BRETT J. WOODELL, APPELLANT,
v.
LORNA W. WOODELL, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 2001-08-08
No. 4D00-3023
WARNER and GROSS, JJ., concur.
791 So. 2d 573 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2001)

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Synopsis

Brett Woodell appeals a final judgment of dissolution of marriage on three grounds. The Fourth District Court of Appeal affirms the trial court's judgment on two issues and dismisses the third for lack of jurisdiction.


Holding

The trial court's eleven-page final judgment satisfied the specificity requirements of section 61.075, Florida Statutes. A three-month delay between trial and entry of final judgment does not compel reversal when the written judgment conforms to any oral pronouncements and contains no inconsistencies. The court lacks jurisdiction to review the attorney's fees award because the former husband never appealed from the separate order awarding those fees.


Headnotes

[1] A final judgment of dissolution of marriage satisfies specificity requirements when it is sufficiently detailed and addresses statutory mandates.

[2] A delay between a bench trial and the entry of a final judgment does not compel reversal absent evidence of inconsistency or failure to conform with oral pronouncements.

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Key Quotes

“[W]e do not think it is the law in any district that a delay between bench trial and issuance of ruling will, without more, result in appellate reversal and remand for a new trial.”

Establishes that a delay between trial and judgment entry does not automatically warrant reversal absent other defects

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Facts & Procedural History

Brett Woodell, the former husband, challenged a final judgment of dissolution of marriage entered by the trial court. The judgment was an eleven-page …

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Opinion of the Court
POLEN, C.J.

POLEN, C.J.

Former Husband, Brett Woodell, timely appeals from a final judgment of dissolution of marriage. Of the three points he raises in this appeal, we affirm on two and dismiss one. First, we hold the trial court’s eleven-page final judgment satisfies the specificity requirements of section 61.075, Florida Statutes (1997).

Second, we hold the three-month delay between trial and entry of final judgment does not compel reversal. Nothing in the record supports that the written judgment failed to conform with any oral pronouncements the court may have made earlier, or that it otherwise contained any inconsistencies. See Ascontec Consulting, Inc. v. Young, 714 So. 2d 585, 587 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998)(“[W]e do not think it is the law in any district that a delay between bench trial and issuance of ruling will, without more, result in an appellate reversal and remand for a new trial.”); Duva v. Duva, 674 So. 2d 774, 776 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996)(affirming, notwithstanding minor or marginal deficiencies; parties had been before the court frequently and judge’s “record comments suggest that he was familiar with and was at least thinking about the task of issuing a final judgment”). Finally, we dismiss Former Husband’s appellate issue that the court erred in awarding Former Wife attorney’s fees. As Former Husband never appealed from this separate order, we lack jurisdiction to entertain this argument. See Velickovich v. Ricci, 391 So. 2d 258, 260 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980)(“This court cannot review judicial acts of a trial court taking place after the filing of a notice of appeal unless those judicial acts are themselves made the subject of a new notice of appeal or other appropriate appellate proceedings.”), rev. den., 402 So. 2d 614 (Fla.1981).

AFFIRMED in part; DISMISSED in part.

WARNER and GROSS, JJ., concur.


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