filed her motion for contempt and for enforcement of the MSA. The motion sought enforcement of specific provisions of the final judgment and the incorporated MSA, including the portion of the judgment that required the former husband to make interest payments on the equitable distribution award to the former wife until the award was paid in full or until the sale of the marital residence, whichever occurred first, as well as contempt for failure to comply with various support provisions within the judgment. At the hearing on the motion, it appears the former wife abandoned her claims for support and thus enforcement by contempt. The hearing proceeded, however, on the claim for enforcement of interest payment arrearages.

In denying the former wife’s motion for enforcement, the trial court found that it did not have jurisdiction under the terms of the final judgment and MSA to require the former husband to pay the former wife interest arrearages on the equitable distribution award.1 The order denying the motion provided: “The Court lost jurisdiction over the subject matter hereto upon the closing date of the former marital residence and the Former Wife’s remedies are limited to civil contract action.” This was error.

The payment of interest the former wife sought to enforce was contemplated and expressly included in both the MSA and final judgment in this case. See Self v. Self 907 So.2d 546, 548-49 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005). But see Damian v. Damian, 955 So.2d 1178, 1181-82 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007) (concluding the trial court exceeded its jurisdiction by modifying a final judgment where the judgment lacked a specific reservation of jurisdiction to do so); Rocha v. Mendonea, 35 So.3d 973, 976 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010) (concluding the trial court impermis-sibly modified a marital settlement agreement under the guise of enforcing it). The former wife’s motion was filed in the same court that entered the final judgment of dissolution of marriage. “The caption of the motion was substantially similar to the caption of the dissolution proceeding, and it bore the same case number as the case number that had been assigned to the dissolution proceeding.” Weaver v. Hotchkiss, 972 So.2d 1060, 1061 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008). At the time of the hearing on the motion, the former husband did not dispute the court’s jurisdiction. See id. at 1062. Thus, as in Weaver, “we do not understand how the circuit court reached the conclusion that it lacked jurisdiction in the matter. The circuit court had inherent jurisdiction to enforce the dissolution judgment.” Id.

We make no ruling as to whether the former husband is obligated to pay interest arrearages or whether the former wife is entitled to collect interest arrearages on the equitable distribution; we simply hold that the trial court has jurisdiction to consider the issues. Accordingly, we reverse *691the trial court’s order and remand this case with directions to consider the former wife’s motion for enforcement on its merits.

Reversed and remanded.

NORTHCUTT and VILLANTI, JJ„ Concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Wisheart v. Wisheart, 338 So. 3d 363 (Fla. 5th DCA 2023)
    …rickson, 998 So. 2d 1182, 1183 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008); Seng v. Seng, 590 So. 2d 1120, 1121 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991). This continuing jurisdiction extends to enforcing marital settlement agreements incorporated into dissolution judgments. King v. King, 78 So. 3d 689, 690 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012). “However, the extent of the court’s continuing jurisdiction to enforce the terms of the settlement agreement is circumscribed by the terms of that agreement.” Orth v. Orth, 338 So. 3d 363, 371 (Fla. 3d DCA 2022) (quoting…
  • Corinne O. Rector v. Rector, 264 So. 3d 282 (Fla. 2d DCA 2019)

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