Diane Peterson v. Charles Peterson
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledFebruary 5, 2021
Docket2D19-0181
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING
MOTION AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED
IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
OF FLORIDA
SECOND DISTRICT
DIANE PETERSON, )
)
Appellant, )
)
v. ) Case No. 2D19-181
)
CHARLES PETERSON, )
)
Appellee. )
___________________________________)
Opinion filed February 5, 2021.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for
Hillsborough County; Chet A. Tharpe,
Judge.
Tarya A. Tribble of Tribble Law Center,
P.A., Riverview, for Appellant.
No appearance for Appellee.
SILBERMAN, Judge.
Diane Peterson, the Wife, seeks review of an amended final judgment of
dissolution of her marriage to Charles Peterson, the Husband. The Wife challenges
only the equitable distribution of the Husband's 401k Plan and the proceeds from the
sale of the marital home. We conclude that the trial court erred by failing to assign the
dissipated portion of the 401k to the Husband on the equitable distribution worksheet
and reverse on that basis alone. We affirm the remainder of the amended final
judgment without further comment.
In the amended final judgment, the trial court awarded the Wife fifty
percent of the Husband's 401k as of the date of filing plus fifty percent of all subsequent
increases in the 401k. The court found that the 401k was valued at $131,471.22 at the
time of filing. The court also found that the Husband intentionally dissipated $14,285
from the 401k plan after the petition for dissolution was filed. The court therefore
determined that the Wife was entitled to $72,878.11, which was her half of the value of
the plan as of filing ($65,735.61) plus one-half of the $14,285 that the Husband
intentionally dissipated ($7,142.50).
However, the equitable distribution worksheet incorporated into the
amended final judgment was inconsistent with the trial court's findings. The worksheet
shows the distribution of the Husband's 401k as follows:
Asset Date of valuation Value Husband Wife Non-Marital
Frontier Date of filing 131,471.22 58,593.11 72,878.11
Retirement
The Wife correctly argues that the worksheet lists incorrect values as to the 401k plan.
The worksheet reflects neither an assignment to the Husband of the dissipated funds
nor a credit to the Wife for half of the amount dissipated. Instead, the worksheet reflects
an assignment of half of the dissipated funds to the Wife by subtracting them from the
Husband's half of the 401k ($65,735.61 - $7,142.50 = $58,593.11). And the worksheet
reflects an assignment of the other half of the dissipated funds to the Wife by adding
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them to her half of the value of the 401k ($65,735.61 + $7,142.50 = $72,878.11). This
had the effect of awarding the Husband a credit for the funds he dissipated. These
errors resulted in the Wife not receiving the full $72,878.11 of the 401k awarded to her
in the amended final judgment which in turn resulted in the Wife owing the Husband an
equalizing payment.
When the court finds that a party has engaged in misconduct that
dissipated marital funds, the court should assign the dissipated funds to the dissipating
spouse in the equitable distribution scheme. See Tate v. Tate, 91 So. 3d 199, 205 (Fla.
2d DCA 2012); Mattison v. Mattison, 266 So. 3d 258, 261 (Fla. 5th DCA 2019).
Alternatively, the court could give the innocent spouse a credit for half the amount
dissipated. See, e.g., Stantchev v. Stantcheva, 168 So. 3d 313, 315 (Fla. 5th DCA
2015).
Here, the equitable distribution worksheet does not accurately reflect the
trial court's findings, impacting the intended distribution of the 401k plan and the
equalizing payment. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for the court to revise the
equitable distribution worksheet in order to effectuate the distribution contemplated by
the amended final judgment.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
VILLANTI and SLEET, JJ., Concur.
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