The opinion
USCA11 Case: 24-10102 Document: 31-1 Date Filed: 10/09/2024 Page: 1 of 5
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
In the
United States Court of Appeals
For the Eleventh Circuit
____________________
No. 24-10102
Non-Argument Calendar
____________________
MONY LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY,
f.k.a. The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York,
Plaintiff-Counter Defendant-Appellee,
versus
BERNARD R. PEREZ,
Defendant-Counter Claimant-Appellant,
NEW ENGLAND CLAIMS ADMINISTRATION SERVICES,
INC.,
Disability Management Services, Inc.,
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2 Opinion of the Court 24-10102
Counter Defendant.
____________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
D.C. Docket No. 8:19-cv-02031-WFJ-TGW
____________________
Before WILLIAM PRYOR, Chief Judge, and JILL PRYOR and BRANCH,
Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Bernard Perez appeals the denial of his request for a head of
household exemption from garnishment because his live-in girl-
friend did not qualify as a dependent. We affirm.
Following a jury trial, the district court entered judgment
against Perez. Mony Life Insurance sought writs of garnishment
against Perez’s bank and employer. Perez claimed several exemp-
tions from garnishment, including that he was a head of household.
The magistrate judge held a hearing on the exemption. Pe-
rez testified that he had been dating his girlfriend for three years
and living with her for 18 months. He provided more than one-half
of her financial support each month because he paid for her hous-
ing, self-care products, food, and utilities, and he drove her to work.
The couple provided emotional support to each other and treated
each other like spouses. His girlfriend held the same full-time job
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24-10102 Opinion of the Court 3
she had before meeting him, her paystubs and W-2 were sent to
her old address, and she maintained a bank account to which Perez
did not have access. He testified that she was able to sustain herself
before meeting him, but at a much different level.
The magistrate judge denied the exemption because Perez’s
relationship with his girlfriend did not constitute a “family in fact.”
The magistrate judge found that they cohabitated and provided
each other with emotional support and that he paid for her ex-
penses and drove her. But he explained that they had only lived
together for a little over a year and that she was previously able to
support herself. The district court adopted the magistrate judge’s
order over Perez’s objection and entered final judgments of gar-
nishment.
A mixed question of law and fact is one where the court ap-
plies the law to established facts. Lincoln v. Bd. of Regents of Univ. Sys.
of Ga., 697 F.2d 928, 940 n.15 (11th Cir. 1983). The appropriate
standard of review for a mixed question depends on “whether an-
swering it entails primarily legal or factual work.” U.S. Bank N.A. v.
Village at Lakeridge, LLC, 583 U.S. 387, 396 (2018). We apply de novo
review when the question requires a court to “expound on the law”
and clear error when the question requires a court to “marshal and
weigh evidence, make credibility judgments, and otherwise ad-
dress . . . multifarious, fleeting, special, narrow facts that utterly re-
sist generalization.” Id. (internal quotation marks and citation omit-
ted). A district court clearly errs when “although there is evidence
to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with
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4 Opinion of the Court 24-10102
the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been commit-
ted.” Anderson v. City of Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 573 (1985) (in-
ternal quotation marks omitted).
“Whether an individual is a head of family is a question to
be resolved on the facts of each case,” Moore v. Moore, 334 So. 3d
382, 383 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2022) (quoting Holden v. Gardner’s Est.,
420 So. 2d 1082, 1083 (Fla. 1982)), considering the totality of the
circumstances, Ulisano v. Ulisano, 154 So. 3d 507, 508 (Fla. Dist. Ct.
App. 2015). The party claiming the exemption bears the burden.
Moore, 334 So. 3d at 383. The exemption is liberally construed in
favor of the debtor. Ulisano, 154 So. 3d at 508.
To qualify for a head of household exemption, a party must
prove they provide “more than one-half of the support for a child
or other dependent.” Fla. Stat. § 222.11(1)(c). The statute does not
define “other dependent.” Mazzella v. Boinis, 617 So. 2d 1156, 1157
(Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1993). An unmarried person can claim the ex-
emption. See id. The parties agreed below that an individual is a
head of household where there is either “a legal duty to support”
or “continuing communal living by at least two individuals under
such circumstances that one is regarded as in charge.” Holden, 420
So. 2d at 1083. The latter “family in fact” arises from “a moral obli-
gation to support.” Id.
The parties dispute the appropriate standard of review. Pe-
rez argues we should review the district court’s decision de novo
because it concluded as a matter of law that his girlfriend did not
constitute a dependent, while Mony Life Insurance argues that the
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24-10102 Opinion of the Court 5
district court engaged in a factual finding reviewed for clear error.
The district court found that Perez and his girlfriend did not con-
stitute a “family in fact,” under the totality of the circumstances.
Ulisano, 154 So. 3d at 508. We review that fact-intensive inquiry for
clear error. See Village at Lakeridge, 583 U.S. at 396.
The district court did not clearly err in finding that the rela-
tionship was not a “family in fact.” It is not clear Perez had a moral
obligation to support her. See Holden, 420 So. 2d at 1083. The dis-
trict court considered Perez’s arguments that he paid for many of
her expenses, drove her to work, and provided emotional support
to her. But it found that the couple had only recently begun cohab-
itating and that Perez admitted that his girlfriend could support
herself. We are not left with a definite and firm conviction that the
district court made a mistake in finding that Perez’s relationship
with his girlfriend did not form a “family in fact.” Anderson, 470 U.S.
at 573.
Additionally, Perez’s argument that the order discriminated
against unmarried couples fails because it did not categorically ex-
clude their unmarried relationship from being a “family in fact.”
We AFFIRM the denial of the exemption.