August 25, 2020
ShareFamily Law Appellate Case Victory
On July 29, 2020, the Fourth District Court of Appeal remanded an action to dissolve a long-term marriage. The parties were married for more than nineteen years before the former wife petitioned for the dissolution of their marriage. The former husband is represented by Kelley Kronenberg Partners Tracy B. Newmark and Natalie S. Kay.
The main issues at the trial court level were the wife’s demands for permanent periodic alimony, equitable distribution, and attorneys’ fees. At the time the action was filed, the parties had three minor children and at trial, they stipulated to a 50/50 time-sharing schedule.
During the marriage, the wife was a stay-at-home wife and mother and claimed that she operated the parties’ franchised lawn service company. The husband was the primary wage earner. The wife obtained full-time employment during the pendency of the trial proceedings.
The trial court denied the wife’s request for permanent alimony, instead awarding her $1,500 per month for five years, which she appealed. The durational alimony award was not reversed, but instead remanded to the trial court to make appropriate findings of the wife’s need, the husband’s ability to pay, and to consider the rebuttable presumption in favor of permanent alimony. The trial court ordered that the husband be responsible for only a portion of the former wife’s legal fees, which was affirmed on appeal. Additionally, the trial court adopted the equitable distribution schedule proposed by the husband, which was also affirmed on appeal.
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