Barrs v. Barrs, BM-434

• Decision Date: 10 April 1987
• Docket Number: No. BM-434,BM-434
• Parties: 12 Fla. L. Weekly 1001 Jack L. BARRS, Appellant, v. Beverly B. BARRS, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 602

505 So.2d 602

12 Fla. L. Weekly 1001

Jack L. BARRS, Appellant, v. Beverly B. BARRS, Appellee.

No. BM-434.

District Court of Appeal of Florida,

First District.

April 10, 1987.

Rehearing Denied May 11, 1987.

Barry L. Zisser, Jacksonville, for appellant.

Harry B. Mahon, of Mahon & Farley, Jacksonville, for appellee.

ZEHMER, Judge.

The former husband appeals a final judgment of dissolution of marriage. The initial point on appeal is whether the trial court made an equitable distribution of the marital assets that complies with the applicable law. We are unable to determine the basis of the trial court's decision because no explicit findings of fact were made in the final judgment. We therefore reverse and, for the following reasons, remand for further proceedings.

The parties were married ten years, and they have no children. The husband is a licensed physician in active practice. The wife manages rental property titled in her name. It appears from the hotly disputed record that at the time of the marriage the wife owned an oceanfront home in Ponte Vedra, a rental home in Georgia, an apartment complex in St. Augustine, two automobiles, and approximately $31,000 in checking and savings accounts. The husband owned a house on Lake Asbury, an automobile, savings of $12,000, and stocks and bonds worth approximately $6,000. During the marriage various parcels of real property were acquired which were titled either in the wife's name alone or in both parties' names.

The wife filed a petition for dissolution of marriage seeking periodic and lump-sum alimony. In his amended answer, the husband denied the wife's right to alimony, claimed special equities in all the couple's properties, requested alimony from the wife, and requested equitable distribution of all assets accumulated during the marriage, including an interest in all the wife's assets owned prior to the marriage to the extent of appreciation during the marriage. Extensive discovery was had, numerous depositions were taken, and the final hearing extended over several days in December 1985 and January 1986 during which some fifty exhibits were presented and 648 pages of transcribed testimony was put in evidence. Throughout the proceedings the parties disagreed as to the facts, figures, and valuations of their properties. In their respective briefs, the parties dispute the value of assets based on the evidence presented at trial, particularly with respect to the properties acquired during the marriage and placed in the wife's sole name.

The final judgment of dissolution does not contain any explicit findings of fact similar to those required in administrative law cases, ¹ worker's compensation cases, ² or, indeed, by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. ³ There are no findings indicating the method of valuation used by the trial court in arriving at its judgment. Rather, the final judgment merely recites that:

(e) During the marriage the Husband carried on his medical practice. The Wife worked in his office part of the time and conducted her business of dealing in real estate, at which she was successful.

(f) The Wife is entitled to retain as her sole property all of the real property in her name, and all accounts, moneys, investments, notes, mortgages and any other personal property in her name or controlled by her free from any claim or interest of the Husband thereto or therein.

(g) The Husband is entitled to retain as his sole property all real property in his name, and all accounts, moneys, investments, notes, mortgages and any other personal property in his name or controlled by him free from any claim or interest of the Wife thereto and therein.

(h) The parties shall become tenants in common of any real and personal property in their joint names.

(i) The aforesaid division and disposition of the property between the parties is an equitable division and resolution of the rights and claims asserted by the parties in this action.

(j) Neither party needs or is entitled to alimony, support or contribution on fees and costs from the other party.

It is apparent that the trial court essentially left the parties where it found them, the recitation of equitable distribution in subparagraph (i) notwithstanding. Although its disposition smacks of finding special equities in each party with respect to certain properties, the judgment contained no explicit ruling on the issue of special equities raised by the pleadings. More importantly, however, without explicit findings of fact resolving the hotly disputed character and valuations of the many properties owned by the parties, it is impossible, for all practical purposes, for us to accord any meaningful appellate review of whether the result reached by the trial court accomplished an equitable distribution that conforms with the law of Florida. Our appellate courts have stated that a trial court cannot ignore a request for equitable distribution in a marriage dissolution. Van Boven v. Van Boven, 453 So.2d 937 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984). The matter should be given good faith consideration and if the trial judge concludes that no equitable distribution is appropriate, he should "make findings justifying the lack of such a provision." Smith v. Smith, 487 So.2d 339 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986), rev. denied, 496 So.2d 143 (Fla.1986) (citing Van Boven ). See also Danoff v....