Brown v. Brown

26 So. 3d 1210, 2007 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 498, 2007 WL 2142384
Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama·Decided July 27, 2007·No. 2050748·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

THOMAS, Judge.

Rosemary Posey Brown (“the wife”) and James Earl Brown (“the husband”) were married on August 10, 1996. Two days before the parties’ marriage, the husband executed an antenuptial agreement; he presented the agreement to the wife the following day. The wife executed the agreement on August 9, 1996, and the parties married the following day. In September 2003, the parties separated; the husband filed for divorce in December, alleging that the parties were no longer compatible. The husband attached the parties’ antenuptial agreement to his divorce complaint.

After several continuances, the trial court heard the testimony of the husband and the wife on October 26, 2005. The trial court then entered a judgment declaring the antenuptial agreement valid, dividing the parties’ property, and awarding the wife alimony. After the trial court considered the husband’s timely postjudgment [1213] motion, the trial court amended its judgment in part to deny the wife alimony because she had waived all right to alimony in the antenuptial agreement. The wife appealed the divorce judgment, arguing that the trial court had erred when it found the antenuptial agreement to be enforceable and denied her claim for alimony; the husband filed a timely cross-appeal, arguing that the trial court had not enforced the antenuptial agreement appropriately because it had awarded the wife the time-share in Orlando, Florida, owned by the husband before the marriage and because it had awarded the wife $60,000 representing her interest in the husband’s Wachovia account, which was his separate property under the agreement. The husband also argues that the trial court erred by awarding the wife a far larger share than him of the parties’ marital property and by not recognizing the husband’s claim that the wife had converted certain funds when she forged the husband’s name to a mortgage-satisfaction document and withdrew the proceeds from that mortgage payoff from the parties’ joint bank account.

The Wife’s Appeal

The wife argues that the trial court erred by enforcing the antenuptial agreement she signed the day before the wedding. She specifically argues that she did not read the agreement before she signed it, that she did not secure independent legal advice before signing the agreement, that the atmosphere at the time she signed the agreement was coercive, and that the husband did not fully disclose the value of his assets in his schedule of assets appended to the agreement. Thus, the wife argues that the antenuptial agreement is unenforceable under Alabama law.

“As a general rule, antenuptial agreements are valid and enforceable under Alabama law. Barnhill v. Barnhill, 386 So.2d 749, 751 (Ala.Civ.App.), cert. denied, 386 So.2d 752 (Ala.1980). However, ‘[b]ecause of the confidential relationship of the two parties, such contracts are scrutinized by the courts to determine their justice and fairness.’ Allison v. Stevens, 269 Ala. 288, 291, 112 So.2d 451, 453 (1959). Antenuptial agreements must satisfy one of two tests to be considered valid. Allison, 269 Ala. at 291, 112 So.2d at 453; Barnhill, 386 So.2d at 751.
“A party seeking to enforce an ante-nuptial agreement must prove either:
“ ‘that the consideration was adequate and that the entire transaction was fair, just and equitable from the other party’s point of view or that the agreement was freely and voluntarily entered into by the [other party] with competent independent advice and full knowledge of [that party’s] interest in the estate and its approximate value.’
“Barnhill, 386 So.2d at 751 (citing Allison, 269 Ala. at 291, 112 So.2d at 453) (emphasis added). As applied by this court in the cases since Barnhill, the elements of the second test are considered as proof of the overall fairness required by test one. See Barnhill, [386 So.2d at] 752; Woolwine v. Woolwine, 519 So.2d 1347, 1350 (Ala.Civ.App.1987). However, this court has required only that the party against whom the agreement is being enforced have a general knowledge, not a full knowledge, of the other’s estate. See Barnhill, 386 So.2d at 752; Woolwine, 519 So.2d at 1350.”

Lemaster v. Dutton, 694 So.2d 1360, 1362-63 (Ala.Civ.App.1996).

“In a case in which the evidence is presented to the trial court ore tenus, such as this one, the findings of the trial court are presumed correct and will not be set aside unless they are plainly and palpably wrong or unjust.” Tibbs v. Anderson, 580 So.2d 1337, 1339 (Ala.1991). “Further[1214] more, where the trial court does not make findings of fact, it will be assumed that the trial court made those findings that were necessary to support its judgment, unless the findings would be clearly erroneous.” Ex parte Walters, 580 So.2d 1352, 1854 (Ala.1991).

The wife is a 54-year-old former real-estate agent. She worked as a real-estate agent in the Orange Beach-Gulf Shores area for several years. She resigned from her position shortly before the marriage at the husband’s request; he had indicated that he wanted her to stay home and that he had sufficient income to support them without her income.

The wife does not and cannot dispute that consideration existed to support the antenuptial agreement. Marriage itself can be sufficient consideration for an antenuptial agreement, Barnhill v. Barnhill, 386 So.2d 749, 751 (Ala.Civ.App.1980); in addition, the parties’ mutual relinquishment of rights in each other’s estate can serve as consideration. Tibbs, 580 So.2d at 1339. Thus, we now turn to whether “the entire transaction was fair, just and equitable from [the wife’s] point of view.” Lemaster, 694 So.2d at 1363.

The wife complains that the transaction was not fair and equitable. She makes much of the facts that she did not read the agreement and that she did not secure independent legal advice before signing the agreement, which have both been held to be indicia of the fairness of an antenup-tial agreement. See Woolwine v. Woolwine, 519 So.2d 1347, 1350 (Ala.Civ.App.1987). She also complains that the husband did not disclose the value of his estate in the schedule of assets appended to the antenuptial agreement and that the husband’s giving her the antenuptial agreement on the day before the wedding created a coercive atmosphere in which she felt compelled to sign the agreement.

The fact that the wife contends that she did not read the agreement is, in our opinion, of no consequence here. She had the ability to do so, was not prevented from doing so, and chose not to do so despite the fact that she signed the document. As a real-estate agent, the wife was familiar with the import of signing a legal document. Alabama law provides that

“in the absence of fraud or misrepresentation, a party is bound by the terms of a contract, even if he fails to read it. The law is equally clear that ordinarily when a competent adult, having the ability to read and understand an instrument, signs a contract, he will be held to be on notice of all the provisions contained in that contract and will be bound thereby.”

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Brown v. Brown, 26 So. 3d 1210, 2007 Ala. Civ. App. LEXIS 498, 2007 WL 2142384 (Ala. Ct. App. 2007).

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