Mary L. Wolf v. Robert G. Wolf

Summary

In a dissolution action, the Florida appellate court held that a trial court may presume an asset is not significant and omit it from equitable distribution when the parties fail to present evidence of its value, but must value and distribute rental income when both parties present evidence of it. The court also ruled that a domestic violence injunction awarding exclusive possession of the marital residence but silent on rental value does not preclude a later dissolution court from awarding rental value credit to the out-of-possession spouse, and that such an award was not an abuse of discretion.

Holdings

1. When parties fail to present evidence of the value of an asset, the trial court is entitled to presume the asset is not of significant value and does not err by failing to include it in the equitable distribution scheme.
2. When both parties present evidence concerning rental income, the trial court must value and account for it in the equitable distribution scheme; failure to do so is reversible error, and a claim of harmless error based on use of the income requires a factual finding by the trial court.
3. Silence on the issue of rental value in a final judgment for protection against domestic violence that awards exclusive possession of a marital residence does not preclude an award of rental value in a future final judgment of dissolution of marriage.
4. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in awarding the Husband credit for half the rental value of the marital residence, given the court's awareness of the domestic violence judgment and the equities.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court erred in failing to value and distribute the parties' fractional interest in a hunting cabin.
2. Whether the trial court erred in failing to account for rental income from the Cedar Avenue and 8505 Nundy Avenue properties.
3. Whether a final judgment for protection against domestic violence that awards exclusive possession of the marital residence but is silent on rental value precludes an award of rental value in a subsequent dissolution judgment.
4. Whether the trial court abused its discretion in awarding the Husband credit for half the rental value of the marital residence during the Wife's exclusive possession.

Disposition

affirmed_in_part_reversed_in_part