Haddad v. Hester

964 So. 2d 707, 2007 WL 1136079
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 18, 2007
Docket3D06-901
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 964 So. 2d 707 (Haddad v. Hester) 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
Haddad v. Hester, 964 So. 2d 707, 2007 WL 1136079 (Fla. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

964 So.2d 707 (2007)

Fred HADDAD, Appellant,
v.
Julia HESTER, Appellee.

No. 3D06-901.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

April 18, 2007.
Rehearing and Rehearing Denied October 16, 2007.

Paul Morris, Miami, for appellant.

Roger G. Stanway, Hollywood, for appellee.

*708 Before RAMIREZ and LAGOA, JJ., and SCHWARTZ, Senior Judge.

Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied October 16, 2007.

LAGOA, Judge.

Appellant, Fred Haddad ("Haddad"), appeals from a final judgment granting his former wife, Julia Hester ("Hester"), summary judgment in his action to partition a condominium owned by the parties as joint tenants with a right of survivorship. We affirm.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The parties were married in 1980 and divorced in 2002. In 2002, the parties entered into a Marital Settlement Agreement ("Settlement Agreement"), whereby the parties agreed to the distribution and ownership of the following seven pieces of property: the marital home in Ft. Lauderdale[1]; a condominium in Islamorada, Florida; an oceanfront lot in Flagler County, Florida[2]; a single family home in New Orleans[3]; a townhome located in the Victoria Park area of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida[4]; and properties in Lee County, Florida, and in Wayne County, Pennsylvania.[5] The property at issue in this appeal is the condominium in Islamorada ("Islamorada property"). Concerning ownership of the Islamorada property, the Settlement Agreement explicitly stated:

The parties both desire to keep this property, expecting it to pass to the children. The husband shall maintain this property and a quit claim deed shall be executed by the parties so that it is owned not as husband and wife but as joint tenants with right of survivorship.

*709 The Settlement Agreement also contained a schedule for alternating use of the Islamorada property as well as the following modification provision: "[t]he modification or waiver of any provision of this Agreement shall be effective only if made in writing and executed with the same formality as this Agreement."

On April 26, 2004, two years after the final judgment of dissolution had been entered, the parties entered into a Mediation Settlement Agreement ("Mediation Agreement"). Among the many issues resolved in the Mediation Agreement was an elaborate provision entitled "TIME SHARING FOR ISLAMORADA PROPERTY." In this provision, the parties agreed to a summer occupancy schedule and a schedule in which the parties split the use of the condominium each month, dependent upon whether it was an "odd year" or an "even year." Simultaneous with the execution of the Mediation Agreement, and in accordance with the previously entered into Settlement Agreement, the parties also executed a quit claim deed conveying title to the Islamorada property to themselves as joint tenants with right of survivorship.

In 2005, Haddad filed an action for partition of the Islamorada property and also alleged a special equity in the property. Hester subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that Haddad waived any right to bring a partition action based upon the terms of the Settlement Agreement and the Mediation Agreement.

The trial court granted Hester's motion for summary judgment on the ground that Haddad could not unilaterally modify the Settlement Agreement which "expresses the hope that — following the estate for their joint lives reserved by the parties — the survivor someday will convey it to the children born of their marriage." Haddad moved for rehearing and the trial court denied the motion. Haddad appeals from the final summary judgment and the order denying rehearing.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

Summary judgment is proper if there is no genuine issue of material fact and if the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Volusia County v. Aberdeen at Ormond Beach, L.P., 760 So.2d 126, 130 (Fla.2000). We review a trial court's ruling on a motion for summary judgment de novo. Id. Additionally, a trial court's decision construing a contract presents an issue of law that is subject to the de novo standard of review. Florida Power Corp. v. City of Casselberry, 793 So.2d 1174, 1178 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001).

III. ANALYSIS

On appeal, Haddad argues that the trial court reversibly erred in finding that he waived his right to partition the Islamorada property. Haddad argues that the Settlement Agreement and subsequent quit claim deed created a joint tenancy with a right of survivorship and that the trial court's ruling in effect determined that the parties instead created a life estate with a remainder to the parties' children. We find Haddad's argument without merit and affirm the trial court's final summary judgment in favor of Hester.

We begin our analysis by answering whether the right of a joint tenant with a right of survivorship may be waived. We answer that question in the affirmative. While a joint tenancy with a right of survivorship is an estate subject to an equitable partition action,[6] the right of a joint tenant to partition the estate may be waived. Indeed, a joint tenant may be estopped to enforce the right to partition *710 by either an express or implied agreement. See Condrey v. Condrey, 92 So.2d 423 (Fla. 1957). As the Supreme Court held in Condrey:

[W]hile partition is a matter of right to those holding undivided interests in lands, such right may be waived or the holder thereof estopped to assert the right by an express or implied agreement, otherwise enforceable, providing said agreement not to partition be for a reasonable and definite period of time and not otherwise unduly restrictive. An agreement not to partition during the life of any of the tenants does not appear to us to be for an unreasonable time. We find nothing in the statutes of this State contrary to this holding.

Id. at 426.

As the law provides for waiver of the right of partition, we must now look to whether the Settlement Agreement at issue expressly or implicitly contains such a waiver. The Settlement Agreement is an agreement interpreted by courts as any other contract. Berry v. Berry, 550 So.2d 1125, 1126 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989). Accordingly, in order to determine the intention of the parties, we look to the language of the contract and consider the contract as a whole, with each provision being construed with reference to the others. See Specialized Mach. Transp., Inc. v. Westphal, 872 So.2d 424, 426 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004); Jerry's Inc. v. Miami, 591 So.2d 1000, 1001 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991)("In determining the intention of the parties, individual terms of a contract are not to be considered in isolation, but as a whole and in relation to one another.").

Applying these contractual principles to the parties' Settlement Agreement, and the subsequent Mediation Agreement, we find an implied waiver of the right to partition. First, the Islamorada property is the only property in the Settlement Agreement that contained explicit language stating a desire for both parties to keep the property with the intention of passing it to the children.[7] While inartfully drafted, the intent is nonetheless clear. Moreover, the parties never altered this intent by subsequently modifying the Settlement Agreement.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
964 So. 2d 707, 2007 WL 1136079, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haddad-v-hester-fladistctapp-2007.