J.L.B. v. S.J.B.
J.L.B. v. S.J.B.
070rehearing
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
On consideration of the appellant’s motion for rehearing, rehearing en banc, clarification and certification, we grant the appellant’s motion in part, withdraw our opinion filed on February 14, 2014, and substitute the following opinion in its stead.
J.L.B. (“Former Husband”) appeals from the supplemental final judgment for modification of timesharing/parenting plan. We affirm in part and reverse in part.
In what is a far too frequent occurrence, Former Husband and S.J.B. (“Former Wife”) have engaged in years of litigation involving their minor children. The parties’ marriage was dissolved by a final judgment entered on September 17, 2008. Since then, they have filed numerous pleadings attacking the other’s parental fitness. In March 2010, Former Husband filed a supplemental petition to modify the
First, Former Husband argues that the trial court erred in placing the burden of proof on him to establish a substantial change of circumstances and not requiring Former Wife to plead or prove a substantial change in circumstances.
Next, Former Husband contends that the trial court erred in setting Former Wife’s child support obligation based upon three children rather than four. While the record on appeal is not entirely complete, apparently the parties adopted one child and received a stipend from the State of Georgia for over $430 per month. The trial court ordered that stipend, which had been going to Former Wife, be paid to Former Husband instead. That amount was clearly intended for the child’s support and, given Former Wife’s financial condition, we find no abuse of discretion in how the trial court calculated the child support.
Additionally, Former Husband submits that the trial court used the incorrect date in calculating the amount of retroactive child support owed by Former Wife. Because Former Husband did not plead for retroactive child support in his December 2011 supplemental petition and the issue was not tried by consent, we decline to hold that the trial court abused its discretion in calculating the retroactive child support due.
Lastly, Former Husband argues that the trial court erred in awarding the IRS dependency exemptions to the parties in alternating years because Former Wife did not request such relief in her pleadings. We agree. See Newberry v. Newberry, 881 So.2d 749, 751 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002) (“A trial court lacks jurisdiction to enter any judgment on an issue not raised by the pleadings.” (citing Cortina v. Cortina, 98 So.2d 384 (Fla. 1957))). Accordingly, we reverse that portion of the supplemental final judgment. We affirm in all other respects.
AFFIRMED IN PART; REVERSED IN PART; REMANDED.
. Former Husband argues that because the children were adjudicated dependent, Former Wife must establish that there has been a substantial change in circumstances since that adjudication. However, the dependency adjudication was based upon his consent to dependency; thus, he cannot use that adjudication to shift the burden of proof.
. Due to the vast amount of pleadings filed in this case, confusion understandably arose regarding the operable petition. This is illustrated by the fact that the supplemental final judgment incorrectly states that the cause came before the court on Former Husband's March 2010 supplemental petition, which had previously been dismissed as insufficient. However, it is clear from the record and the trial transcript that the trial and supplemental final judgment were based on Former Husband’s December 2011 supplemental petition.
.Specifically, Former Wife was granted unsupervised visitation on the condition that she first complete three supervised visits with the Family Ties program.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.