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Alston v. Vazquez
2017 WL 4103220
| Fla. Dist. Ct. App. | 2017
|
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*1 IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FIFTH DISTRICT

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED CANDA ALSTON,

Appellant, v. Case No. 5D16-3917 JOHN VAZQUEZ,

Appellee.

________________________________/

Opinion filed September 1 8 , 2017

Appeal from the Circuit Court

for Orange County,

Wayne C. Wooten, Judge.

Gary S. Israel, of Gary Israel, PA, Orlando,

for Appellant.

John Vazquez, Orlando, pro se.

PER CURIAM

Canda Alston appeals a final judgment of paternity that included a child support order and parenting plan. We affirm the trial court’s thorough, thoughtful, and well- documented final judgment as to all but one of the issues Appellant raised. As part of the final judgment, the trial court ordered that Appellant would have the income tax benefits of claiming the parties’ child as a dependent in even-numbered years, while Appellee, the child’s father, would have those same tax benefits in odd-numbered years. “The trial court had the discretion to transfer the dependency exemption to the noncustodial *2 parent.” Vick v. Vick , 675 So. 2d 714, 719 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996). However, the trial court erred in not conditioning each party’s right to claim the child as a dependent on being current with child support payments. See Salazar v. Salazar , 976 So. 2d 1155, 1158 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008). We remand with instructions for the trial court to enter an amended final judgment containing that condition for the right to claim their child as a dependent for tax purposes in alternating years. In all other respects, the final judgment is affirmed.

AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED WITH INSTRUCTIONS.

SAWAYA, ORFINGER, and EDWARDS, JJ., concur.

2

Case Details

Case Name: Alston v. Vazquez
Court Name: District Court of Appeal of Florida
Date Published: Sep 18, 2017
Citation: 2017 WL 4103220
Docket Number: Case 5D16-3917
Court Abbreviation: Fla. Dist. Ct. App.
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