Lugg v. Lugg

64 A.3d 1109, 2013 Pa. Super. 67, 2013 WL 1286978, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 156
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 1, 2013
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 64 A.3d 1109 (Lugg v. Lugg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lugg v. Lugg, 64 A.3d 1109, 2013 Pa. Super. 67, 2013 WL 1286978, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 156 (Pa. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION BY

OTT, J.

Sarah A. Lugg appeals from the order entered on November 4, 2011 in the Court of Common Pleas of Clinton County denying her counter-claim to set aside the December 30, 2010 post-nuptial agreement between her and Appellee, Allan W. Lugg, Jr. Lugg claims the trial court erred in enforcing the agreement because, (1) there was a lack of disclosure of assets on the part of Allan Lugg, Jr., (2) the agreement was signed under duress, and (3) the agreement is unconscionable. After a thorough review of the submissions by the parties, official record, and relevant law, we affirm.1

The Honorable Pamela A. Ruest set forth the factual and procedural history in her Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion:

Plaintiff (hereinafter “Husband”) and Defendant (hereinafter “Wife”) were married on October 11, 1997, and are the parents of three minor children. In or about August of 2010, in contemplation of divorce, Wife signed an agreement to purchase a house. Thereafter, Husband and Wife began negotiating terms of a postnuptial agreement. On or about October 3, 2010, Wife prepared a letter to Husband in which Wife proposed a number of requests and stated, inter alia, “In return, I will not seek [1111]*1111Full Disclosure or Child Support.” [2] The parties handwrote additional negotiations on the October 3rd letter and, on October 24, 2010, Wife prepared a second letter in which Wife again stated she would not seek full disclosure or child support.
On November 3, 2010, counsel for Husband, Stuart L. Hall, Esquire, prepared a draft of the postnuptial agreement. Husband gave Wife a copy of the draft, which Wife took to her attorney, Lee H. Roberts, Esquire. Upon review of the proposed agreement, Attorney Roberts sent a letter to Attorney Hall on November 12, 2010, in which Attorney Roberts criticized the agreement and stated all negotiations with Wife should be made through him, Wife would need several months to settle into her new home before negotiations could begin, and an agreement should not be entered until after negotiations. Although Attorney Hall informed Husband of the contents of Attorney Roberts’ letter, Husband continually and persistently contacted Wife to request she sign the agreement. Wife expressed resistance to entering the agreement but continued to negotiate directly with Husband and, on or about November 16, 2010, submitted written proposed changes to Husband. A final agreement was prepared by employees of the law firm of Lugg & Lugg, Husband’s father and brother’s law firm. Husband and Wife arranged to meet on December 30, 2010, to execute the final agreement, although the parties disagree over whether the meeting was intended to take place in Wife’s home or the home of Mary Stringfellow, a long-time secretary of Lugg & Lugg. On December 30, 2010, Wife and her friend, Maryann Winklemann, were present at Wife’s home when Husband and Mary Stringfellow arrived to execute the agreement. Prior to the arrival of Husband and Ms. Stringfellow, Wife informed Ms. Winklemann she had decided not to sign the agreement. Nonetheless, after spending approximately one and one half hours reviewing the agreement with Husband, Wife and Husband signed the agreement. Wife additionally signed a deed to the parties’ marital residence, after Ms. Stringfellow informed Wife the document was a deed to the residence. Ms. Winklemann witnessed the execution and the agreement was notarized by Ms. Stringfellow.
After executing the postnuptial agreement, Wife and Husband went to a car dealer and transferred the titles of two vehicles into Wife’s name. Husband gave wife a check for $10,000.00, which Wife subsequently cashed. In January, 2011, Husband filed a Complaint in Divorce and, after service was rejected by Attorney Roberts, Husband served the Complaint on Wife. Husband then gave Wife a second check for $10,000.00, in accordance with the terms of the agreement, which Wife accepted and cashed. In May of 2011, Wife filed for child support. Husband subsequently filed the present Motion to Enforce Post-Nuptial Agreement and for Contempt and Award of Counsel Fees on the ground Wife has breached the parties’ postnuptial agreement by failing to sign documents necessary to finalize the parties’ divorce. Wife filed a counter-motion to Husband’s motion requesting the Court invalidate the parties’ agreement and order Husband to execute a deed re-conveying the marital residence to Husband and Wife.

Trial Court Opinion, 11/1/11 at 1-3.

Lugg’s first claim is that the trial court erred in failing to invalidate the [1112]*1112agreement due to lack of full disclosure. This argument is based on considerable case law that provides full and fair economic disclosure is mandatory in order to uphold either a pre- or post-nuptial agreement. See, Stoner v. Stoner, 572 Pa. 665, 819 A.2d 529 (2003); Simeone v. Simeone, 525 Pa. 392, 581 A.2d 162 (1990). Further, Lugg argues that she cannot waive a right without knowing what is being waived. Therefore, there can be no effective waiver of economic disclosure because one would never know-what was being waived. Lugg completes her argument by asserting where there was no economic disclosure, the burden should shift to the person seeking to enforce the agreement to demonstrate the agreement is fair and reasonable. See Appellant’s brief at 24-25.

We believe these arguments are unavailing. Initially, we note that post-nuptial agreements are to be reviewed under the same principles as pre-nuptial. See Stoner, supra; In re Ratony’s Estate, 443 Pa. 454, 277 A.2d 791 (1971). Case law further demonstrates that a pre-nuptial agreement is a contract and, therefore, is to be evaluated under the same criteria as other contracts; absent fraud, misrepresentation or duress, spouses should be held to the terms of their agreements. See Simeone, 581 A.2d at 165. Commenting on Simeone, our Supreme Court in Stoner stated,

We expressly rejected an approach which would allow the court to inquire into the reasonableness of the bargain, or the parties understanding of the rights they were relinquishing. We decline to resurrect to paternalistic approaches to evaluating marriage contracts by requiring Husband to explain to Wife the statutory rights that she may be surrendering. Such an approach assumes that Wife lacks the intelligence or ability to protect her own rights. Instead, we endorse the parties’ rights to freely contract, and thus decline to impose the additional inquiry as to whether the parties were sufficiently advised of their statutory rights.

Stoner, 819 A.2d at 533.3

It is evident our Supreme Court has already rejected Lugg’s proposed standard that this court delve into whether the agreement was fair and reasonable, absent any showing of fraud, misrepresentation or duress. Similarly, we must reject the assertion that economic disclosure cannot be waived because the party waiving disclosure does not know the extent of what is being waived. We note, too, that the legislature adopted the Simeone approach in 23 Pa.C.S. § 3106, by allowing, in relevant part, a party to waive economic disclosure in terms of a prenuptial agreement, as long as the waiver is voluntary and in writing.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
64 A.3d 1109, 2013 Pa. Super. 67, 2013 WL 1286978, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 156, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lugg-v-lugg-pasuperct-2013.