Case Name: Maureen HORTON, Appellant, v. Robert E. HORTON, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1976-04-02
Citations: 330 So. 2d 69
Docket Number: No. Y-34
Parties: Maureen HORTON, Appellant, v. Robert E. HORTON, Appellee.
Judges: MILLS, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 330
Pages: 69–71

Head Matter:
Maureen HORTON, Appellant, v. Robert E. HORTON, Appellee.
No. Y-34.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.
April 2, 1976.
Rehearing Denied April 27, 1976.
C. Ray Greene, Jr., of Greene, Greene, Smith & Davenport, Jacksonville, for appellant.
Alban E. Brooke, of MacLean & Brooke, Jacksonville, for appellee.

Opinion:
RAiWLS, Judge.
On April 21, 1967, the Circuit Court of Duval County, in its final judgment of divorce between the parties provided, inter alia:
"7. The defendant [husband, Robert E. Horton] shall pay the first, second and third mortgages on the marital home, totalling approximately $164.00 per month, and said payments shall include taxes and insurance as required by the mortgages on said home.
"9. The plaintiff [wife, Maureen Horton] shall convey to the defendant all of her right title and interest into that certain hunting lodge in the Ocala National Forrest [sic], together with all contents contained therein.
"10. The parties hereto own a 1966 Pontiac automobile, in which plaintiff claims no interest, and shall execute any instrument necessary to convey title unto defendant. The parties hereto own a 1965 Pontiac automobile, in which defendant claims no interest, and shall execute any instrument necessary to convey title thereto unto plaintiff. The 1965 Pontiac automobile is encumbered in the approximate sum of $2,000.00, at the rate of $109.00 per month, for eighteen months subsequent to March 16, 1967. The defendant shall pay one half of the remaining payments by paying nine payments, commencing April 1, 1967, through and including payment due December 1, 1967, after which the balance owed shall be assumed and paid by plaintiff.
"11. Plaintiff shall execute any instrument necessary to relinquish any interest she may have in that certain corporation owned by the defendant in Cocoa Beach, Florida.
"12. If the conveyances to be made in paragraphs 6, 9, 10 and 11 hereinabove be not made within five days from date of this judgment, this judgment shall operate to transfer to the plaintiff all right, title and interest of the defendant in and to the property, and vice versa."
In the instant proceeding, the trial judge provided in the order appealed, inter alia:
"It is uncontroverted that the plaintiff sold the home in January of 1973. At that time the only mortgage upon the home was the second mortgage and there remained an approximate balance due of $4,654.96. This second mortgage was being amortized by the payment of $40.00 per month. The plaintiff contends that the final judgment would require the defendant to pay $4,654.96 at the rate of $40.00 per month until amortized.
"The Court finds that the defendant complied with the final judgment and when the home was sold and the second mortgage was paid off (all monthly payments being current at that time and paid by the defendant) the defendant is discharged from liability under this paragraph."
The final judgment entered on April 21, 1967, fixed the property rights of the parties. Sistrunk v. Sistrunk, 235 So.2d 53 (Fla.App. 4th 1970); Finston v. Finston, 160 Fla. 935, 37 So.2d 423 (1948); Knabb v. Duner, 143 Fla. 92, 196 So. 456 (1940); Town of Boca Raton v. Moore, 122 Fla. 350, 165 So. 279 (1936); Sedell v. Sedell, 100 So.2d 639 (Fla.App. 1st 1958); Strozier v. Strozier, 107 So.2d 134 (Fla.App. 1st 1958); and Fowler v. Fowler, 112 So.2d 411 (Fla.App. 1st 1959). A court has authority to modify a decree for "pure" alimony, meaning "nourishment" or "sustenance" or for support and maintenance in lieu of alimony, even where the decree is based on an agreement or stipulation, but it does not have the power to modify a provision settling property rights between the parties. 10A Fla.Jur., Dissolution of Marriage, Etc., § 304 and 305, and cases cited therein. The provisions of the final judgment are not ambiguous. The wife was required to convey vested property rights. The husband was directed to pay certain mortgages. To now discharge the .husband from liability as to the outstanding mortgage which the wife paid would deprive the wife of an approximate balance due of $4,654.96 amortized at the rate of $40.00 per month.
This judgment appealed is reversed with directions that the appellee-husband pay to the appellant-wife the sums in arrears on the outstanding mortgage and to pay the balance remaining thereon at the rate of $40.00 per month until amortized.
REVERSED.
MILLS, J., concurs.
BOYER, C. J., dissents.