Case Name: In re the Marriage of Laurel J. Ising MARSH, Appellant, v. Arthur Wayne MARSH, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1981-06-03
Citations: 399 So. 2d 433
Docket Number: No. 80-451
Parties: In re the Marriage of Laurel J. Ising MARSH, Appellant, v. Arthur Wayne MARSH, Appellee.
Judges: COBB, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 399
Pages: 433–438

Head Matter:
In re the Marriage of Laurel J. Ising MARSH, Appellant, v. Arthur Wayne MARSH, Appellee.
No. 80-451.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
June 3, 1981.
Ed Leinster, Orlando, for appellant.
Robert J, Buonauro, Orlando, for appel-lee.

Opinion:
DAUKSCH, Chief Judge.
This is an appeal from a final judgment of dissolution of marriage. The appellant raised three points on appeal. We find merit in the first point raised and reverse.
The trial judge denied the wife a special equity in the marital home on the following facts. The marriage involved was of short duration, four months, and no children were born of the marriage. The wife owned the marital home before the parties, were married. After having been married two months, the wife had the home put into her name and the husband's name. The wife alleges, and the evidence supports the allegation, that this was done so that her children from a previous marriage would have a home if something happened to her; however, in case of a divorce, the property was to be transferred back to her. The husband claimed it was a gift. The trial court found that the wife gave the home as a gift to the husband and ordered the home partitioned and sold. We find the trial court erred in failing to award the marital domicile to the wife because of her special equity.
Prior to Ball v. Ball, 335 So.2d 5 (Fla.1976), a conveyance from a husband to a wife was presumed to be a gift as was a conveyance from a wife to a husband. Steinhauer v. Steinhauer, 252 So.2d 825 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971). The effect of the Ball decision was to raise another presumption: the presumption that a special equity is created by an unrebutted showing that all the consideration for property held as tenants by the entirety was supplied by one spouse from a source clearly unconnected with the marital relationship. "Now the burden is on the grantee to establish, by 'contradictory' evidence, that a gift was intended. In sum, the grantee must overcome the presumption of the special equity." Wright v. Wright, 388 So.2d 1319, 1321 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980).
The evidence clearly showed that the wife entered the present marriage owning the house in her name, she paid all of the mortgage payments and property taxes. The husband testified that the wife had intended a gift to him. As was held in Merrill v. Merrill, 357 So.2d 792, 793 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978), the Ball decision should not be read "as holding that a word or two of testimony by the recipient spouse, to the effect that the other intended a gift, obliterates the special equity resulting from an unrebutted showing that the grantor spouse acquired the property from sources entirely independent of the marriage." Although donative intent is a question for the trial court, the trial court's ruling is not binding on an appellate court where as here there is no credible evidence of such an intent below. Bickerstaff v. Bickerstaff, 358 So.2d 590 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978). We are bound to determine that the wife has a special equity in the marital domicile as there was no credible evidence to support the trial court's ruling that the wife intended a gift.
Accordingly, that portion of the final judgment of dissolution of marriage ordering the marital home partitioned and sold is reversed.
REVERSED IN PART.
COBB, J., concurs.
COWART, J., dissents with opinion.