Fritz v. Fritz

161 So. 3d 425, 2014 WL 1344514, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 5035
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 4, 2014
DocketNo. 2D13-2746
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 161 So. 3d 425 (Fritz v. Fritz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fritz v. Fritz, 161 So. 3d 425, 2014 WL 1344514, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 5035 (Fla. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

VILLANTI, Judge.

Jeffrey Fritz (the Husband) seeks review of the Order for Division of Military [426]*426Retirement Pay (MPO) entered as part of the dissolution of his marriage to Terri Fritz (the Wife). Because the MPO does not accurately reflect the oral agreement of the parties concerning the distribution of the Husband’s military pension and because it incorporates a legally improper coverture fraction, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.

The Husband, who is an active-duty military officer, filed a petition to dissolve his marriage to the Wife in 2011. The Wife filed a counterpetition in which she sought equitable distribution of the marital assets, including the division of “retirement accounts.” Late in the afternoon of the day before the dissolution hearing, the parties reached a settlement agreement as to all of the issues between them. Hence, during the time originally scheduled for the dissolution hearing, the parties orally presented the terms of their settlement agreement to the court.

The parties first set out their agreement concerning the parenting plan. Then they moved on to their agreement concerning the equitable distribution of the marital assets and liabilities. As to the Husband’s military pension, counsel for the Wife announced that the parties had agreed to equally divide the marital portion and that the Wife’s “marital portion of the pension is 48.12 percent.” Counsel for the Husband immediately interrupted and stated, “All I can agree to and all I have agreed to is that the pension is going to be divided evenly, the portion that accrued during the marriage.” When counsel for the Wife asked, whether counsel for the Husband had already determined the coverture fraction necessary to calculate the exact amount of the Wife’s share, counsel for the Husband responded, “No. I leave that to the experts.”

After further discussion of the equitable distribution scheme, counsel for the Wife returned to the issue of the division of the Husband’s pension, reiterated that the parties’ intent was to evenly split the marital portion of the Husband’s pension, and said “as I said, it’s 48 point something percent of the total pension.” Counsel for the Husband again interrupted and stated, “I’m not sure if we are in agreement that it’s 48 percent. If that’s what it is, if you’ve done the calculations, I’d rather give it to Voit, the expert, to figure out what the marital portion of the pension is.” Counsel for the Wife then stated that there was no need to hire an expert because the parties could determine the cov-erture fraction themselves and that it should be the number of months of marriage over the number of months of the Husband’s creditable military service as of the date of filing the petition, which counsel for the Wife asserted should be 211 months over 219 months. Counsel for the Wife asserted that the resulting fraction would then be applied to the Husband’s pension payments upon his retirement and then multiplied by fifty percent to establish the Wife’s share.

The court seemed to recognize that this explanation of the coverture fraction was incorrect. It explained:

No, no, I understand that, but when you put it in a[MPO], okay, you’re going to have to say 50 percent of whatever is accrued between this time period and they will then figure it out when it starts to be distributed.
I don’t know how you can figure .right now that it’s 47[sic] point something percent of the total pension because it’s not going to be 47[sic] percent of the total pension, ... because he is going to work and he has worked since the date of filing.

When counsel for the Wife continued to discuss how he intended to calculate and apply the fraction, the court summarized [427]*427its understanding that “everybody is agreeing to 50 percent of what was accrued from date of going in to date of filing.” Both attorneys stated that that was correct, and they agreed that forensic accountant Mr. Voit would prepare the MPO. Both the Husband and the Wife also agreed under oath at the hearing that the attorneys’ oral statements encapsulated their agreement.

Despite this apparent agreement on the division of the Husband’s pension, the parties could not agree on the proper language to be included in the MPO to effectuate the agreement. When the court learned of the parties’ dispute over the proper language, it scheduled a hearing on the matter. At that hearing, the Husband argued that the MPO drafted by the Wife did not comport with the parties’ agreement.1 Specifically, he pointed out that the proposed MPO provided that the cov-erture fraction would be calculated based on the number of months of marriage divided by the Husband’s “total number of months of creditable military service at retirement,” which would improperly allow the Wife to share in the Husband’s postfil-ing earnings. Despite the Wife’s agreement at the original hearing that the denominator of the coverture fraction should be the Husband’s total months of creditable military service as of the date of filing, she now argued that the denominator could not be determined until the Husband retired and so it was “an unknown number.”

The Husband repeatedly objected that the language in the MPO drafted by the Wife’s counsel did not accurately reflect the parties’ agreement as shown by the transcript of the earlier hearing. In response, the Wife argued that the order did comport with the parties’ agreement and that the Husband was just unhappy with that agreement. It is clear from the record that the trial court became frustrated with the parties’ disagreement over whether the proposed MPO actually reflected the substance of their previous agreement, and the court refused to hear any testimony from Mr. Voit — who was present— about whether the coverture fraction included in the Wife’s proposed MPO was correctly determined. Ultimately, the trial court signed the Wife’s proposed MPO over the Husband’s objections.

In this appeal, the Husband raises two separate issues. First, he argues that the MPO does not accurately reflect the parties’ agreement because it contains terms in addition to those orally agreed upon. Second, he argues that the coverture fraction included in the MPO conflicts with the parties’ agreement and is legally incorrect. We agree on both points.

“[A]n oral agreement that is announced to the trial court is considered a fully enforceable settlement agreement.” Morange v. Morange, 722 So.2d 918, 920 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998); see also Long Term Mgmt., Inc. v. Univ. Nursing Care Ctr., Inc., 704 So.2d 669, 673 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997). However, to be enforceable, the settlement agreement must be mutually agreeable on every essential element. Morange, 722 So.2d at 920; Long Term Mgmt., 704 So.2d at 673. And the party seeking to enforce the agreement has the burden to establish mutual reciprocal assent to each and every term. Morange, 722 So.2d at 920.

The only agreement clear on the face of the transcript of the original hearing is that the Wife would receive one half of the [428]*428portion of the Husband’s pension that was earned during the course of the marriage. However, three paragraphs of the MPO provide for additional pension payments to the Wife:

• Paragraph 9 provides that the Wife is to receive a proportionate share of any post-retirement cost of living adjustments made to the Husband’s retirement benefits.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
161 So. 3d 425, 2014 WL 1344514, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 5035, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fritz-v-fritz-fladistctapp-2014.