VALLADARES v. VALLADARES

SUPREME COURT CASES

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State: Florida

Court: Florida Third District Court

Docket No: 08-2327 08-1986

Case Date: 01/06/2010

Preview:Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida, January Term, A.D. 2010
Opinion filed January 6, 2010. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing. ________________ Nos. 3D08-2327, 3D08-1986, 3D08-2868 Lower Tribunal No. 07-6249 ________________

Jose Valladares,
Appellant, vs.

Jacqueline Junco-Valladares,
Appellee.

An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Scott M. Bernstein, Judge. Michael Lechtman, for appellant. Marlene S. Reiss, for appellee. CORRECTED OPINION Before RAMIREZ, C.J., and COPE and ROTHENBERG, JJ. RAMIREZ, C.J.

Jose Valladares, the husband, appeals the trial court's Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage and subsequent Amended Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage awarding his former wife an equitable distribution award, lump sum alimony, permanent periodic alimony, and child support. The husband also

appeals the trial court's Final Judgment granting attorney's fees, costs and suit monies to the wife, Jacqueline Junco-Valladares. We affirm the dissolution of the parties' marriage and the equitable distribution of the parties' marital home but reverse and remand for further proceedings on the other issues of equitable distribution, alimony, and child support. I. Factual Background The parties, husband Jose Valladares and wife Jacqueline Junco-Valladares, were married on December 31, 1992 and separated in January of 2007. The petitioner filed a petition for dissolution of the marriage on March 6, 2007 and the case proceeded to trial on June 13, 2008. This fourteen-year marriage resulted in two minor-children. The children were nine and ten years old at the time of trial; the wife was forty two years old and the husband was seventy years old. The husband also has five adult children from two prior marriages but neither party has other minor children. The husband is a general surgeon in solo practice. The wife is also a doctor but has never had a license to practice medicine in the State of Florida or

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elsewhere. The trial court noted in the Amended Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage: "it is not reasonable to find that [the] Wife can earn the necessary licenses to practice medicine based on a medical degree earned twenty (20) years ago." The wife did, however, obtain a master's degree in public health and is employed full-time with the Veterans Administration Medical Center earning $47,000.00 annually as of 2007. The record regarding the husband's income is less clear. At trial, Phillip Schecter, the joint financial expert, testified that the husband's income in 2006 was $256,743, but that he was in arrears for his federal income taxes for both 2005 and 2006. Schecter further testified that the husband had not yet filed his 2007 income tax return. The husband disputed that his current income is as high as Schecter indicated. At trial he stated: "[a]t 70 years of age, I cannot continue to work the same way I was working before. I should have retired . . ." The husband also testified that the net income he derived from his medical practice amounts to an annual salary of $74,000, and he provided a revised financial statement to that effect. In contention between his tabulation and the various tabulations provided by Schecter for the trial court's perusal, were costs that the husband deducted from the gross receipts of his practice. This included costs he attributed to employee salaries and how rent indebtedness for his medical practice should be recognized.

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The husband claimed $36,000 as the rental cost incurred by his medical practice, a sum which Schecter agreed was a fair price. However, in 2007, the husband only paid $10,708 towards the $36,000 rent figure. The husband paid the rent to an entity in which he owned a twenty-five percent interest and the $10,708 sum paid represented only the annual real estate taxes for the property where his medical practice was located. The husband claimed that the unpaid $25,292 balance remaining was debt, "accrued rent not paid" and listed that amount as an expense in his revised financial affidavit. In contrast, Schecter viewed the unpaid amount as additional cash flow since he had in fact only paid out $10,708 for rent. Ultimately, the trial court determined that the husband's gross annual income amounted to $179,757 and based its decisions on that sum. Included in the $179,757 figure are social security benefits that the husband received. The

husband continued to work beyond the age of retirement, and in addition received a monthly social security benefit of $1,184. Further, because the husband was entitled to social security benefits, his minor children were provided with dependent benefits attributable to their father's social security benefits. Each minor child received a monthly benefit of $715, payable until they turn eighteen. The trial court redirected the combined children's $1,430 monthly benefit checks to the wife. Then, based on Schecter's advice, the trial court imputed the $1,430 monthly social security benefit into the wife's income. The trial court did not

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factor the children's social security benefits into the husband's income, and it did not offset the children's social security benefit from the husband's child support obligations. The main controversy regarding the division of marital assets involves the Coral Gables waterfront home, in which the couple resided during most of their marriage. This house was purchased by the husband and his first wife in 1978, fourteen-years prior to the marriage at issue, and was titled solely in the husband's name during the marriage.1 The home was flooded by Hurricane Andrew in August 1992. The parties were married in December 1992. The testimony was that both parties devoted personal time and attention to the rebuilding, which took four years, and marital funds were used to pay for the maintenance, upkeep and taxes on the property. By statute, a marital asset included "the enhancement in value and appreciation of non-marital assets resulting either from the efforts of either party during the marriage or from the contribution to or expenditure thereon

The home was flooded by Hurricane Andrew in August 1992. In December 1992, the parties were married. According to the testimony, the home was rebuilt using insurance proceeds and a $50,000 loan. The testimony was that both parties devoted personal time and attention to the rebuilding, which took four years, and marital funds were used to pay for the maintenance, upkeep, and taxes on the property. By statute, a marital asset includes "the enhancement in value and appreciation of non-marital assets resulting either from the efforts of either party during the marriage or from the contribution to or expenditure thereon of marital funds or other forms of marital assets, or both."

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