Case ID: so2d_532/html/0686-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "NIMMONS, Judge. PER CURIAM.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Paul SHIMEK, Jr., Appellant/Respondent, v. Mona L. SHIMEK, Appellee/Petitioner.
    No. 87-486.
    District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
    Aug. 24, 1988.
    On Motion for Rehearing Oct. 7, 1988.
    
      Paul Shimek, Jr. of Shimek and Sutherland, P.A., Pensacola, pro se.
    Kathleen E. Gainsley of Levin, Warfield, Middlebrooks, Mabie, Thomas, Mayes & Mitchell, P.A., Pensacola, for appellee/peti-tioner.
   NIMMONS, Judge.

Appellant husband appeals from a final judgment of dissolution of marriage, alleging that the trial court erred in (1) requiring appellant to secure the payment of alimony by an unencumbered life insurance policy naming the wife as beneficiary; and (2) ordering appellant to pay the wife’s attorney’s fees and costs. We affirm.

This court has recently held that under Section 61.08(3), Florida Statutes (1985), a trial court may, where the circumstances so warrant, require a party who is ordered to pay alimony to purchase or maintain a life insurance policy to secure such alimony. Fiveash v. Fiveash, 523 So.2d 764 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988) and McMath v. McMath, 526 So.2d 1027 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988). Pursuant to this court’s recent decisions, the trial court’s requirement that appellant secure the payment of alimony by obtaining a life insurance policy was proper.

We also affirm on the second issue pertaining to the trial court’s ordering appellant to pay the wife’s attorney’s fees and costs.

AFFIRMED.

SMITH, C.J., and BOOTH, J., concur.

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

PER CURIAM.

By his motion for rehearing, appellant asks that we certify the question stated below to the Florida Supreme Court as a question of great public importance. We grant such motion and, as we did in Fiveash v. Fiveash, 523 So.2d 764 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988) and McMath v. McMath, 526 So.2d 1027 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988), certify the following:

Does § 61.08(3) Florida Statutes (1985) authorize a trial court to require an alimony paying spouse to maintain a life insurance policy securing said alimony award, such that upon the death of the paying spouse the receiving spouse is only entitled to receive from the insurance the sum total of any existing alimony arrearages?

SMITH, C.J., and BOOTH and NIMMONS, JJ., concur. 
      
      . Section 61.08(3), Florida Statutes (1985) provides in pertinent part:
      (3) To the extent necessary to protect an award of alimony, the court may order any party who is ordered to pay alimony to purchase or maintain a life insurance policy or a bond, or to otherwise secure such alimony award with any other assets which may be suitable for that purpose.