In a contested Florida divorce decided without a filed marital settlement stipulation or agreement on property division, the court must identify each liability, classify each debt as marital or nonmarital, and distribute it, with written findings. On November 6, 2026, in Lynch v. Lynch, No. 5D2025-3002, the Fifth District Court of Appeal held that a final judgment that did none of this had to be remanded. Judge Harris wrote the opinion, joined by Judges Makar and Soud. The court affirmed the judgment in all other respects.
The claim
The former husband, representing himself, appealed the Brevard County final judgment of dissolution. He argued that the judgment did not allocate the marital debts, including credit card balances, vehicle loans and other liabilities listed in his financial affidavit. No appearance was entered for the former wife.
The rule: classify each debt as marital or nonmarital
The court said that after identifying assets and liabilities, a court must classify each as marital or nonmarital and then distribute them, citing Jones v. Jones, 413 So. 3d 242 (Fla. 5th DCA 2025). It also cited section 61.075(3)(c), Florida Statutes (2025), which calls for specific written findings of fact identifying the liabilities and designating which spouse is responsible for each. Quoting a Fourth District decision, it said the “failure to make sufficient findings regarding value of property and identification of marital assets and debts constitutes reversible error.”
This judgment
The judgment “does not specifically identify or classify any liabilities,” the court wrote, saying only that each party is solely responsible for any liability in that party’s name. The husband’s 2025 financial affidavit listed several. The court treated the issue as preserved because he raised it in a motion for rehearing, which is how a party preserves an error that first appears on the face of a final order. It remanded for the trial court to make the required findings.
What this does and does not mean
The court did not decide which debts are marital or who should pay them, and it did not say the allocation by name was wrong in result, only that the required findings are missing. This case was contested and went to a judgment the parties did not agree to; where a divorcing couple instead resolves property division by a filed marital settlement stipulation or agreement, the court is not making its own classification and does not need these findings in the same way. The husband “failed to demonstrate error on any of the other issues presented,” so the rest of the judgment stands; the opinion does not describe those other issues. The opinion is short and the former wife did not appear. It is not final until any timely motion for rehearing is resolved.
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Read the opinion (PDF): Download the opinion (PDF)
Source: Lynch v. Lynch, No. 5D2025-3002 (Fla. 5th DCA Nov. 6, 2026). This article is general information, not legal advice.