Nicoletti v. Nicoletti

Full title: NANCY NICOLETTI, n/k/a NANCY GREENBERG, Appellant, v. SCOTT NICOLETTI…

Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District

Date published: Mar 4, 2005

Case No. 2D04-2356 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. Mar. 4, 2005)

Opinion

Case No. 2D04-2356.

Opinion filed March 4, 2005.

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Pinellas County, Mark I. Shames, Judge.

Philip A. McLeod, St. Petersburg, for Appellant.

Jane H. Grossman of Law Office of Jane H. Grossman, St. Petersburg, for Appellee.

NORTHCUTT, Judge.

Nancy Nicoletti challenges the circuit court's order denying as untimely her motion for attorney's fees incurred in postjudgment litigation with her former husband. We affirm.

The parties' marriage was dissolved in 1990. In August 2002, the circuit court entered a contempt order and judgment for college expenses and support arrears against Mr. Nicoletti. That judgment reserved jurisdiction to determine a reasonable amount of attorney's fees and costs to be paid by Mr. Nicoletti to Mrs. Nicoletti's attorney in connection with the motion for contempt. The court later denied Mrs. Nicoletti's fee claim because she failed to file a timely motion therefor, as required by Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.525.

As the circuit court observed, this court has previously held that rule 1.525 establishes a bright-line rule that requires a party to file a separate motion for attorney's fees within thirty days of the entry of a judgment. That a judgment reserves jurisdiction to award fees does not automatically extend the time for filing the motion. Swann v. Dinan, 884 So. 2d 398, 399 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004); Gulf Landings Ass'n v. Hershberger, 845 So. 2d 344 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003). In this regard, we disagree with the Third and the Fourth Districts, and we certify conflict withSaia Motor Freight Line, Inc. v. Reid, 29 Fla. L. Weekly D2669 (Fla. 3d DCA Nov. 24, 2004), and Fisher v. John Carter Associates, Inc., 864 So. 2d 493 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004).

Additionally, in Gosselin v. Gosselin, 869 So. 2d 667, 669 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004), the Fourth District held that rule 1.525 does not apply in cases involving post-decretal orders in marital dissolution actions. But Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.020 states that the civil procedure rules apply "in all family law matters" except where the family law rules conflict. Accordingly, we hold that rule 1.525 applies in this case. Cf. Lyn v. Lyn, 884 So. 2d 181, 183-84 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004);Wentworth v. Johnson, 845 So. 2d 296, 298 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003). We certify conflict with Gosselin.

Affirmed; conflicts certified.

SALCINES and CANADY, JJ., Concur.

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED