Karen Haxel v. Douglas Haxel

FIFTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
STATE OF FLORIDA
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Case No. 5D2024-0846
LT Case No. 2010-DR-014130
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KAREN HAXEL,
Appellant,
v.
DOUGLAS HAXEL,
Appellee.
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On appeal from the Circuit Court for Brevard County,
Michelle Pruitt Studstill, Judge.
Alex Finch, of Finch Legal, PLLC, Longwood, for Appellant.
Curtis N. Flajole, of Curtis N. Flajole, P.A., Rockledge, for
Appellee.
January 16, 2026
PER CURIAM.
We affirm the dissolution judgment in all respects except one.
Husband received a $13,980.33 credit for payments that he made
on the marital home after the parties’ final separation. But a court
should not credit a spouse for making post-separation house
payments when that spouse was the primary income earner
generally responsible for paying the mortgage and other household
expenses during the marriage. See Cortese v. Cortese, 72 So. 3d
269, 269 (Fla. 5th DCA 2011); see, e.g., Kranz v. Kranz, 737 So. 2d

2
1198, 1202 (Fla. 5th DCA 1999) (concluding that a husband was
not entitled to credit for paying the mortgage on the marital home
after the parties separated “just as he had during the marriage”).
Here, because Husband paid the mortgage without Wife’s financial
assistance during the marriage, the court should not have credited
him for continuing those payments after Wife moved out of the
house. Therefore, we reverse that aspect of the dissolution
judgment and remand for the court to enter an amended judgment.
The amended judgment shall remove Husband’s house payment
credit and make the corresponding adjustment to the equitable
distribution of the marital home.
AFFIRMED in part; REVERSED in part; REMANDED with
instructions.
JAY, C.J., and WALLIS and HARRIS, JJ., concur.
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Not final until disposition of any timely and
authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
9.331.
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