BRUCE J. BENENFELD, APPELLANT,
v.
AMY BENENFELD, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Florida appellate court affirmed permanent alimony but reversed the amount as excessive, finding that the combined alimony and insurance obligations exceeded the husband's financial ability to pay.
Permanent alimony is appropriate where supported by the evidence, but the award amount must not exceed the obligor's financial ability to pay.
[1] An alimony award, even if permanent in nature, must not exceed the obligor's demonstrated financial ability to pay, and when combined with other support obligations such…
Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“law is clear that husband cannot be required to pay alimony that exceeds his financial ability”
Court cited Ginsburg v. Ginsburg in support of the principle that alimony awards must be limited by the obligor's financial capacity.
A husband with net annual income of $48,000 was ordered to pay $2,000 monthly in alimony plus full health insurance costs, yearly deductibles of $10,0…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Financial Ability To Pay cases and more on FLexlaw
FARMER, Judge.
In this appeal, the husband attacks an award of permanent alimony, contending that only rehabilitative alimony should have been granted, and further that the amount of the alimony is excessive. We affirm the trial court’s decision to make alimony permanent rather than rehabilitative but reverse the amount as excessive. The husband has a net annual income of $48,000. The trial court ordered him to pay $2,000 per month in basic alimony and also required that he pay the full cost of health insurance for the wife as well as the yearly deductible in the amount of $10,000 and all outstanding medical and pharmacy bills not covered by insurance as a result of her hospitalization. The basic alimony award and the insurance deductible together constitute nearly 80% of the husband’s net income. See Ginsburg v. Ginsburg, 610 So. 2d 655, 656 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992) (law is clear that husband cannot be required to pay alimony that exceeds his financial ability). From these numbers it is irrefutable that the basic alimony alone is at the outer edges of his ability. Adding the deductible, the insurance cost and all unreimbursed medical expenses on top of that surely place the amount of this award well over the top by any measure.
We reverse and remand with instructions to readjust the amount to meet his ability to pay.
WARNER and KLEIN, JJ., concur.