Court Opinion

ID: 9954861
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-27 13:02:12.866781+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:15:05.931486
License: Public Domain

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA
                        SECOND DISTRICT

                      TAWANDA PRICE-LAWRENCE,

                                  Appellant,

                                      v.

                         PHILLIP LAWRENCE, JR.,

                                   Appellee.

                                No. 2D22-2605

                                March 27, 2024

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County; G. Gregory
Green, Judge.

Neibra Collins Williams of Law Office of Neibra Collins Williams,
Tallahassee, for Appellant.

Martha E. Aristizabal and Elizabeth D. Burchell of Busciglio Sheridan
Schoeb, PA, Tampa, for Appellee.

LaROSE, Judge.
      Tawanda Price-Lawrence (Former Wife) appeals the final judgment
of dissolution of her marriage to Phillip Lawrence, Jr. (Former
Husband).1 Former Wife argues that the trial court abused its discretion
(1) in finding that all the assets and liabilities were nonmarital, and (2)
by unequally distributing the parties' marital assets and liabilities. We
affirm the final judgment as to issue two without discussion. We reverse

      1 We have jurisdiction.   See Fla. R. App. P. 9.030(b)(1)(A).
the final judgment as to issue one to the extent that the final judgment is
inconsistent with the trial court's oral pronouncement. We remand for
the trial court to enter an amended final judgment conforming to its oral
pronouncement.
      The parties had been married for twelve years when Former
Husband filed for dissolution. During their marriage, the parties lived
separate lives. Former Wife lived in Tallahassee and Former Husband
lived in Tampa. The trial court determined that due to their independent
lifestyles, this was a case of "what's his is his, what's hers is hers."
      At trial, the trial court announced that Former Wife's Honda Accord
was the parties' "only nonmarital vehicle" and that Former Wife's
Tallahassee home was nonmarital. The trial court examined the factors
in section 61.075(1)(a)-(j), Florida Statutes (2022), and found that Former
Husband was entitled to unequal distribution of assets and liabilities.
The trial court found that factor (j) justified unequal distribution:
      I will say this is the most important factor that this Court is
      determining . . . . And I have to say that I think it would be
      completely inequitable for me to do anything other than say
      what the husband has is his and what the wife is hers.
            I think that would literally create an unjust enrichment
      situation to the other party. Again--and I'll just touch on the
      major assets. The testimony, if I take all of Wife's testimony
      about this [Tampa] home on Key Thatch, is that she really
      didn't even know what was going on with it till six years after
      it was purchased.
            She had an opportunity to buy into it and said, I don't
      want any part of it. And the husband maintained it the entire
      time of marriage. For her to claim an equitable distribution
      percentage to that, to me, would be unjust enrichment. And
      it goes the other way.
           As I've heard the testimony now, it appears that the
      Nancy Drive property [in Tallahassee] is likely, and that's what
      the Court will find, is nonmarital property of the wife. It was

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     deeded to her in 2002, well before the marriage. The
     husband never contributed anything to that piece of property.
           All of the vehicles--even if I was to equitably distribute
     them and I'm not going to because, again, I think that the
     equitable thing to do is allow each party to keep whatever's
     theirs. But if I equitably distributed them, there's maybe a
     difference of $1,000 between the two of them.
          But what again is very clear to this Court is the
     husband bought and paid for his vehicles, the wife may have
     had a conversation [sic] Husband about her vehicle where he
     may have said I'm going to pay for it, but he never did.
           And the Court makes the same finding as it relates to
     the other assets here, which are Wife's FRS. I don't believe
     that it is equitable in [sic] way, shape, or form, and I'm still
     under J, to allow the husband to be unjustly enriched by the
     wife's work, which was very separate. And the same thing for
     the wife to be unjustly enriched by what the husband has
     amassed in his 401(k).
           So as I go through this, I think the husband has met his
     burden. You've got a high burden. But I haven't heard
     anything that would put me in a place where I don't think
     that it would be unjust to do anything other than say the
     husband keeps the assets that are his and the wife keeps the
     assets that are hers. All right.
           ....
          They literally did everything as if they were single
     people. They filed taxes as if they were single. They claimed
     head of household as if they were single.
           ....
           . . . I think the husband has overcome that presumption
     because I have 12 years of people that are literally living their
     own lives. No joint checking accounts, no joint anything.
     They're buying houses and the other person doesn't know. I
     mean, they are literally living separate lives other than a piece
     of paper that says they're married.
(Emphasis added.)

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      The written final judgment memorialized the trial court's oral
pronouncement, except for one finding: "This Court finds that Husband
has met his burden that all assets and liabilities of the parties are
non[]marital."
      Former Wife challenges that finding. The parties acquired all of the
assets and liabilities, except for the Honda Accord and Tallahassee
house, during the marriage, and the trial court orally ruled that Former
Husband's 1994 Infiniti J30 was a marital asset. Former Husband
contends that the trial court's designation was a scrivener's error and
thus harmless. Yet, he "concede[s] that remand with instructions . . . to
conform the written judgment to the oral pronouncement, thus
correcting the scrivener's error in the final judgment, may be warranted."
      "[T]he trial court's oral pronouncement must conform to the written
judgment." Karkhoff v. Robilotta, 309 So. 3d 229, 232 (Fla. 4th DCA
2020) (quoting Goosby v. Lawrence, 711 So. 2d 577, 578 (Fla. 3d DCA
1998)). Where the written judgment conflicts with the oral
pronouncement, the oral pronouncement controls. Id. (first citing
Cappola v. Cappola, 280 So. 3d 102, 104 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019); and then
citing Cajuste v. Herlitschek, 204 So. 3d 80, 83 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016)). "If
the written judgment suffers from internal conflict or inconsistency, it
'should be reversed and remanded for correction or clarification.' " Id.
(quoting Weymouth v. Weymouth, 87 So. 3d 30, 36 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012)).
      "Marital assets and liabilities" include "[a]ssets acquired and
liabilities incurred during the marriage, individually by either spouse or
jointly by them." § 61.075(6)(a)1.a. A trial court shall distribute the
parties' marital assets and liabilities equally "unless there is a
justification for an unequal distribution based on all relevant factors"
listed in section 61.075(1)(a)-(j). § 61.075(1).

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      The trial court orally pronounced that Former Wife's Honda Accord
was the parties' "only nonmarital vehicle" and that Former Wife's
Tallahassee home was nonmarital property. We cannot agree, however,
that all assets and liabilities were nonmarital. It is clear from the record
that the trial court found that at least some of the parties' vehicles were
marital property. Consequently, the written judgment does not comport
with the trial court's oral findings. Former Husband concedes as much.
      Additionally, if all the assets were nonmarital, there would be no
need to justify an unequal distribution. See § 61.075(1). The written
final judgment itself is internally inconsistent. Therefore, we reverse the
trial court's finding in the written final judgment that all of the parties'
assets and liabilities were "non[]marital" and remand for the trial court to
enter an amended final judgment that conforms with its oral findings.
See Brewer v. Brewer, 3 So. 3d 432, 433 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009) ("Reversal is
required where the final judgment is inconsistent with the trial court's
oral pronouncement."); Karkhoff, 309 So. 3d at 232-33 (reversing for
clarification when the final judgment was internally inconsistent).
      Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.

SILBERMAN and ATKINSON, JJ., Concur.

Opinion subject to revision prior to official publication.

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