Baker v. Baker, 81-574
| Citation | 403 So.2d 1111 |
| Decision Date | 18 September 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-574,81-574 |
| Parties | William Elija BAKER, Appellant, v. Becky Marie BAKER, Appellee. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Florida (US) |
Ann Terrell Carley, Patient Legal Advocacy, Chattahoochee, for appellant.
No appearance for appellee.
William Elija Baker (the husband) appeals the final judgment of dissolution of his marriage to Becky Marie Baker (the wife). We affirm in part and reverse in part.
The wife filed a petition for dissolution on August 26, 1980, also seeking custody of the parties' minor child (the husband is not the child's natural father, but he had legally adopted the child) and full ownership and control of the parties' residence. At the time the petition was filed, the husband was being held in jail pending disposition of criminal charges arising out an incident in which he had shot a gun into the boarding house in which the wife was living. He nevertheless filed a pro se response on September 15, agreeing that the marriage was irretrievably broken and that the wife should have custody of the child, but requesting that the hearing be postponed for ninety days so that he could produce evidence in support of his allegation that the wife had agreed to convey her interest in the marital home to him in exchange for his conveying his interest in a certain automobile to her. This motion was denied on October 3, but the husband was given twenty days "to further plead." In response, the husband filed another pro se pleading denominated "Respondent Request Hearing," which alleged for the first time that the wife had sold his personal property without his consent "for her personal gain" and was conspiring to keep him in jail, and that the wife should not have custody of the child because she "is unfit mother in that she had comitted (sic) perjury has swindle (sic) State and Federal people out of property and money and Petitioner have (sic) charges against her, just as soon as Bank officials and the F.B.I. visit Respondent at the Jail."
Final hearing was held on December 1, 1980. The husband had been notified of the hearing, but did not appear either personally or through counsel. Prior to the hearing, the husband had been committed to Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee, having been found incompetent to stand trial. It appears that the husband was incarcerated, either in jail or in Chattahoochee, at all times during the pendency of the wife's petition for dissolution, and he did not have counsel representing him in this matter. These facts were known to the trial court. The court nevertheless not only found that it had jurisdiction over the parties, which it most assuredly did, but proceeded to hold the hearing and enter final judgment.
Other than one witness who testified solely concerning the wife's residence in Florida, the only witness at the hearing was the wife. She testified that she and her daughter needed the marital home to live in, although they were currently living in her mother's rooming house and the marital home was rented out. She and her husband had purchased the home jointly with a $700 down payment and had less than $500 equity in it. She had worked throughout the marriage, and both she and the husband had contributed to the payments. The husband had been unemployed since February, 1980, however.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court announced that it would dissolve the marriage and award custody of the child to the wife. The court continued:
Because of the Husband's current problem with the law and his own emotional problems, the Court makes no provision at this time for visitation, but will reserve that.
The Court, however, there being jurisdiction over his person, there being such a small equity in this home, which is needed and necessary for the financial security of the minor child that's been adopted by Mr. Baker, will award, in lieu of temporary child support, the interest of the Husband to the Wife, and he will be required to execute a quit-claim deed. If he fails or refuses to do so within ten days, then the judgment of this Court shall operate to transfer his interest in the home to the Wife.
She will assume the mortgage payments and save the Husband harmless as indicated here.
You might embrace that as temporary alimony and child support. For the title purposes, we might say that let me get a little information.
Since he's been out of work, you've been making payments on the home?
Final judgment was entered on January 6, 1981, in accordance with the court's oral pronouncement except that the court reserved jurisdiction concerning child support and made no mention of visitation rights. On December 22, 1980, motions for rehearing were filed by both the husband pro se and by a legal services attorney on the husband's behalf. Both motions raised the issue of the husband's lack of opportunity...
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Johnson v. Johnson, 1D07-5377.
...court erred in failing to give appellant an opportunity to appear (at least telephonically) at the hearing. See Baker v. Baker, 403 So.2d 1111, 1113-14 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981) (holding that where incarcerated husband's pleadings adequately apprised trial court that husband desired to present evi......
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Alfonso v. Alfonso, 3D01-623.
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