Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce
What happens when a spouse destroys collectibles or other personal property of the other spouse? This was an issue in the case Michener v. Michener, 3D24-0431 (Fla. 3d DCA January 22, 2025) in which the former wife was accused of destroying or disposing of “a portion of the former husband’s extensive nonmarital memorabilia collection, which included various books, Star Wars toys, celebrity and family photographs, a sketch of Cal Ripken, Jr., a vintage poster, a handmade football, and an engraved watch.”
The former husband valued these items at about $14,500.00 on his financial affidavit and testified at trial that the items were irreplaceable and therefore priceless. Each party had retirement accounts - the former husband’s was valued at over $1 million while the former wife’s was valued at a little over $800,000. To compensate the former husband for the property destroyed or disposed of by the former wife, the trial court ordered that each party would keep his or her respective retirement accounts, resulting in an award of $137,776.00 to the former husband above his equal share of the marital assets. The former wife appealed.
Citing Fla. Stat. 61.075, the appellate court noted “It is axiomatic that the statute does not specifically address the intentional destruction of nonmarital property. But because the former wife’s actions deprived the former husband of personal property to which he would be otherwise entitled, we find no error in the trial court’s consideration of this factor under the broad catchall of “other factors necessary to do equity and justice between the parties.” The court reversed, however, holding “We agree, however, with the former wife that the former husband assigned a material value of $14,500.00 to the spoliated items in his affidavit. And ‘the sentimental interest of one party in . . . property cannot take priority over financial fairness to the other party.’ [internal citation omitted]. Absent further specific testimony as to value, equating the value of the memorabilia with the overage in the former husband’s TSP fails for want of competent, substantial evidence and creates an unwarranted windfall. We are therefore constrained to reverse and remand for further proceedings.”
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