DOMINIQUE WILKINS, WIFE
v.
NICHOLAS WILKINS, HUSBAND
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The appellate court affirmed a trial court's order granting temporary relief in a dissolution proceeding but reversed the imputation of income to the wife. The court found that imputing income was inappropriate when the parties had jointly decided the wife would stay home to care for their children and finish her degree.
The appellate court held that the trial court erred in imputing income to the wife. The court found that imputing income was inappropriate given the parties' joint decision for the wife to stay home and care for the children and pursue her degree, and the lack of evidence that she was expected to generate income.
[1] When parties to a dissolution action jointly agree that one spouse should remain home to care for minor children and pursue education, income may not be imputed to that s…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Great deference should be accorded the joint decision of the parties that the wife should stay home to care for the children . . . , notwithstanding any personal feelings the trial court or this court may have concerning the ultimate wisdom of that decision.”
Establishes the principle that parties' joint decisions regarding childcare and education should be respected.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe parties agreed that the wife would stay home to care for their minor child and her own child from a prior relationship while she completed her nur…
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PER CURIAM.
Dominique Wilkins appeals the trial court’s order granting temporary relief in this dissolution proceeding.
We affirm the order generally but reverse the imputation of income to her.
The record establishes that Wilkins and her husband decided that she would live with family in Jacksonville and take care of their minor child (as well as Wilkins’ minor child from a prior relationship) while finishing up her nursing degree. In requiring Wilkins to pay monthly child support to her husband (who is in active military duty), the trial court found that she had only taken one course since moving in with her family and that it was “appropriate to impute minimum wage to Wife for the purposes of calculating child support.”
Although a trial court is generally “required to impute income to a parent who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, pursuant to section 61.30(2)(b), Florida Statutes (2003),” Freilich v. Freilich, 897 So. 2d 537, 540 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005), this Court has held that “[g]reat deference should be accorded the joint decision of the parties that the wife should stay home to care for the children . . . , notwithstanding any personal feelings the trial court or this court may have concerning the ultimate wisdom of that decision.” Zeigler v. Zeigler, 635 So. 2d 50, 55 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994).
Here, the trial court did not explain why imputing income to Wilkins was appropriate when the couple had agreed that she should stay home to care for the children and attend college; no evidence suggests that Wilkins was required or expected to generate income. As such, because competent substantial evidence fails to support the trial court’s imputation of income, that portion of the order granting temporary relief is reversed.
AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part.
LEWIS, MAKAR, and LONG, JJ., concur. _____________________________
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- Ira Freilich v. Freilich, 897 So. 2d 537 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005)