Daniels v. Cynkin

34 F. Supp. 3d 433, 2014 WL 3672979, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99775
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Jersey
DecidedJuly 23, 2014
DocketCivil Action No. 13-6027 (JBS/KMW)
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 34 F. Supp. 3d 433 (Daniels v. Cynkin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Jersey primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Daniels v. Cynkin, 34 F. Supp. 3d 433, 2014 WL 3672979, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99775 (D.N.J. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

SIMANDLE, Chief Judge:

I. INTRODUCTION

“ Plaintiff Michael J. Daniels, who is representing himself pro se, brought this action against Defendants Laurie E. Cynkin, Andrew M. Rosenberg, The Susan J. Snyder Living Trust (“The Living Trust”), and The Estate of Susan J. Snyder (“The Estate”). Plaintiff was previously married to Susan J. Snyder, who obtained a divorce judgment against him in Florida state court and died shortly thereafter. Cynkin and Rosenberg are Snyder’s children and heirs, Snyder transferred property to The Living Trust before she died, and The Estate handled her remaining assets after she died. Plaintiff alleges that Snyder fraudulently induced him to sign a prenuptial agreement and that Snyder’s divorce proceedings against him in Florida state court violated his constitutional rights. Plaintiff seeks reinstatement of his Social Security survivor benefits, attorney’s fees from the Florida divorce proceedings, a declaration that the prenuptial agreement is void, and modification, vacation, or reversal of the Florida court’s divorce judgment.

[435]*435This matter comes before Court on Defendants’ motion to dismiss [Docket Item 6] all of Plaintiffs claims. Defendant’s motion will be granted because the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, the domestic relations exception, and Social Security jurisdictional requirements.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Allegations in Plaintiffs Complaint

Plaintiff signed a prenuptial agreement with Susan E. Snyder and then married her.1 (Compl. ¶¶ 20-21.) Plaintiff alleges that Snyder induced him to sign the prenuptial agreement by promising to “provide for the Plaintiff as she had provided for Mr. Millardi [her second husband], as long as we were married.” (Id. ¶¶ 17-18.) Plaintiff alleges that Snyder originally “did fulfill the promise she made to the Plaintiff by making provisions for him in her will.” (Id. ¶ 22.) But he alleges that she “violated the agreement she had made with the plaintiff prior to the signing of the prenuptial agreement by her act of disinheriting the husband in 2009.” (Id. ¶ 56.)

While they were married, Plaintiff applied for Social Security benefits and, in addition to his own benefits, he allegedly received an additional $186.00 per month because he was married to Snyder. (Id. ¶¶ 23-24.)

The Florida state court issued a divorce decree on August 16, 2010 and, according to Plaintiff, the divorce judgment was signed in 2011. (Id. ¶ 37.) Plaintiff alleges that the divorce proceedings in Florida state court violated his constitutional rights because the trial judge refused to bifurcate the trial proceedings, prohibited Plaintiff from speaking on his own behalf in court, and signed the divorce decree despite a lack of evidence that the marriage was irretrievably broken. (Id. ¶ 33, 35, 38.) Plaintiff alleges that the late Susan Snyder “repeatedly misled or intentionally did not tell the truth to trial court ....’’(Id. ¶40.)

Snyder died in 2011, after the divorce became final. (Id. ¶ 55.) After her death, Plaintiff allegedly discovered that she violated the terms of their prenuptial agreement. (Id. ¶ 56.) Plaintiff then filed a motion to modify the trial court’s decision because “the agreement was null and void due to the breach of the condition precedent by my former wife.” (Id. ¶ 57.) His motion was dismissed. (Id.) Plaintiff filed an appeal, which was denied. (Id. ¶ 63.) He filed a motion to set aside the divorce and an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court, both of which were denied. (Id. ¶ 63.) Plaintiff filed another appeal addressing the trial court’s denial of an amended complaint and to dismiss his complaint, which was pending at the time he filed his present Complaint. (Id. ¶ 65.)

Plaintiff argues that “[t]o allow the Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage to remain undisturbed ... would be in violation of the constitutional rights of the Former Husband_” (Id. ¶ 63.) He claims that “[t]he only possible conclusion that can be made of the reason for the divorce is that the plaintiff had Parkinson’s disease. This ... violated the persons with disabilities acts-” (Id. ¶ 49(3).) Plaintiff also asserts that the Florida trial court’s “finding that both parties worked on the premarital agreement ignores the facts.” (Id. ¶ 49(5).)

Defendants Laurie Cynkin and Andrew Rosenberg are Snyder’s heirs. (Id. ¶ 51.) Plaintiff alleges that' Cynkin and Rosenberg “agreed to keep the benefits received from their mother and the[y] agreed [436]*436amongst themselves to keep those gains for themselves and for their mutual benefit.” (Id. ¶ 31(2).) Plaintiff emphasizes that “[a]ll of the defendants did agree to keep the benefits received from the Trial Court making up findings to support his conclusions in spite of the fact that no evidence existed to support the findings.” (Id. ¶ 31(4).)

B. Divorce Judgment

Plaintiff attached to his Complaint the August 17, 2010 “Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage” from the Seventh Judicial Circuit in St. Johns County, Florida.2 (Compl. Ex. A.) The judgment specifies that the St. Johns court held a trial on August 9, 2010; wife Susan E. Snyder was represented by attorney Leanna Freeman; and husband Michael J. Daniels was represented by attorney Sean Sheppard. (Id. at 1.) The divorce court found “that the parties were married to one another on December 20, 2002, ... but that the marriage of the parties is now irretrievably broken and should be dissolved.” (Id. at 1.)

The divorce court discussed the parties’ prenuptial agreement, noting that “[t]he Husband testified ... that there was no fraud, duress, or misrepresentation on the part of the Wife.... The Husband in hindsight now believes that the Antenuptial Agreement is not fair to him as it did not address the issues of alimony or how to deal with appreciation of the value of non-marital assets.” (Id. at 4.) The divorce court “determined that the Antenuptial Agreement of the parties is valid and not subject to being set aside. Its terms are to be applied in this case.” (Id. at 7.)

The judgment noted that “[tjhere is no evidence that the Husband has sought Social Security Disability payments”; “prior to the marriage he earned slightly less than $10,000 annually”; and “he now receives approximately the same amount in Social Security benefits, mostly as a result of the Wife’s disability.” (Id. at 3.)

The divorce court noted that Snyder entered the marriage with several properties, the parties transferred her property to the Susan Snyder Living Trust, and, therefore, “the Husband has no claim on any purported increase in any value of the real property as the increase in value is not to the Wife individually, but to the trust as a trust asset.” (Id. at 4.)

The judgment concludes that “[t]he marriage of the parties, SUSAN J. SNYDER, Wife, and MICHAEL J. DANIELS, Husband, is hereby dissolved and the parties are restored to the status of being single and unmarried.”3 (Id. at 7.)

C. Claims

Plaintiff asserts claims under 42 U.S.C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
34 F. Supp. 3d 433, 2014 WL 3672979, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99775, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/daniels-v-cynkin-njd-2014.