KIMBERLY VIRGINIA LARDIZZONE, APPELLANT,
v.
MICHAEL ROBERT LARDIZZONE, APPELLEE
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.
In a marriage dissolution appeal, the former wife challenges the trial court's allocation of the former husband's $60,000 in medical bills as a marital liability. The appellate court reverses and remands because the judgment fails to clearly distinguish between gross medical bills incurred and unpaid medical bills for which the husband was actually liable.
The court reversed and remanded because the trial court's findings regarding medical bills were ambiguous. The court must clarify on remand the amount of unpaid medical bills for which the husband was personally liable as of the cut-off date, as this is the amount that properly constitutes a marital liability. The trial court may then adjust any child support credit accordingly.
[1] A judgment may be reversed on appeal if it contains an error on its face or requires further clarification, especially in the absence of a trial transcript.
[2] The gross amount of medical bills incurred during a marriage does not necessarily equate to the amount of unpaid medical bills for which a party is personally liable.
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“The gross amount of medical bills the husband incurred during the marriage is not necessarily the same as the amount of unpaid medical bills for which the husband was personally liable.”
Establishes the court's key distinction that marital liability depends on actual unpaid bills, not total bills incurred
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceDuring the marriage, the husband incurred approximately $60,000 in medical bills from an injury. The trial court found these bills to be a marital lia…
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Appeal From Final Judgment Of Dissolution Of Marriage cases and more on FLexlaw
The former wife appeals a final judgment of dissolution of marriage. We reverse and remand solely for the trial court to clarify its findings regarding the former husband’s medical bills.
In the final judgment, the trial court found that the husband incurred medical bills of approximately $60,000 from an injury that, occurred while the parties were married, living as an intact family. The court also found the husband’s medical *239bills to be a marital liability for which the parties should be equally responsible.
Some portions of the judgment suggest that the entire $60,000 figure' represented unpaid medical bills, but the judgment is not entirely clear on this point. In another part of the judgment, the court indicated that it was unclear how many of the medical bills had been paid or will be paid.
As a result of the court’s findings concerning the husband’s medical bills, the court awarded the husband a $30,000 credit towards his child support obligation and arrearages.
On appeal, the wife raises essentially two arguments: (1) the parties were separated when the husband suffered his injury; and (2) the $60,000 figure was inaccurate because the husband was covered by insurance and by workers’ compensation.
Because we do not have a transcript of the final hearing, we may reverse only where there is error on the face of the judgment or where the judgment requires further clarification. See Matteis v. Matteis, 82 So.3d 1048, 1048 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011); Chetram v, Singh, 984 So.2d 614, 615-18 (Fla. 5th DCA 2008). Without a transcript, we cannot review the trial court’s finding that the husband’s injury occurred during the intact marriage.
We conclude, howeyer, that the court’s findings regarding the husband’s medical bills are ambiguous. The gross amount of medical bills the husband incurred during the marriage is not necessarily the same as the amount of unpaid medical bills for which the husband was personally liable. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for the trial court to clarify the amount of unpaid medical bills for which the husband was personally liable on the cut-off date for determining marital liabilities. This is the amount that should be treated as a marital liability. See § 61.075(6)(a)l.a., Fla. Stat. (2015) (“Marital assets and liabilities” include “liabilities incurred during the marriage, individually by either spouse or jointly by them,”); § 61.075(7), Fla. Stat. (2015) (“The cut-off date for determining assets and liabilities to be identified or classified as marital assets and liabilities is the earliest of the date the parties enter into a valid separation agreement, such other date as may be expressly established by such agreement, or the date of the filing of a petition for dissolution of marriage.”).
The court may, in its discretion, take additional evidence on this issue.1 Depending on the court’s finding concerning the amount of unpaid medical bills for which the husband was personally liable on the cut-off date for determining marital liabilities, the court may need to adjust the credit, if any, the husband is to receive towards his child support obligation.
Reversed and Remanded.
CIKLIN, C.J., and KLINGENSMITH, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Matteis v. Matteis, 82 So. 3d 1048 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011)
- Chetram v. Saraswatee Singh, 984 So. 2d 614 (Fla. 5th DCA 2008)