Bell v. Bell
| Decision Date | 21 September 2011 |
| Docket Number | No. 4D10–40.,4D10–40. |
| Citation | 68 So.3d 321 |
| Parties | Jodie C. BELL, Appellant,v.Mitchell K. BELL, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Robin Bresky of the Law Offices of Robin Bresky, Boca Raton, for appellant.
Kristen A. Floyd and Joel M. Weissman of Joel M. Weissman, P.A., West Palm Beach, for appellee.TAYLOR, J.
The former wife, Jodie C. Bell, appeals the trial court's final judgment of dissolution of marriage and the denial of her motion for rehearing. The wife asserts the trial court erred in: (1) calculating the equalization payment by not including the wife's half of the husband's accounts receivable from loans he made to Royce and Bell Brothers, Inc.; (2) failing to make factual findings before denying the wife bridge-the-gap alimony; and (3) failing to reserve jurisdiction on the determination of the wife's attorney's fees. The former husband, Mitchell K. Bell, filed a cross-appeal as to the court's final judgment, asserting that the court erred in equitably distributing the equity in the home he inherited from his mother, and in equitably distributing the Ford Explorer, an asset that was disposed of during the dissolution proceedings by the parties' agreement. We reverse and remand as to all issues, except the wife's third issue regarding failure to reserve jurisdiction on the determination of attorney's fees. On this issue, we affirm.
The husband and the wife were married on January 19, 1997. The wife filed a petition for dissolution of marriage on February 28, 2007. Several hearings were held on the dissolution petition in September 2009. Gary Trugman, the wife's expert C.P.A. and business appraiser, testified that the husband was a fifty-percent owner in both Precision Time Systems, Inc. (“Precision”) and Royce Parking Control Systems (“Royce”). The husband is the CEO and manager of Royce; the husband's brother, Robert Bell, manages Precision. The valuation date, by stipulation, was February 28, 2007. Trugman testified that as of this date, the husband's interest in Precision was worth approximately $2,731,000. He testified that the husband's stock in Royce was worth $647,000. Royce had a negative book value, but still had a positive fair market value.
Richard Briscoe, a C.P.A., testified for the husband. He said that Precision Time Systems, Inc. was started before the parties married, in August 1992; Robert and the husband are fifty-percent owners. Briscoe testified that Bell Brothers, Inc. was set up to hold ownership of Royce's stock. Royce was purchased in 2001. Bell Brothers held the stock and financed the transaction. Briscoe agreed that “they borrowed money to purchase Royce in which the borrowed money is still outstanding, and so whatever value Royce could have, the other entity, Bell Brothers, Inc., which holds the stock of Royce, must be paid if there was a sale, and therefore, on a net asset sale, the debt would wipe out any gain.”
Regarding equitable distribution, Briscoe testified that Briscoe stated that if you take the value of Royce, it has to be in consideration of the debt.
In his valuation of the husband's assets contained within his Exhibit book, Briscoe showed a Note Receivable Summary, which indicated a Royce Note Receivable equaled $275,283 and a Bell Brothers Note Receivable equaled $385,328. Briscoe testified to these amounts at the hearing as follows:
WEISSMAN [the husband's counsel]: ... Then what else about notes receivable?
BRISCOE: Notes receivable, there's a number of different receivables from tax payments that were coming back. Mr. Kridel and I have worked all those out.
I think the largest items there deal with a note receivable from Royce and then a note receivable from Bell Brothers.
In their particular instance, they took the liability off the books so they didn't pick up the asset. That's the only difference. But actually, when you look at the difference, my value for the receivables from Royce are, if you add them together, are roughly $650,000. And then I have a zero value for Royce itself in Bell Brothers. If you look at their schedule, they have zero on the notes, but they have about 670 on Royce.
So as far as Royce goes, we're not apart. It's either in the receivables or it's in the entity. So that's really just a few thousand dollars apart on the valuation of Royce as it affects this marital net worth.
As to the house the husband inherited from his mother, the husband testified that he made mortgage payments on his mother's house before she died because she “had Stage IV breast cancer and her earnings were somewhat limited, and being a son, that's what I was able to do.” The wife knew about these payments and agreed to them. She never indicated that she would seek repayment or any sort of return for these payments made on behalf of the husband's mother.
Robert Bell testified that when his mother passed away, she willed her house to his brother (the husband) and him. The house was sold for $29,994. The wife testified she did not know if the husband inherited the house and admitted that she had no reason to doubt that the money was an inheritance. Further, Kridel, the wife's C.P.A., testified that the husband received an inheritance upon his mother's death, which included the home at issue.
Kridel testified that he used NADA values for the Ford Explorer, but Briscoe did not include the values because it was driven by the husband's son. Kridel did not know whether the Explorer was purchased by the husband and the wife for the son or if it was purchased by the son, though he did not believe title was in the son's name. Briscoe testified he does not include the children's cars, because they are usually gifts to the children.
The husband testified that his son, Jason, had a 2001 Ford Explorer that they bought used; the car was then given to the wife's son, Josh (the husband's stepson). Because the car needed major repairs, the husband did not think it was safe; they sold it to Cash for Clunkers and the husband leased Josh another car. The wife needed to sign the title for the husband to do this. This was done three to four months before the hearings.
The court entered its final judgment of dissolution of marriage. The court found that Royce had a zero value and Precision had a value of $630,290, and that the wife was entitled to an equalization payment of $296,352 from the husband. The court made no findings as to the $660,611 in accounts receivables due the husband in its valuation of Royce and Precision. The court denied the wife's request for alimony and made findings only as to her education, previous employment, the parties' vocational experts' testimony, and a possible range of salaries. Regarding the sale proceeds from the husband's mother's home, the court accepted the wife's position that these should be categorized as marital because the mortgage payments were made during the marriage and the proceeds should be equitably distributed. The court also considered the Ford Explorer as marital and belonging to the husband.
The wife first argues that the trial court erred in failing to include the husband's $660,611 accounts receivable from Royce and Bell in the final judgment equalization chart and in equitably distributing this amount. We agree.
Section 61.075(3), Florida Statutes (2009), provides, in pertinent part, that
(3) In any contested dissolution action wherein a stipulation and agreement has not been entered and filed, any distribution of marital assets or marital liabilities shall be supported by factual findings in the judgment or order based on competent substantial evidence with reference to the factors enumerated in subsection (1). The distribution of all marital assets and marital liabilities, whether equal or...
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