Hooker v. Hooker

Before their marriage, the parties entered into a prenuptial agreement providing that, upon dissolution, each party would retain his or her premarital assets and any appreciation of those assets. Following a twenty-three-year marriage, Wife petitioned for dissolution of marriage. The property dispute in this case resulted from the trial court’s equitable distribution of two pieces of residential real property. In its amended final judgment the trial court concluded that these properties were marital assets. The Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s determination as to one property but concluded that the trial court erred in finding that Wife had an interest in the other property by virtue of an interspousal gift. The Supreme Court affirmed in part and quashed in part the Fourth District’s decision and reinstated the trial court’s amended final judgment, holding (1) the appropriate standard of review is competent, substantial evidence, and in this case, the Fourth District improperly reweighed the evidence under a preponderance of the evidence standard; and (2) the record contains competent, substantial evidence to support the trial court’s findings that both properties at issue were marital and therefore subject to equitable distribution. View "Hooker v. Hooker" on Justia Law