Massis v. Massis
| Decision Date | 01 November 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 89-806,89-806 |
| Citation | 551 So.2d 587,14 Fla. L. Weekly 2541 |
| Parties | 14 Fla. L. Weekly 2541 Barbara A. MASSIS, Appellant, v. Radi S. MASSIS, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Linda Miller Soud, of Chinoy & Soud, Jacksonville, for appellant.
William T. Lassiter, Jr., Jacksonville, for appellee.
Appellant, Barbara Massis, seeks review of a final judgment of dissolution of marriage by which she was denied any interest in the marital home, rehabilitative alimony, and her attorney's fees. Appellee, Radi Massis, received primary residential responsibility for the two minor children of the marriage and child support. We find no abuse of discretion in awarding custody of the children and child support to Mr. Massis, but reverse the trial court's award to Mr. Massis of the entire value of the marital home. We also remand the cause for reconsideration of the issues of rehabilitative alimony and attorney's fees.
The parties had been married eight years at the time of dissolution. During those eight years Mrs. Massis' primary efforts were in caring for the home and family, and helping her husband establish a family grocery business. She worked for the family business full-time or part-time for its first three years of operation, and upon dissolution she received lump sum alimony in an amount representing her contribution to that business. Prior to the marriage Mrs. Massis worked as a cashier at a Publix supermarket, and since the separation and divorce she has returned to this job.
Mr. Massis and his brother purchased the marital residence at a cost of $29,000 three years before the marriage. The appellant and appellee lived in the home during the entirety of their marriage, but at dissolution the home was still titled in the names of Mr. Massis and his brother. Mrs. Massis did some renovation on the house during the marriage, and at dissolution the value of the home had increased by an amount between $15,000 and $28,000. In her petition for dissolution, Mrs. Massis requested that the trial court "equitably distribute the marital property." The trial court noted that because the marital residence was titled in her husband's name and because Mrs. Massis had "neither plead [sic] nor established a special equity" in the marital residence, she was denied any interest in it.
Marital assets are, of course, those assets which have been created or increased in value by the parties' work efforts, services, or earnings. Turner v. Turner, 529 So.2d 1138, 1141 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988). A separately owned non-marital asset may become in part a marital asset when its enhanced value is due to marital funds or labor. Id. For the period when an asset is properly classified as a marital asset, the parties are entitled to an equitable distribution of any increase in value caused by inflation or market conditions. Sanders v. Sanders, 547 So.2d 1014, 1015 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989); Crapps v. Crapps, 501 So.2d 661 (Fla. 1st DCA 1987).
In the present case mortgage payments were made from marital funds on the Massis' marital residence during the eight years of their marriage. In addition, Mrs. Massis has demonstrated that she expended labor and marital funds in maintaining and renovating the home during the marriage. Because the "threshold requirement of marital labor or funds" has been established, some part of the current value of the marital residence is a marital asset, and this part is subject to equitable distribution.
Absent countervailing circumstances the starting point for equitable distribution of the value of a marital asset is a presumptive approximate equal division between the parties. Sanders at 1015; Annotation, Divorce: Equitable Distribution Doctrine, 41 A.L.R. 4th 481 (1985). In apportioning the value, however, the trial court must consider that the non-marital portion of the current value of the house, which is unrelated to either party's management, oversight, or other contribution during the marriage, is subject to exclusion from equitable distribution. Id. The court's distribution plan in this case should therefore treat the current value of the home accordingly (including any enhancement due to inflation or market conditions), excluding only that portion of the value which the husband may establish as exempt because of its character as a non-marital asset. We recognize that there may be disagreement in this...
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