04-1288 BRASWELL V. BRASWELL

SUPREME COURT CASES

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State: Florida

Court: Florida Third District Court

Docket No: 04-1288 BRASWELL V. BRASWELL

Case Date: 12/22/2004

Preview:NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION AND, IF FILED, DISPOSED OF. IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA THIRD DISTRICT JULY TERM A.D., 2004 ** ** Appellant, v. RENEE BRASWELL, Appellee. ** Opinion filed December 22, 2004. An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Paul Siegel, Judge. Bruce S. Rogow, and Beverly A. Pohl, and Cheryl Zickler, for appellant. Holland & Knight, and Rodolfo Sorondo, Jr., and Lenore C. Smith, for appellee. Before GREEN, FLETCHER, and RAMIREZ, JJ. RAMIREZ, J. The husband, A. Glenn Braswell, appeals an order that ** ** ** LOWER TRIBUNAL NO. 99-17994 CASE NOS. 3D04-1288

A. GLENN BRASWELL,

denied his motion to dissolve an injunction based upon his claim of homestead on four residential condominium units. The wife,

Renee Braswell, cross-appeals the trial court's ruling that only

6.7034% of Glenn's condominium roof be attributed to Glenn's ownership interest in the roof. We reverse the trial court's

determination that Glenn's ownership interest in the four units exceeded the one-half acre or 21,780 square feet limitation

under the Florida Constitution, and affirm the cross-appeal. Following the parties' Mediated Settlement Agreement, Renee obtained three final judgments in the sum of $18 million against Glenn. In September 2002, the trial court entered an injunction

so as to prevent Glenn from transferring assets outside of the court's jurisdiction, and affirmed the injunction on various

occasions through the issuance of various orders.

The assets

included four residential penthouse condominium units grouped into a single-level condominium located at 1500 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, Florida. The condominium documents declared that

Glenn had a 6.7034% interest in the common and limited common elements of the property. Glenn moved to dissolve the injunction arguing that the property was his homestead, and was thus exempt from levy and any forced sale by creditors. Renee argued that the injunction

should remain in effect because Glenn's four units exceeded the one-half acre limitation imposed by the Constitution on

homesteads located within a municipality.

Renee also argued

that: the condominiums were separate residences, Glenn lived in only one of the four units, Glenn intended to live in one unit

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temporarily, Glenn used part of the condominiums as a business, and that, even if the property was indeed Glenn's homestead, an equitable lien should be imposed on the property because Glenn owed Renee family argued support that and the had total engaged square in fraudulent for conduct.1 homestead

footage

purposes was 37,599 square feet. upon the following: 11,355

She calculated the total based feet for all of the four

square

units, plus 17,559 square feet representing Glenn's share of the common elements (6.7034% of 261,945 square feet), plus 8,685 square feet representing Glenn's use of the portion of the roof. After a five day hearing ensued, the trial court concluded that Glenn's square footage for homestead purposes was 29,496, including the square footage attributed to his interest in the common and limited common elements. The court first determined that the total common and limited elements consisted of 270,630 square feet, which combined 226,676 square feet attributed to the common elements and 43,954 square feet attributed to the limited ownership common in areas. common The and court limited applied common Glenn's elements 6.7034% to the

the

270,630 square feet for the common and limited common areas and arrived at 18,141 square feet as the total for the common and limited
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common

elements.

The

court

then

applied

the

total

As the trial court only ruled on the one-half acre issue, we express no opinion as to Renee's other arguments, which she is free to pursue upon remand.

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square footage of Glenn's condominium units or 11,355 square feet to the 18,141 square feet total for the common and limited common elements to arrive at 29,496 square feet (0.677 acre) for homestead purposes. This is a case of first impression. We are asked to

construe the constitutional homestead exemption in the context of a condominium. Article X,

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