Second District Reverses Final Judgment on Various Grounds

The Second District Court of Appeal reversed today in Crick v. Crick, on several grounds.  First, in dividing the parties’ credit card debt used to purchase certificates of deposit, the court designated the same monies as both liability and asset, creating an unjustified distribution to the Wife.  Second, the lower court granted twenty-four months of rehabilitative alimony in the amount of $2,000.00 a month without making any findings as to need or ability to pay, or as to either party’s net income or the former husband’s gross income.  Also, the lower court evidently ordered combined alimony and child support which exhausted the entirety of the former husband’s income.  Finally, the lower court’s order that the former husband in addition pay one-half of his former wife’s attorneys’ fees was reversed on the ground that the equitable distribution and alimony reversals would require reconsideration of that award.