Vance G. Russell, Former Husband v. Andrea M. Russell, Former Wife
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledApril 9, 2020
Docket1D19-0364
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
STATE OF FLORIDA
_____________________________
No. 1D19-364
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VANCE G. RUSSELL, Former
Husband,
Appellant,
v.
ANDREA M. RUSSELL, Former
Wife,
Appellee.
_____________________________
On appeal from the Circuit Court for Walton County.
Jeffrey E. Lewis, Judge.
April 9, 2020
PER CURIAM.
Appellant Vance Russell, the former husband, appeals the
final judgment of dissolution of marriage on several grounds. We
affirm in part and dismiss in part.
The parties were married for a little over twelve years at the
time the petition for dissolution of marriage was filed by Appellee.
The final judgment equitably distributed the marital property,
awarded Appellee durational alimony for ten years, and directed
that the Appellee was entitled to an award of attorney’s fees but
reserved jurisdiction to set the amount. Here, Appellant
challenges the sufficiency of the findings of fact on the statutory
factors for equitable distribution and alimony, but those claims are
unpreserved for review. See Mize v. Mize, 45 So. 3d 49 (Fla. 1st
DCA 2010); Owens v. Owens, 973 So. 2d 1169 (Fla. 1st DCA 2007).
The final judgment included the trial court’s detailed findings
on each of the factors listed in section 61.08(2), Florida Statutes
(2015), regarding alimony. And although the court’s findings
under section 61.075(1), Florida Statutes (2015), to support its
equitable distribution scheme are not listed discretely in
alphabetical order, the only factors not found in the text of the
judgment are inapplicable to the facts of this case. No children are
involved, there were no allegations that one party interrupted his
or her personal career or education to contribute to the career or
education of the other, and the parties never lived together in
Florida in a marital home. See § 61.075(1)(d), (1)(e), (1)(h), Fla.
Stat. Even if these issues had been properly preserved, Appellant
failed to establish a lack of evidence to support the court’s findings
or any harmful error in the omission of child-related factors where
no children were born of the marriage. See, e.g., Brock v. Brock,
229 So. 3d 425 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017); Mize, 45 So. 3d at 49.
Appellant also challenges the trial court’s admission of
evidence and determinations of the weight and credibility of the
respective expert witnesses and their reports. But no abuse of the
trial court’s discretion is shown in accepting one expert opinion
over another. See Kearney v. Kearney, 129 So. 3d 381, 391 (Fla. 1st
DCA 2013).
Next, there is an apparent discrepancy on the face of the final
judgment between the court’s recognition of the filing date as the
proper valuation date for the marital personal property and the
different dates used for valuation in the equitable distribution
scheme attached and incorporated into the final judgment. In
paragraph 7.a. of the final judgment, the filing date is presumed
to be the valuation date for marital assets. But the financial report
adopted and incorporated into the final judgment uses various
valuation dates for the parties’ cash, investment, and retirement
accounts. Like the claim of insufficient factual findings discussed
above, our cases on preservation preclude us from addressing the
apparent discrepancy in valuation dates. As we stated in Williams
v. Williams, 152 So. 3d 702, 704 (Fla. 1st DCA 2014), “[W]here an
error by the court appears for the first time on the face of a final
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order, a party must alert the court of the error via a motion for
rehearing or some other appropriate motion in order to preserve it
for appeal.” See also Eaton v. Eaton, 2020 WL 1329673 (Fla. 1st
DCA Mar. 20, 2020); Smith v. Smith, 273 So. 3d 1168, 1171 (Fla.
1st DCA 2019). Since this issue was not preserved, we must
affirm.
Finally, Appellant’s challenge to the ruling that the former
wife is entitled to attorney’s fees under section 61.16, Florida
Statutes (2015), but reserving jurisdiction to determine the
amount of fees, is dismissed. That ruling is a non-final, non-
appealable provision in the final judgment. McGee v. McGee, 264
So. 3d 1087, 1089 (Fla. 1st DCA 2019).
AFFIRMED in part and DISMISSED in part.
ROBERTS, ROWE, and BILBREY, JJ., concur.
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Not final until disposition of any timely and
authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
9.331.
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Daniel W. Uhlfelder, Santa Rosa Beach, for Appellant.
No appearance for Appellee.
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