Third District Court of Appeal
State of Florida
Opinion filed February 9, 2022.
Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.
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No. 3D21-476
Lower Tribunal No. 18-28289
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Christian Joseph Boulos,
Appellant,
vs.
Veronica Rubio, f/k/a Veronica Boulos,
Appellee.
An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Victoria del
Pino, Judge.
Laline Concepcion-Veloso, P.A., and Laline Concepcion-Veloso, for
appellant.
Orshan, Spann & Fernandez-Mesa, and Robert D. Orshan and Steven
P. Spann, for appellee.
Before FERNANDEZ, C.J., and SCALES and MILLER, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Christian Joseph Boulos (Former Husband) appeals the trial court’s
September 25, 2020 order determining both: (i) that his minor children with
Veronica Rubio (Former Wife) should continue to attend private school; and
(ii) that he is required to pay sixty-three percent of the private school tuition
costs. When the couple divorced in 2019, they entered into a Marital
Settlement Agreement (MSA) that left open the questions of whether the
couple’s minor children would continue to attend private school and, if so,
the parties’ respective obligations toward the payment of tuition. The MSA
specifically provided that if the parties were unable to resolve the private
school issues, they would present those issues to the trial court for
determination.
After the parties were unable to come to an amicable resolution, on
March 6, 2020, Former Wife – who wished for the children to continue their
private religious school education – filed a motion seeking the trial court’s
determination of the private school issues. On August 28, 2020, the trial court
conducted an evidentiary hearing on Former Wife’s motion and
subsequently entered the detailed order that Former Husband challenges in
this appeal.
We review the order on appeal under an abuse of discretion standard,
Pollow v. Pollow,
712 So. 2d 1235, 1236 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998), and we are
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compelled to affirm if the trial court’s factual findings are supported by
competent substantial evidence. See Lane v. Lane,
254 So. 3d 570, 574
(Fla. 3d DCA 2018).
We conclude that the trial court made appropriate findings consistent
with Brennan v. Brennan,
122 So. 3d 923, 926 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013) (holding
that the trial court must find: “(1) the parent has the ability to pay for private
school, (2) the expense is in accordance with the family’s established
standard of living, and (3) attendance is in the child’s best interest”). These
findings are supported by competent substantial evidence. Accordingly, we
conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in entering the
challenged order.
Affirmed.
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