Smith Family Law Update: Week of October 2, 2017
Perkins v. Simmonds: 4th DCA, October 4, 2017: The presumption of paternity to the husband of the mother is not absolute. In this case it was uncontested that putative father was the father, the child was given the putative father's last name, mother had represented she was getting a divorce when she had the child, putative father financially supported the child, and putative father had a strong parent/child bond with the child. Therefore the trial court erred in granting mother's motion to dismiss simply because she was in an intact marriage at the time of the birth of the child.
Schroll v. Schroll: 1st DCA, October 6, 2017: A trial court may award a nominal award of permanent alimony to a spouse who has a clear need for permanent alimony but the other spouse does not have a current ability to pay. However, in this case the trial court awarded wife $1,200,000 in assets and originally held that alimony was not necessary. On rehearing the trial court awarded the nominal alimony without an explanation. Therefore, the issue of nominal permanent periodic alimony was remanded for further explanation. Trial court erred in valuing certain accounts as of date of filing as evidence showed the husband had utilized the accounts to pay for marital expenses during the dissolution including living expenses, attorney's fees and costs, new vehicles for both parties, moving expenses, and paying off the mortgage on the former marital residence before it sold. Issue of valuation of retirement accounts was remanded for explanation as to why valuation of said accounts was tied to date of filing when evidence showed that the accounts had fallen significantly in value based on passive market factors.
Frost v. Frost: 1st DCA, October 6, 2017: Former Wife did not preserve the issue of whether the trial court abused its discretion by not setting forth the steps the former wife must take to restore unsupervised visitation with the minor child. Former wife could have filed a motion for rehearing but she failed to do so nor did she take any other steps to address the issue.
Posted by Roy Smith on Oct 09th 2017
