Opinion
3D23-1809 3D23-1954
05-08-2024
Jason Richard Baumann, Appellant, v. Sara Cardona Agudelo, Appellee.
Metschlaw, P.A., and Lawrence R. Metsch (Hollywood), for appellant. Law Offices of Richard G. Dunberg, and Richard G. Dunberg, for appellee.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
Appeals from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Diana Vizcaino, Judge Lower Tribunal No. 18-20259.
Metschlaw, P.A., and Lawrence R. Metsch (Hollywood), for appellant.
Law Offices of Richard G. Dunberg, and Richard G. Dunberg, for appellee.
Before FERNANDEZ, SCALES and GORDO, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Affirmed. See Helinksi v. Helinski, 305 So.3d 703, 708 (Fla. 3d DCA 2020) ("[W]here the issue in litigation requires the trial court to determine what is in the best interests of the child, the trial court has the discretion to award attorneys' fees and costs pursuant to section 61.16, notwithstanding any agreement between the parties purporting to prospectively waive the right to seek an award of attorneys' fees and costs."); Berstein v. Berstein, 498 So.2d 1270, 1272 (Fla. 4th DCA 1986) ("The law is clear that the parents may not contract away the rights of their child for support." (quoting Armour v. Allen, 377 So.2d 798, 799-800 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979))); Engelsen v. Landers, 699 So.2d 1031, 1032 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997) ("The point of Bernstein is that if the parents cannot contract away a court's ability to act in the best interests of their child, then they cannot contract away one party's ability to obtain an advocate to see that the full story is developed in a child related proceeding."); Applegate v. Barnett Bank of Tallahassee, 377 So.2d 1150, 1152 (Fla. 1979) ("In appellate proceedings the decision of a trial court has the presumption of correctness and the burden is on the appellant to demonstrate error . . . Without a record of the trial proceedings, the appellate court can not properly resolve the underlying factual issues so as to conclude that the trial court's judgment is not supported by the evidence or by an alternative theory.") (citations omitted).