Richard A. Arzillo v. Gretchen L. Arzillo
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledJune 29, 2022
Docket2D21-0603
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA
SECOND DISTRICT
RICHARD A. ARZILLO,
Appellant,
v.
GRETCHEN L. ARZILLO,
Appellee.
No. 2D21-603
June 29, 2022
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Polk County; Heather Beato,
Judge.
Mark F. Baseman of Felix, Felix & Baseman, LLC, Tampa, for
Appellant.
Dineen Pashoukos Wasylik of DPW Legal, Tampa, for Appellee.
LUCAS, Judge.
The Arzillos' divorce has been lengthy, costly, and bitter.1 The
circuit court commendably shepherded these parties through a five-
day trial, at the conclusion of which it issued an amended final
judgment of dissolution of marriage. The court's final judgment set
out a parenting plan for the parties' minor children, awarded child
support, and equitably distributed their debts and assets.
In his appeal, Richard Arzillo (the Former Husband) has
identified shortcomings with the amended final judgment that
necessitate reversal. We address his two arguments that have
merit, mindful that "[t]ypically, courts review dissolution of
marriage final judgments as a whole for an abuse of discretion."
Duke v. Duke, 211 So. 3d 1078, 1080 (Fla. 5th DCA 2017).
First, the Former Husband, an unemployed former teacher,
correctly points out that the court's imputation of a full-time
teacher's income to him did not include any findings as to the
current employment market in his community or that there were
any jobs that were available to him. That omission was error. See §
1 In the five years between the commencement of the original
petition for dissolution of marriage and the issuance of a final
judgment, there have been eight appeals and petitions filed with
this court.
2
61.30(2)(b), Fla. Stat. (2020) ("In the event of such voluntary
unemployment or underemployment, the employment potential and
probable earnings level of the parent shall be determined based
upon his or her recent work history, occupational qualifications,
and prevailing earnings level in the community if such information
is available."); Gillespie v. Holdsworth, 333 So. 3d 278, 281 (Fla. 2d
DCA 2022) ("Courts 'have required particularized findings regarding
work history, occupational qualifications, and the current job
market in the community to support the imputation of income.
Failure to make these findings results in reversal.' " (quoting Broga
v. Broga, 166 So. 3d 183, 185 (Fla. 1st DCA 2015))); Jorgensen v.
Tagarelli, 312 So. 3d 505, 507 (Fla. 5th DCA 2020) ("As the party
seeking to impute income, Former Husband bears the burden to
show 'both employability and that jobs are available.' " (quoting
Dottaviano v. Dottaviano, 170 So. 3d 98, 100 (Fla. 5th DCA 2015)));
Holder v. Lopez, 274 So. 3d 518, 521 (Fla. 1st DCA 2019) ("In
addition, even if there were a valid basis to impute income to
Former Husband, the trial court erred in failing to base imputation
on specific evidence of available jobs appropriate to Former
Husband's experience and physical limitations, how much they
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would pay, and other pertinent factors . . . ."). Relatedly, we have
reviewed the record closely but are unable to ascertain why the
circuit court completely disallowed the Former Husband's
deduction of his monthly health insurance expense. Without some
explanation for why the court rejected what was, apparently,
unchallenged evidence, we are compelled to reverse that finding as
well. Cf. Sanders v. Peterson-Sanders, 321 So. 3d 802, 806 (Fla.
4th DCA 2021) (remanding for reconsideration of Former Husband's
financial affidavit evidence as to liabilities where "[t]he financial
affidavits were admitted into evidence and Former Wife offered no
argument contradicting the amounts listed").
Second, the Former Husband takes issue with the circuit
court's distribution of his depleted retirement account as a marital
asset. It was undisputed—and acknowledged in the amended final
judgment—that, prior to the trial, the Former Husband had
depleted this account to pay his attorney's fees.2 The court made
no finding that the dissipation of this account was, in any way, due
2 Elsewhere in the amended final judgment, the court noted
that the Former Husband had expended in excess of $350,000 in
attorney's fees.
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to the Former Husband's misconduct. Accordingly, the court
should not have distributed the depleted account as an asset. See
Bair v. Bair, 214 So. 3d 750, 758—59 (Fla. 2d DCA 2017) ("This
court has held that it is error to include assets in an equitable
distribution scheme that have been diminished or dissipated during
the dissolution proceedings unless there has been misconduct
during the proceedings that results in the dissipation." (citing Roth
v. Roth, 973 So. 2d 580, 584—85 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008))).
We, therefore, reverse the amended final judgment and
remand for the circuit court to enter a new judgment consistent
with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded with instructions.
KHOUZAM and SMITH, JJ., Concur.
Opinion subject to revision prior to official publication.
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