Special Equity Florida Divorce Cases

A number of special equity Florida divorce cases have been heard over the years. This legal remedy is not a commonly-used one, however.

A straight 50/50 division of marital property is not a sure thing.

In 1980, the Florida Supreme Court found that special equity was "a vested interest which a spouse acquires because of contribution of funds, property, or services made over and above the performance of normal marital duties."

This term was originally used by a Florida court in 1932 as a means to award alimony to a wife who had been unfaithful to her husband. The husband had come home to find his wife in bed with another man. The husband was a business owner and the wife had contributed financially as well as personally to the business. Under the provisions of the law in effect at that time, an adulterous wife could not be awarded alimony.

The Court used the special equity provision to award a percentage of money and property to the wife in recognition for her contributions during the marriage.

In special equity Florida divorce cases, the party making this type of claim must show two things:

• The money or the property in question was not part of marital property
• It was not the person's intention to make a gift of the money or property to his or her spouse

In order to prove that funds or moneys used to purchase property should not be included with marital property, it must be clearly shown that they were kept separate from joint marital funds. If this cannot be demonstrated, then the Court will not grant special equity.

In the 1996 case of Hill v. Hill, 675 So. 2d 168 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996), the husband told the Court that he had designated the matrimonial home as being owned by himself and his wife as joint tenants. This course of action was taken for the purposes of estate planning and it was not his intention to make a gift of any portion of the value of the house to his wife. The wife confirmed to the Court that this was the reason for the designation, and special equity was granted to him in the matter of the matrimonial home.

The issue of special equity was brought before the Court again in the case of Gallinar v. Gallinar, 763 So. 2d 447 (Fla. 3d DCA 2000). The husband was claiming special equity for the matrimonial home, but was unsuccessful. He appealed the ruling. The Appeal Court found that the husband had, in fact, contributed a substantial amount of moneys to the purchase of the home and that these funds should not be considered marital funds. The Appeal Court also found that the husband had failed to present evidence demonstrating that he was not making a gift to his wife. The Appeal Court found in favor of the wife.

In special equity Florida divorce cases, it's important to keep in mind that the idea of all marital property being divided equally is only a starting point for the Court. A judge can and will look at the circumstances of each case to determine whether an equal division of marital property is equitable.

If only one part of the burden of proof for special equity is fulfilled, then the Court will determine whether the funds or property in question is marital property. A presumption is made that one spouse intended to gift the other with the funds or property in question.

Even in a situation where the property was gifted to the other spouse, the Court may make a ruling for something other than a straight 50/50 split. The Court heard in the case of Ibanez-Vogelsang v. Vogelsang, 601 So. 2d 1303 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992) that the parties were married for less than two months. On their wedding day, the husband added the wife's name to the title on a home worth $900,000.00. The judge awarded the house to the husband alone.

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