Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce
For a Florida court to have the power to divorce a couple, one or both of the spouses must have resided in Florida for the six months immediately preceding the filing for dissolution. When parties split time between residences in Florida and other states or countries, this can make it difficult to ascertain the true residence of the parties. This issue arose in the case Mejia v. Mejia, 4D19-3847 (Fla. 4th DCA April 29, 2020).
The parties were married in the Dominican Republic but for a portion of their marriage, they lived in Florida where the husband was based as a pilot. At some point, the parties leased their home in Florida and moved back to the Dominican Republic. In the Dominican Republic, the husband was arrested for domestic violence. The parties separated and the husband filed for divorce in the Dominican Republic. An order concerning custody and time-sharing was entered there. The wife filed a petition for divorce in Florida and the husband moved to dismiss, alleging neither party lived in Florida for the six months prior to the date of filing, thus the court had no subject matter jurisdiction to entertain the divorce petition.
After a hearing on the motion to dismiss, the court found the parties held Florida driver’s licenses, were registered to vote in Florida, had joint bank accounts in Florida and leased a vehicle here. The court found the husband treated Florida as the chief seat of his affairs, and he testified he was in Florida weekly although he claimed not to live in Florida. After the court denied the motion to dismiss, the wife sought temporary alimony which was granted based on the husband earning $180,000 annually. The husband appealed the denial of his motion to dismiss and the court’s determination of temporary alimony.
As to the jurisdictional issue, the appellate court affirmed the trial court’s finding that there was subject matter jurisdiction because the husband was residing in Florida for the requisite period of time prior to the filing of the divorce petition. Moving on to the temporary alimony, the appellate court agreed with the husband that the alimony was incorrectly calculated based on his gross income. The trial court was required to use the husband’s net income to determine alimony. Noting that because of this error, the husband was “now ordered to pay more than 75% of his net income to the wife”, the court held “We agree with the husband that the court erred in using his gross income and in failing to factor in his child support obligation to determine his net income. We therefore reverse and remand for the trial court to recalculate the husband’s ability to pay.”
A temporary support award in a Florida divorce may be subject to appeal. This is why it is important to have a Miami divorce attorney assisting you each step of the way. Schedule a consultation to go over your case.