Sara A. Marenco N/K/A Sara A. Stuczynski v. Alexander T. Marenco, Jr.
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledFebruary 7, 2020
Docket2D18-1664
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
SARA A. MARENCO, n/k/a )
SARA A. STUCZYNSKI, )
)
Appellant, )
)
v. ) Case No. 2D18-1664
)
ALEXANDER T. MARENCO, JR., )
)
Appellee. )
)
Opinion filed February 7, 2020.
Appeal from the Circuit Court for
Pasco County; Alicia Polk, Judge.
Ralph P. Mangione of Burr & Forman,
LLP, Tampa, for Appellant.
Mark F. Baseman of Felix, Felix &
Baseman, Tampa, for Appellee.
ROTHSTEIN-YOUAKIM, Judge.
This is an appeal from a final judgment of dissolution of marriage between
Sara A. Stuczynski (the Former Wife) and Alexander T. Marenco, Jr. (the Former
Husband). We agree with the Former Wife that the trial court erred in certain aspects of
its child support calculation and in failing to resolve all issues presented for adjudication,
and we reverse in part and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
In all other respects, we affirm.
First, we agree that in calculating the Former Wife's gross income, the trial
court erred by failing to include losses that she has incurred based on her ownership of
a townhouse that she purchased before the marriage. Although she has been renting
the townhouse to a tenant, she has incurred monthly losses because of the mortgage
and maintenance fees.
Pursuant to section 61.30(2)(a)(11), Florida Statutes (2018), gross income
includes "[r]ental income, which is gross receipts minus ordinary and necessary
expenses required to produce the income." Because the purpose of calculating income
under that section is to ascertain how much money is available to support the child, we
see no justification for failing to account for negative rental income just as we would
account for positive. See, e.g., Masnev v. Masnev, 253 So. 3d 638, 639 (Fla. 4th DCA
2018) (holding that the trial court erred by failing to include former wife's rental income
in its calculation of her gross monthly income). Accordingly, we remand for a
recalculation of the Former Wife's gross income to include the rental loss.
Second, we agree—as does the Former Husband—that the trial court
erred in calculating the Former Wife's retroactive child support for 2016. The parties
stipulated to the Former Wife's net monthly income and monthly expenses for that
period, but the court deviated from the stipulated amounts without explanation and for
no reason apparent from the record. We therefore remand for the trial court either to
recalculate the 2016 retroactive child support to reflect the parties' stipulation or to
provide an explanation for its deviation.
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Lastly, we agree that the trial court erred in failing to determine whether
(1) a parenting coordinator should be appointed, (2) the parties should undergo
counseling, and (3) life insurance should be required as security for the child support.
In its June 27, 2017, order approving the parties' partial parenting plan and time-sharing
schedule, the court asserted that it was retaining jurisdiction to resolve these matters,
but it ultimately neither did so nor explained its failure to do so. The Former Wife
properly brought this failure to the court's attention both in her written closing argument
and in her motion for rehearing. Accordingly, the court shall resolve these matters on
remand.
In all other respects, the judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed in part; reversed in part; remanded with directions.
NORTHCUTT and BLACK, JJ., Concur.
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