Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Family Law Procedure

When parties are ordered to submit their proposed final judgments to the court to sign, the court must still use independent judgment in deciding which order to sign. When a court adopts an order verbatim, it may indicate independent judgment did not occur. This was an issue in the case King v. King, 4D22-1493 (Fla. 4th DCA June 21, 2023).

In this divorce case, the parties were ordered to provide their proposed final judgments to the court after an evidentiary hearing. The court adopted the former husband’s version of the order, verbatim with the exception of filling in the date and removing blank spaces. The order contained repetitive clauses, grammatical and spelling errors. The former wife appealed.

The appellate court reversed, holding it was clear no independent judgment was used in entering the order. The court noted that verbatim adoption alone is not a basis to set aside an order, but it set out factors that are relevant in reviewing whether a proposed order was entered with independent judgment:

“1) Is the signed order consistent with or divergent from the verbal rulings of the court?

2) How much time has passed since the hearing, and does the judge remember the case?

3) Are there irregularities or conflicts in the terms of the order?

4) Did the judge participate in the trial?

5) Did the judge edit or alter the proposed judgment to conform it to his or her conclusions about the case, or did he or she sign it verbatim?”

The court further held that the lack of transcript did not preclude appellate review: “The father appears to argue this court cannot reverse without a transcript of the hearing. However, this court and the Fifth District Court of Appeal have reversed an adopted order in the absence of a transcript where it appeared the trial court did not independently consider the merits of the case. See Chetram v. Singh, 984 So. 2d 614, 615-17 (Fla. 5th DCA 2008); Ross, 867 So. 2d at 570.”

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