Liebler v. Liebler

• Decision Date: 04 May 1982
• Docket Number: No. 81-376,81-376
• Citation: 413 So.2d 1246
• Parties: Elizabeth Ann LIEBLER, Appellant, v. Robert F. LIEBLER, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 1246

413 So.2d 1246

Elizabeth Ann LIEBLER, Appellant, v. Robert F. LIEBLER, Appellee.

No. 81-376.

District Court of Appeal of Florida Third District.

May 4, 1982.

Rehearing Denied June 9, 1982.

Sinclair, Louis, Siegel, Heath, Nussbaum & Zavertnik and John L. Zavertnik and Paul A. Louis, Miami, for appellant.

Horton, Perse & Ginsberg and Mallory H. Horton, Miami, for appellee.

Before NESBITT, BASKIN and JORGENSON, JJ.

NESBITT, Judge.

The wife appeals the final judgment of dissolution of marriage contending: (a) that the trial court erred in awarding her rehabilitative alimony for eighteen months, instead of awarding permanent alimony; (b) that the child support in the amount of $300 per month per child was inadequate to provide for the remedial schooling of two of the couple's four minor children; and (c) that the trial court improperly denied her a one-half interest in common stock which she claims was the subject of a gift from her husband.

The husband cross-appeals contending that the trial court erred in awarding the husband's one-half interest in the marital home to the wife; or, in the alternative, by not requiring the wife to convey to him her one-half interest in a jointly owned rental home.

The husband is a fifty-four-year-old practicing dentist with a substantial earning capacity and pension funds or plans sufficient to provide for his future retirement. The wife, thirty-nine years old, is a high school graduate who worked briefly as an airline stewardess prior to this sixteen-year marriage. She also worked briefly after the marriage as a reservation clerk for an airline but retired from employment so that the couple could start a family by adopting a child. After the family was completed by the birth of three more children, the wife worked as an airline recruiter for a short period in the early 1970's. The wife has no other training or skills.

The parties jointly own a marital home valued at between $85,000 and $100,000, against which there is a $20,000 first mortgage. The rental home is valued at between $42,000 and $60,000 and is encumbered by a $24,000 mortgage. The husband owns an estimated $25,000 worth of common stock in a land investment corporation in the Florida Keys.

Two of the couple's four minor children have learning disabilities. There was uncontradicted evidence from a child psychologist, an educational counselor, and a teacher, also supported by the husband's own testimony, indicating the pointed need for remedial special education in varying degrees for these two children. Additionally, the husband expressed his desire that these children have such remedial attention.

Under Foss v. Foss, 392 So.2d 606, 607 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981) and Colucci v. Colucci, 392 So.2d 577 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), the record will not support an award of rehabilitative alimony. The wife is a full-time mother with no marketable skills and no demonstrable employment possibilities. By the time her youngest children are no longer in need of her services, her ability to become employed will be further diminished. Since her marriage, her primary source of income has been her husband. Consequently, the judgment is reversed and remanded for the trial court to fix and determine an award of permanent alimony commensurate with the wife's needs and the husband's ability to provide.

The finding recited in the final judgment that there is no need for remedial education is contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence, Whitman v. Pet Incorporated, 335 So.2d 577, 579 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976), cert. denied, 348 So.2d 951 (Fla.1977); Dixson v. Kattel, 311 So.2d 827, 828 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975), and to the husband's laudable desire to assist the slightly...