Lavelle v. Lavelle, 93-02113
| Decision Date | 06 April 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-02113,93-02113 |
| Citation | 634 So.2d 1111 |
| Parties | 19 Fla. L. Weekly D801 Frank J. LAVELLE, Appellant, v. Martha LAVELLE, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Stevan T. Northcutt of Levine, Hirsch, Segall & Northcutt, P.A., Tampa, for appellant.
James A. Obesco of Wallace, Finck, Boake & Colclough, St. Petersburg, for appellee.
Frank J. Lavelle, the husband, appeals the financial terms of a final judgment terminating his 45-year marriage to Martha Lavelle. He contends the trial court unequally distributed the marital assets without factual findings to support the distribution, failed to distribute all of the marital assets and, based on the equitable distribution, improperly awarded permanent periodic alimony to the wife. Because we agree with each of these contentions, we reverse and remand this case to the trial court for further proceedings.
The parties are both in their seventies and in poor health. The wife was a homemaker for all but the first few years of the marriage and assumed primary responsibility for the rearing of the parties' two children. The husband was a "workaholic" who traveled extensively, providing for his family financially but leaving the domestic responsibilities to the wife.
Much of the wife's trial testimony related to suspicions of philandering by the husband. Although this testimony appeared to be the focal point of the trial, the trial court made no findings of adultery or dissipation of marital assets as a result of adulterous conduct. There was also evidence of $31,000 in legal fees spent by the husband to defend an earlier criminal charge stemming from his job. Again the trial court made no findings on this issue. While the general lack of factual findings was error, we cannot say that the error resulted from the court's silence on these two issues because they do not appear to support the court's disparate distribution.
In the equitable distribution, the trial court awarded each party a motor vehicle, one-half of the husband's pension accrued during the marriage, and one-half of four limited partnerships. The court then awarded approximately $305,374 of investments to the wife and approximately $109,381 of investments to the husband. The wife also received the marital home valued at $134,500 as lump sum alimony and $75 per week in permanent periodic alimony. No provision was made for the distribution of the household furnishings, the wife's jewelry, or a jointly owned land trust. For the following reasons, we conclude the trial court erred.
First, the trial court is required to include in...
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