Eduardo Marin v. Jane Robyn Marin

Summary

The Florida Second District Court of Appeal reviewed a $700,000 money judgment imposed after the former husband failed to maintain life insurance securing his alimony obligation under the parties’ marital settlement agreement. The court held that the judgment was not a valid compensatory civil contempt sanction because it was not based on an actual loss and was contingent on the former husband’s death. The judgment was reversed in part and remanded for reconsideration of an appropriate remedy, while the award of attorney’s fees and costs was affirmed.

Holdings

1. A compensatory civil contempt sanction must be commensurate with the injured party's actual loss and supported by evidence of that loss. Because the former wife's entitlement to the insurance death benefit was contingent on the former husband's death, the $700,000 judgment was not a valid compensatory sanction.
2. The money judgment did not otherwise constitute a valid coercive civil contempt sanction.
3. When a dissolution judgment incorporates a marital settlement agreement, the trial court retains jurisdiction to enforce its terms, including a requirement to perform a specific act, through contempt.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a $700,000 money judgment equal to the death benefit of a life insurance policy may be imposed as a compensatory civil contempt sanction when the former spouse has not sustained an actual loss.
2. Whether the money judgment constituted a valid coercive civil contempt sanction.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded