Buttermore v. Meyer, 89-3059
| Decision Date | 04 April 1990 |
| Docket Number | No. 89-3059,89-3059 |
| Citation | 559 So.2d 357 |
| Parties | 15 Fla. L. Weekly D900 Joyce Kaye Meyer BUTTERMORE, Appellant, v. James Bert MEYER, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Jacalyn N. Kolk and Albert Craig Penson of Hilton, Hilton and Kolk, Panama City Beach, for appellant.
James Bert Meyer, Tallahassee and Sandra G. Adkins, Panama City, for appellee.
Appellant, Joyce Kaye Meyer Buttermore (wife), appeals from a post-dissolution order enforcing and modifying the terms of the final judgment dissolving her marriage to appellee, James Bert Meyer (husband). She challenges various provisions of the trial court's order, including provisions calling for shared parental responsibility and liberal visitation. She also argues that the trial court erred in allowing the husband over three and one-half years to satisfy his arrearages in making child support payments. We affirm in part and reverse in part.
The parties' eleven year marriage was dissolved by final judgment entered by the Circuit Court of Bay County in 1978. Pursuant to a settlement agreement incorporated into the final judgment, the wife was granted sole custody and control of the two minor children, subject to the husband's reasonable visitation. The husband was required to pay $400 per month as child support. Subsequent to the dissolution, the husband moved to Tallahassee, while the wife and children remained in Panama City.
In 1989, after the older child had reached majority, the husband filed his petition for modification requesting shared parental responsibility and increased visitation with his fourteen year-old son. As a basis for the modification requested, the husband alleged that he had remarried and established a stable home. He also alleged that he and his former wife interpreted "reasonable visitation" differently, and that the result of the differing interpretations was an undue limitation on his visitation with his son. The wife counterpetitioned for various relief, including payment of child support arrearages.
At the hearing there appeared to be no dispute as to the husband's assertion that he had remarried and had a stable home, but there was considerable dispute as to whether the husband's visitation had been unduly restricted. Although the parties' daughter was not involved in the petition, having reached the age of majority, she testified that she visited with her father whenever he asked, which had amounted to five or six times each year. The son testified that during his summer visitation with his father, his father would return from work around 7:00 in the evening and that the son spent most of his time watching television. He stated that he had actively participated in baseball and soccer for several years and that weekend and lengthy summer visitation with his father in Tallahassee would severely interrupt, and in some instances preclude, his participation in these sports. A psychologist with experience in working with adolescents testified regarding her evaluation of the son's development and mental attitude. It was her opinion that it was important for the son, given his personal experiences and feelings, to continue interaction with his peers through participation in sports activities and that full weekend visitation and extended visitation throughout the summer would not be beneficial and would be viewed by the child as punishment. Additional evidence also revealed that the husband was in arrears in making child support payments.
The trial court entered an order awarding the husband shared parental responsibility and concomitant "liberal" rights of visitation. The order provided that the child's primary residential home would be with the wife, subject to liberal visitation by the husband. The order set forth a schedule consisting of visitation every other weekend, six weeks in the summer, one week at Christmas and Thanksgiving, Father's Day, the father's birthday, and the child's birthday in alternate years. Additionally, the court found that the husband was $1,093 in arrears in making child support payments, but, without any finding as to the husband's ability to pay, the court allowed the husband to pay the arrearages at the rate of $25 per month.
At the outset, we reject the husband's contention that our review of the custody and visitation portions of the modification order is controlled by the "reasonableness" standard of Canakaris v. Canakaris, 382 So.2d 1197 (Fla.1980). We have addressed this issue in prior cases and have found that the Canakaris standard of review applies to review of trial court orders modifying child support and alimony awards but does not apply to orders concerning modification of child custody and visitation. See Zediker v. Zediker, 444 So.2d 1034,...
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