Carroll v. Carroll
Carroll v. Carroll
Opinion of the Court
We affirm the 1986 final judgment in all respects but one. We reverse the award to the wife of $1,000,000 in cash as an equitable distribution of the parties’ marital assets valued at $5,200,000.
We agree with the wife’s contention that the trial court abused its discretion and erred in making such an unequal and disproportionate division of the marital assets.
Long after the entry of the 1986 final judgment, this court in Bobb v. Bobb, 552 So.2d 334 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989), stated that:
[i]n this district that admonition in Canakaris [v. Canakaris, 382 So.2d 1197 (Fla. 1980)] has evolved into a general rule that asset distribution should be equal unless there is justification for a disparity in treatment ... If the trial court starts with a proposition of an equal division of marital assets and then sets forth a justification for disparate treatment which comports with reason and logic (the Canakaris standard), then the trial court has appropriately exercised its judicial discretion.
Thus, for a trial court to appropriately exercise its judicial discretion, it must set forth a justification for disparate treatment which comports with reason and logic.
Accordingly, we conclude that the wife received a disproportionately small share of the marital assets without justification under the facts of the case. Therefore, the trial court’s final judgment is reversed and the cause remanded to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.