GEORGE FERGUSON, APPELLANT,
v.
CAROLYN FERGUSON, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1971-01-26
No. 70-362
Before CHARLES CARROLL, BARK-DULL and SWANN, JJ.
243 So. 2d 439 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1971) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

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

George Ferguson appeals a divorce judgment granting his wife a divorce based on extreme cruelty, alimony, child support, and property provisions. The appellate court affirmed the trial court's findings that the wife proved extreme cruelty and upheld the alimony and property award as within the trial court's discretion.


Holding

The trial court's finding that the husband was guilty of extreme cruelty was supported by competent substantial evidence, and the trial court did not err in awarding lump sum alimony consisting of home furnishings and a one-half interest in the residence, as such alimony provisions were within the trial court's discretion.


Headnotes

[1] A finding of extreme cruelty in a divorce action is supported by competent substantial evidence if the record contains such evidence.

[2] A trial court has discretion to award furnishings in a home as lump sum alimony in a divorce proceeding.

Previewing 2 of 5 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

“The record discloses competent substantial evidence to support the holding of the court that the plaintiff proved the material allegations of her complaint and that the defendant was "guilty of extreme cruelty within the meaning and purview of the laws of this state."”

Establishes that the trial court's finding of extreme cruelty was supported by substantial evidence in the record.

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

George Ferguson and Carolyn Ferguson were married. Carolyn filed for divorce alleging extreme cruelty by George. The trial court found that Carolyn pr…

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.

This is an appeal by the defendant husband from a judgment which granted the plaintiff wife a divorce, and provided for alimony and child support and contained certain provisions relating to property. Appellant presented a number of contentions, principal among which were that the trial court’s finding that the husband was guilty of extreme cruelty was against the weight of the evidence, and that the court erred in granting the wife, as lump sum alimony, the furnishings in the home and a one half interest in the residence owned by the husband.

The record discloses competent substantial evidence to support the holding of the court that the plaintiff proved the material allegations of her complaint and that the defendant was “guilty of extreme cruelty within the meaning and purview of the laws of this state,” and also of the finding that the plaintiff was the owner of certain corporate stock therein described as the “Tucson Stock.”

The trial court denied the plaintiff wife’s claim that she was entitled to an equity in the husband’s property. However, the court found that the wife (in addition to her earnings in her employment) was in need of “financial assistance” for permanent alimony as well as child support, but also found that the husband was not presently financially able to pay adequate amounts for alimony. Thereupon the court ordered payment of installment alimony of $1 per year, reserving jurisdiction to increase the same if circumstances require, and, as lump sum alimony, awarded the wife the furnishings and a one half interest in the residence property, with leave to occupy the home with the teen aged daughter in her custody until the daughter reached majority, or until marriage of the daughter or of the plaintiff if occurring sooner, with the plaintiff wife being required to pay the mortgage payments, taxes and insurance on the residence property while so occupied by her. Such alimony provisions were within the discretion of the court and appear to have represented an exercise of sound judicial discretion by the trial court in the circumstances of the case.

The several contentions of the appellant having been considered, and this court having concluded that no reversible error was demonstrated, the judgment is affirmed.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Deortha A. Moore v. Moore, 401 So. 2d 841 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981)
    …B, J., concur. . Canakaris v. Canakaris, 382 So. 2d 1197 (Fla. 1980); Kirchman v. Kirchman, 389 So. 2d 327 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980); Cann v. Cann, 334 So. 2d 325 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976); Lee v. Lee, 309 So. 2d 26 (Fla.2d DCA 1975); cf. Ferguson v. Ferguson, 243 So. 2d 439 (Fla.3d DCA), cert. denied, 247 So. 2d 325 (Fla.1971) (Wife was awarded $1.00 per year alimony where she was in need of financial assistance but husband was not financially able to pay adequate amount for alimony). . Shaw v. Shaw, 334 So. 2d 13 (Fl…
  • Ferguson v. Ferguson, 247 So. 2d 325 (Fla. 1971)
    …Certiorari denied. 243 So. 2d 439. ROBERTS, C. J., and ERVIN, CARLTON, McCAIN and DEKLE, JJ., concur.…

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw