L. P. GIBSON, APPELLANT,
v.
JIMMIE O. GIBSON, APPELLEE

Fla. 1st DCA | 1971-06-08
No. N-373
RAWLS and SPECTOR, JJ., concur.
249 So. 2d 446 Florida District Court of Appeal, First District (1971) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 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

In this interlocutory appeal from a divorce decree, the court interpreted a property settlement agreement's alimony provision to determine whether the husband's obligation was $1,535 or $1,290 per month when disability caused waiver of life insurance premiums. The court held that the alimony was $1,290 per month, with the additional $245 representing insurance premium payment rather than alimony itself.


Holding

The court held that the alimony was $1,290 per month, with the additional $245 included in the $1,535 figure representing payment for insurance policy premiums rather than alimony itself. When the premiums were waived due to the plaintiff's disability, the alimony obligation reduced to $1,290 per month, and the plaintiff properly interpreted the agreement accordingly.


Headnotes

[1] A property settlement agreement incorporated into a divorce decree is subject to interpretation based on the intent of the parties as expressed in the agreement as a whol…

[2] Alimony payments may be reduced when a condition triggering a premium waiver on a life insurance policy, which was part of the alimony provision, is met.

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

“when taken as a whole, it appears to be the intent of the parties that the alimony per se was $1290.00 and that the additional amount of $245.00 included in the alimony payment was more in the nature of a property settlement than as alimony.”

Establishes the court's interpretation of the parties' intent regarding the composition of the alimony payment

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

L.P. Gibson and Jimmie O. Gibson's divorce decree incorporated a property settlement agreement requiring L.P. Gibson to pay $1,535 per month in alimon…

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
JOHNSON, Chief Judge.

JOHNSON, Chief Judge.

This is an Interlocutory Appeal from the Circuit Court of Taylor County, Florida.

In summary, this case hinges upon the interpretation of a property settlement *447agreement which was incorporated in the final decree of divorce between the parties, particularly that portion of the agreement dealing with the amount of alimony.

The agreement provided, inter alia, that the plaintiff, L. P. Gibson, would pay to the defendant the sum of $1535.00 per month the rest of her life, except as elsewhere provided in said Agreement. In the same paragraph providing for the alimony, there is a provision that if a certain Gulf Life Insurance policy was terminated, can-celled, or lapsed, that such alimony payment would be reduced from $1535.00 per month to $1290.00 per month. (The difference being the amount of the premium on said policy.) This same paragraph also provides that such alimony shall be a charge against the plaintiff’s estate, apparently at the reduced rate of $1290.00.

The trial court entered a comprehensive order on the petition for rule to show cause, but declined to find the plaintiff in contempt for failure to pay the full alimony payment, but did decree that the agreement in question was not ambiguous, nor that it needed any further interpretation or clarification by the court. The court then held that the alimony was fixed at $1535.00 per month, and did not take into consideration the payment of the premium on the Gulf Life Insurance policy.

The premiums had been waived due to the disability of the plaintiff in the amount of $245.00 per month and the trial court termed this as “windfall” in favor of the defendant.

We have examined the briefs as well as the record and we are of the opinion that when taken as a whole, it appears to be the intent of the parties that the alimony per se was $1290.00 and that the additional amount of $245.00 included in the alimony payment was more in the nature of a property settlement than as alimony. The disability of the plaintiff having brought about the waiver of premium in the amount of $245.00, inured to the benefit of the plaintiff. The defendant had no control over the plaintiff’s disability nor could she demand the plaintiff to take his disability; therefore, it is apparent from a reading of the provisions of the Agreement pertaining to alimony and the insurance policy, that a reasonable interpretation of such Agreement leads to the conclusion that the alimony provisions would include the necessary money for the payment of the insurance policy premiums and when such premiums no longer had to be paid, then the alimony would be reduced to such amount, namely, $1290.00.

We therefore hold that the plaintiff was right in interpreting the amount of alimony to be $1290.00 per' month, so long as the disability from which the waiver of premium arose, continued to exist.

The order of the trial court is therefore reversed and remanded to the trial court for entry of an appropriate order not in conflict with these provisions of this opinion.

Reversed and Remanded.

RAWLS and SPECTOR, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Schwebke v. Aveline C. Schwebke, 347 So. 2d 645 (Fla. 3d DCA 1977)
    …n full, the weekly payments shall be reduced to $100. Robert paid the mortgage in full on July 28, 1975 and obtained a satisfaction from the mortgagee. Therefore, the weekly payments automatically were reduced to $100 per week. Cf. Gibson v. Gibson, 249 So. 2d 446 (Fla. 1st DCA 1971). Second, the issue involved was that of contempt which was referred by the trial judge to the general master. The general master correctly did not find Robert to be in contempt but did, in effect, modify the settlement agreement…
  • Cohen v. Cohen, 255 So. 2d 524 (Fla. 1971)
    …PER CURIAM. The petition for writ of certiorari reflected probable jurisdiction in this Court because of conflict with Blanton v. Blanton, 154 Fla. 750, 18 So. 2d 902 (1944), and Gibson v. Gibson, 249 So. 2d 446 (Fla.App.1st, 1971). We issued the writ and have heard argument of the parties. After hearing argument and upon further consideration [*525] of the matter, we have determined that there is no conflict and the Court is without jurisdiction. Therefore…
  • Gibson v. Gibson, 253 So. 2d 707 (Fla. 1971)
    …Certiorari denied. 249 So. 2d 446. ROBERTS, C. J., and CARLTON, ADKINS, BOYD and DEKLE, JJ., concur. ERVIN and McCAIN, JJ., dissent.…

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw