Gallant v. Gallant

• Decision Date: 08 May 1985
• Docket Number: No. 84-1423,84-1423
• Citation: Gallant v. Gallant, 468 So.2d 479, 10 Fla. L. Weekly 1174 (Fla. App. 1985)
• Parties: 10 Fla. L. Weekly 1174 Beatrice J. GALLANT, Appellant, v. William D. GALLANT, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 479

468 So.2d 479

10 Fla. L. Weekly 1174

Beatrice J. GALLANT, Appellant, v. William D. GALLANT, Appellee.

No. 84-1423.

District Court of Appeal of Florida Second District.

May 8, 1985.

Robert L. Hoskins, III of Robert L. Hoskins, III, P.A., Clearwater, for appellant.

Robert A. Love, Clearwater, for appellee.

LEHAN, Judge.

The wife appeals the final judgment in this dissolution of marriage case. We reverse and remand for an increase in the amount of permanent periodic alimony, for consideration of an increased award to the wife with respect to the marital home, for the disposition of jointly owned personal property, and for further proceedings on the wife's prayer for attorney's fees.

The parties were married for twenty-three years. At the time of dissolution, the wife was fifty-eight years old and had not worked outside the home during the entire term of the marriage. The husband, aged sixty, had previously worked in the field of real estate, earning between $25,000 and at least $60,000 annually in the years immediately prior to the dissolution. At the time of the dissolution the husband was selling vacuum cleaners for a reported income of $225 per week. The only substantial assets of the parties at the time of dissolution, according to their financial affidavits, were the jointly owned marital home, valued at between $95,000 and $120,000 with a $9,000 mortgage, and another piece of jointly owned real property with an equity of about $5,000.

The final judgment of dissolution provided for the husband and wife each to retain one-half interest in the marital home and granted the husband's request for partition of that property. The wife was awarded $45.00 per week in permanent periodic alimony, to be reduced after six months to $25.00 per week. The husband was awarded immediate possession of certain items of personal property listed on an inventory submitted by the husband during trial. Each party was to bear his or her own costs and attorney's fees.

The wife's first issue on appeal is that the award of permanent alimony was an amount less than the wife's needs and the husband's ability to pay. We agree. The evidence shows that the wife had no income other than the alimony. Her age and lack of work experience make it unreasonable to expect that she can look forward to much income from any job she might be able to obtain. On the other hand, the husband admitted to weekly income of $225 and weekly expenses of $150, leaving $75.00 net weekly income available to pay alimony. Also, evidence of the husband's prior employment and income might reflect that his earning potential is substantially greater than his present income. Desilets v. Desilets, 377 So.2d 761, 764 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979). In addition, there was testimony by the wife concerning comments by the husband that he would arrange his affairs so that the wife would receive nothing. However common those types of comments may or may not be in this type of case, the record does contain what at least on the surface appears to be a major disparity between the husband's assets revealed in his financial affidavit filed in this case and substantially greater assets of his shown on a financial statement signed by him and submitted to a bank two months prior to the filing of this dissolution action. As the trial court noted, the wife's previous counsel failed to pursue discovery procedures as to the above referenced comments by the husband. Although we are by no means in a position, as was the trial court, to be familiar with the situation, the record shows that when these matters were raised at rehearing there was no...