{"id":158337,"date":"2025-03-26T20:09:48","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T20:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/business\/legal\/family-law-case-updates-october-2024-stephens-stevens-marital-family-law\/"},"modified":"2025-03-26T20:09:48","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T20:09:48","slug":"family-law-case-updates-october-2024-stephens-stevens-marital-family-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=158337","title":{"rendered":"Family Law Case Updates \u2013 October\u00a02024 \u2013 Stephens &#038; Stevens Marital &#038; Family Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong>Enforcement:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Lavinder v. Bryson,<\/em> 394 So.3d 1271 (Fla. 1<sup>st<\/sup> DCA 2024).\u00a0 Order denying motion for contempt improperly found that alimony obligation had been terminated as a matter of law. Court did not have jurisdiction to terminate.\u00a0 Also deals with foreign decree and defenses available in other jurisdiction. <em>Judge John L. Miller, Jr. affirmed.\u00a0 Replaces opinion at 49 Fla.L.Weekly D1779a.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Equitable Distribution:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Frank v. Frank<\/em>, 394 So.3d 1187 (Fla. 4<sup>th<\/sup> DCA 2024).\u00a0 Finding that both parties are equally responsible for tax liability during marriage was sufficient to comply with 61.075(3) (identifying and designating marital and non-marital assets and liabilities).\u00a0 <em>Judge Dina Keever-Agrama affirmed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Modification:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Dwight v. Dwight, <\/em>395 So.3d 698 (Fla. 5<sup>th<\/sup> DCA 2024).\u00a0 Trial court improperly denied modification because MSA mentioned husband\u2019s retirement, so his retirement was \u201ccontemplated.\u201d\u00a0 However, there was no evidence in record to suggest retirement or loss of income was accounted for, factored in, nor baked into the alimony number. <em>Judge Jigisa Patel-Dookhoo reversed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Procedure:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Garnett v. Duvalsaint, <\/em>49 Fla.L.Weekly D1980 (Fla. 3<sup>rd<\/sup> DCA 2024).\u00a0 Husband sought review of court\u2019s order denying his motion to vacate order resulting from a hearing before the magistrate when no transcript on the hearing on the motion to vacate was provided. <em>Judge Marlene Fernandez-Karavetsos affirmed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Shlimbaum v. Shlimbaum, <\/em>394 So.3d 1157 (Fla. 4<sup>th<\/sup> DCA 2024).\u00a0 Attorneys made procedural mess and allowed parties to get divorced without resolving all issues.\u00a0 While jurisdiction was reserved, husband argued temporary orders that were meant to continue were extinguished as they were not specified in \u201cpartial final judgment.\u201d Because issues were not adjudicated with finality, appellate court deemed \u201cpartial final judgment\u201d a non-final order. <em>Judge Mariya Weeks reversed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Relocation:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Cruz v. Morales,<\/em> 49 Fla.L.Weekly D2104 (Fla. 3<sup>rd<\/sup> DCA 2024). Final judgment denying petition for relocation affirmed as no abuse of discretion demonstrated.\u00a0 <em>Judge David Young affirmed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Giacomaro v. Brossia, <\/em>396 So.3d 222 (Fla. 4<sup>th<\/sup> DCA 2024).\u00a0 Final paternity judgment granting father majority timesharing and relocation reversed when decision was based on speculation that the father\u2019s situation would improve. <em>Judge Laura C. Burkhart reversed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Support:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Frank v. Frank<\/em>, 394 So.3d 1187 (Fla. 4<sup>th<\/sup> DCA 2024). Trial court is not required to make findings regarding dependency tax exemption, nor is required to address who receives the dependency tax exemption. <em>Judge Dina Keever-Agrama affirmed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Morrelli v. Bordelon, <\/em>394 So.3d 1261 (Fla. 5<sup>th<\/sup> DCA 2024). Trial court erred modifying support back to date of final judgment as opposed to date of filing petition.\u00a0 <em>Judge R. Gregg Jerald affirmed in part, reversed in part.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>UCCJEA:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Burgos v. Vargas<\/em>, 395 So.3d 683 (Fla. 2<sup>nd<\/sup> DCA 2024).\u00a0 Trial court\u2019s <em>sua sponte<\/em> order relinquishing jurisdiction to North Carolina was improper, when the child\u2019s aunt, who had temporary custody, was not afforded notice or an opportunity to be heard.\u00a0 <em>Judge Robert A. Bauman reversed.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Enforcement: Lavinder v. Bryson, 394 So.3d 1271 (Fla. 1st DCA 2024).\u00a0 Order denying motion for contempt improperly found that alimony obligation had been terminated as a matter of law. Court did not have jurisdiction to terminate.\u00a0 Also deals with foreign decree and defenses available in other jurisdiction. Judge John L. Miller, Jr. affirmed.\u00a0 Replaces opinion [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[415,730,12685,21178,65192,21898,6824,12572],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-158337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal","tag-case","tag-family","tag-law","tag-marital","tag-october2024","tag-stephens","tag-stevens","tag-updates"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Family Law Case Updates \u2013 October\u00a02024 \u2013 Stephens &amp; Stevens Marital &amp; Family Law - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/som2nypost.com\/?p=158337\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Family Law Case Updates \u2013 October\u00a02024 \u2013 Stephens &amp; Stevens Marital &amp; Family Law - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Enforcement: Lavinder v. Bryson, 394 So.3d 1271 (Fla. 1st DCA 2024).\u00a0 Order denying motion for contempt improperly found that alimony obligation had been terminated as a matter of law. Court did not have jurisdiction to terminate.\u00a0 Also deals with foreign decree and defenses available in other jurisdiction. Judge John L. 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