HINOJOSA
v.
HINOJOSA

Fla. 2d DCA | 2024-05-31
No. 2023-0155
2024 FL 6338 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2024)

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Synopsis

In this dissolution of marriage appeal, the former wife challenges the trial court's denial of permanent alimony and various asset distribution decisions. The appellate court affirms the alimony denial and most asset decisions but reverses and remands regarding an unequally distributed JP Morgan 401k account and directs clarification of the marital home equity distribution upon refinance.


Holding

The court affirms the denial of permanent alimony and most asset distribution decisions but reverses regarding the JP Morgan 401k account because it was classified as marital property but not distributed. The court remands for equitable distribution of the 401k account and directs the trial court to clarify on remand how the former wife will be paid her share of the marital home's equity upon refinance.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court must equitably distribute all marital assets and liabilities in a dissolution action.

[2] A final judgment of dissolution must clearly explain a party's share of marital home equity upon refinance.

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Key Quotes

“requiring that a trial court in a dissolution action equitably distribute the parties' marital assets and liabilities”

Establishes the statutory mandate for equitable distribution in dissolution proceedings

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Facts & Procedural History

Cynthia and Jason Hinojosa were in a dissolved marriage. The trial court issued a final judgment that classified a JP Morgan 401k account as marital p…

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Opinion of the Court

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA

SECOND DISTRICT

CYNTHIA HINOJOSA,

Appellant,

v.

JASON HINOJOSA,

Appellee.

No. 2D2023-0155

May 31, 2024 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County; Helene L. Daniel, Judge. K. Dean Kantaras of K. Dean Kantaras, P.A., Palm Harbor, for Appellant. Janelle A. Weber of Manta Law, Tampa, for Appellee. ROTHSTEIN-YOUAKIM, Judge.

On this appeal of the final judgment of dissolution, Cynthia

Hinojosa (the former wife) challenges the trial court's denial of her

request for permanent alimony and its classification, valuation, and

distribution of various assets. We reverse in part and affirm in part.1

Although the final judgment classified as marital property a JP

Morgan 401k account, it did not further provide for the account's

equitable distribution. The former wife contends that this was error. We

agree, as does Jason Hinojosa (the former husband), who concedes that

remand is warranted on this basis.2 See § 61.075(1), Fla. Stat. (2022)

(requiring that a trial court in a dissolution action equitably distribute

the parties' marital assets and liabilities); Hollister v. Hollister, 965 So. 2d

341, 344 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007) (reversing final judgment because the court

"listed and valued assets and liabilities in the final judgment but failed to

distribute them"). We therefore reverse and remand for equitable

distribution of the JP Morgan 401k account.

The final judgment also gives the former husband possession of the

marital home and directs him to either refinance or sell it. The former

wife contends that the judgment does not clearly explain what her share

will be if the former husband refinances. Because we are remanding for

distribution of the JP Morgan 401k account, we also direct that the trial

court on remand clarify how the former wife will be paid her share of the

marital home's equity upon refinance.

We otherwise affirm without further comment.

Affirmed in part; reversed in part; remanded with instructions.

CASANUEVA and ATKINSON, JJ., Concur. Opinion subject to revision prior to official publication.

(holding that the purported lack of findings supporting an equitable distribution of marital property was not reversible error because the appellant failed to provide a transcript of the hearing or an acceptable substitute).

Footnotes
1 Notwithstanding her multiple attacks on the judgment, the former wife did not provide this court with a trial transcript, which impedes our consideration of most of them. See Applegate v. Barnett Bank of Tallahassee, 377 So. 2d 1150, 1152 (Fla. 1979) ("Without a record of the trial proceedings, the appellate court [cannot] properly resolve the underlying factual issues so as to conclude that the trial court's judgment is not supported by the evidence or by an alternative theory."); see also Esaw v. Esaw, 965 So. 2d 1261, 1264–65 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007)
2 We note that the former wife could have easily brought this oversight to the trial court's attention via a motion for rehearing.

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