BARBARA S. ARCHER (SIEK), APPELLANT,
v.
JAMES L. ARCHER, APPELLEE
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The Florida District Court of Appeal reversed a trial court's dismissal of a mother's petition to enforce child support obligations beyond age eighteen. The court held that a property settlement agreement and dissolution judgment entered when the age of majority was twenty-one years entitled the mother to support until age twenty-one, and that a subsequent statute redefining majority to eighteen years did not retroactively modify pre-existing support obligations.
The court held that the mother was entitled to receive child support until the child reached age twenty-one years. The statutory saving provisions in section 743.07(3) prevented the statute from retroactively modifying the child support award, and the parties' agreement and judgment specifying support during 'minority' effectively set a duration to age twenty-one years.
[1] A statute redefining the age of majority does not retroactively alter child support obligations established by a prior court order or agreement specifying support until t…
[2] Child support obligations specified to continue until "minority" or "majority" in a judgment or agreement entered before the statutory change reducing the age of majority…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The final judgment rendered prior to the effective date of this act had impliedly set the duration of legal dependency to ... age 21 .... [T]he intent expressed in Section 3 of only the prospective operation of the act, of a denial of retrospective effect, and a positive disclaimer of intent to affect, ... 'obligations existing prior to the effective date of this act', unerringly points to the conclusion that the effect of the court order previously rendered would not be modified solely by the statute going into effect.”
Establishes the Florida Supreme Court's reasoning in Finn v. Finn that statutory savings clauses prevent retroactive modification of pre-existing support obligations
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIn 1966, the parties' marriage was dissolved pursuant to a property settlement agreement requiring the father to pay child support 'during the minorit…
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OTT, Chief Judge.
A final judgment dissolving the marriage of the parties to this appeal was rendered in 1966. Pursuant to the provisions of a property settlement agreement, the father was ordered to make child support payments “during the minority” of a child of the parties. The father discontinued child support payments upon the child reaching the age of eighteen. The mother petitioned for enforcement to age twenty-one and for modification due to changed circumstances. The trial judge dismissed the mother’s petition on the sole ground that section 743.07,1 Florida Statutes (1981) — which became effective July 1,1973 — in redefining “minority” from twenty-one to eighteen, terminated the father’s child support obligation. We reverse.
At the time the property settlement was entered into, and at the time the final judgment was rendered, the age of majority was twenty-one years. We hold that this entitled the mother to receive support until the child reached the age of twenty-one years. The saving provisions of section 743.07(3) prevented the statute from effecting an automatic change in the child support award from twenty-one years to eighteen years.
In Finn v. Finn, 312 So. 2d 726 (Fla.1975), the dissolution judgment under consideration merely ordered the father to pay child support to the two children of the parties without any reference to the date such payments were to terminate. In holding that the legal child support obligation continued to age twenty-one despite the enactment of section 743.07, the supreme court stated:
The final judgment rendered prior to the effective date of this act had impliedly set the duration of legal dependency to ... age 21 .... [T]he intent expressed in Section 3 of only the prospective operation of the act, of a denial of retrospective effect, and a positive disclaimer of intent to affect, ... ‘obligations existing prior to the effective date of this act’, unerringly points to the conclusion that the effect of the court order previously rendered would not be modified solely by the statute going into effect.
Here the parties in their agreement and the court in the judgment of dissolution— both entered before the enactment of section 743.07 — specified that child support payments would continue to “majority.” In light of Finn v. Finn, we think this is tantamount to setting a specific duration to age twenty-one years. Similarly, in Burgdorf v. Burgdorf, 372 So. 2d 988 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979), this court held that a judgment providing for child support payments until the child “shall become sui juris” was enforceable until the child reached twenty-one years, unaffected by the subsequent enactment of section 743.07.
The order of the trial court is reversed and the matter remanded for further proceedings consistent herewith.
CAMPBELL and LEHAN, JJ., concur. . Section 743.07. Rights, privileges, and obligations of persons 18 years of age or older. (1)The disability of nonage is hereby removed for all persons in this state who are 18 years of age or older, and they shall enjoy and suffer the rights, privileges, and obligations of all persons 21 years of age or older except as otherwise excluded by the State Constitution immediately preceding the effective date of this section and except as otherwise provided in the Beverage Law.
(2) This section shall not prohibit any court of competent jurisdiction from requiring support for a dependent person beyond the age of 18 years; and any crippled child as defined in chapter 391 shall receive benefits under the provisions of said chapter until age 21, the provisions of this section to the contrary notwithstanding.
(3) This section shall operate prospectively and not retrospectively, and shall not affect the rights and obligations existing prior to July 1, 1973.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
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In re The Marriage of June B. Keenan v. Keenan, 440 So. 2d 642 (Fla. 5th DCA 1983)…ty was twenty-one would continue to require support to age twenty-one, regardless of the amendment to section 743.07 reducing the age of majority to eighteen. Thus, Owens is correct in relying on Finn for that conclusion. See also, Archer v. Archer, 427 So. 2d 325 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983). However, the language in Owens, as in Finn, to the effect that a child otherwise healthy and intelligent who reaches age eighteen is nevertheless a dependent child “because he cannot support himself and properly attend to his hig…
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Acree v. Acree, 508 So. 2d 742 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987)…e of majority did not retroactively reduce the duration of the support payments of $20 per week, since at the time the property settlement was entered into and the final judgment of divorce was rendered, the age of majority was 21. Archer v. Archer, 427 So. 2d 325 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983). However, child support payments ordered by the court after July 1, 1973, terminate on Robert Acree’s 18th birthday. Accordingly, we affirm the court’s order insofar as it terminating the father’s obligation of the additional $10…
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Ira M. Dushoff v. Rae T. Dushoff, 442 So. 2d 361 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983)…ed to pay support for each child until that child reaches 21. Under Hodge v. Hodge, 409 So. 2d 230 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982), this obligation is not affected by a temporary modification under which child support is not required. See also Archer v. Archer, 427 So. 2d 325 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983). Here, the trial court’s obvious intent was to provide for continuous child support by Ira. The court merely called the entire $750 monthly payment provided for in the 1972 agreement alimony at the request of the parties. When th…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Finn v. Finn, 312 So. 2d 726 (Fla. 1975)
- Burgdorf v. Burgdorf, 372 So. 2d 988 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979)