Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce
How does a court determine the marital portion of a non-marital property that is not solely owned by a spouse? For example, a spouse may have purchased a home prior to the marriage and that spouse may own the property jointly with his or her parent. Therefore, depending on how the property is titled, the spouse may only own fifty percent of the property as his or her non-marital portion. This was an issue in the case Wilson v. Hurter, 2D2024-1954 (Fla. 2d DCA September 26, 2025).
The former wife in this divorce case owned a property equally with her father which was purchased prior to the parties’ marriage. In calculating the marital portion of this property, the trial court determined:
However, the Court finds Husband's testimony credible as to the amounts of marital funds spent to maintain, preserve, and improve the Wife's Home ($48,000.00 paid for property taxes—average of $8,000.00 per year for years 2014-2020; $9,000.00 for property insurance—average of $1,500.00 per year from 2014-2020; $10,000.00 paid to add an air conditioning unit and additional ductwork to Wife's Home; $5,000.00 for new carpet; and $3,000.00 for new blinds), totaling $72,000.00.
As a result of this valuation, the former wife was required to make an equalizing payment to the former husband of $36,523. The former wife appealed.
The appellate court reversed, holding “The trial court erred in its calculation of the marital interest in the former wife's premarital home because the trial court considered marital expenditures without evidence or findings that those expenditures enhanced the value of the premarital asset and because the trial court failed to consider that the former wife has only a fifty percent interest in the premarital home." The court concluded “We reverse this portion of the final judgment and the accompanying equitable distribution scheme and remand for the trial court to conduct a proper evaluation under section 61.075(6)(a)1.b. If the trial court finds that the value of the premarital asset has been enhanced from marital contributions, the distributable amount should only be half of the enhanced value based on the former wife's joint ownership with her father.”
The court also considered the former wife’s argument that income was erroneously imputed for purposes of calculating child support to her because the court used a salary level she had never before earned. Schedule your meeting with a board-certified Miami divorce lawyer to understand your rights and remedies in proceeding with your case.