Matos v. Matos

932 So. 2d 316, 2006 Fla. App. LEXIS 1162, 2006 WL 229787
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedFebruary 1, 2006
DocketNo. 4D04-4104
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 932 So. 2d 316 (Matos v. Matos) 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
Matos v. Matos, 932 So. 2d 316, 2006 Fla. App. LEXIS 1162, 2006 WL 229787 (Fla. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

On Motion for Clarifícation

WARNER, J.

We grant the motion for clarification, withdraw our previously issued opinion and substitute the following in its place in order to correct a scrivener’s error.

The wife appeals a final judgment of dissolution which awarded her no relief, because the court found that she had entered into an oral settlement agreement two years prior to the institution of dissolution proceedings. Because the husband did not prove the wife’s assent to all the significant terms of the agreement, we reverse.

The parties first lived together in 1994. At that time they agreed that the 'wife would pay all of their bills, while the husband attended school. In 1997 the parties married and purchased a home. By 2000 problems arose in the marriage. According to the wife, the husband needed to feel he was in control of the parties’ finances. He insisted that he needed the house in his name alone because her credit was bad. In addition, the wife testified without opposition that there was domestic violence in the home.

When the marital problems arose, the husband secured forms to file for a divorce. The parties went to a lawyer/mediator to work out a “settlement.” After working out issues in a meeting, the wife signed a quitclaim deed transferring her interest in the house to the husband. In exchange, the husband was to refinance the house and give her $50,000 as well as the title to the family vehicle. The wife was to remove his name from the promissory note on the vehicle. Instead, the husband paid off the car loan and gave the wife approximately $30,000. These transactions occurred in the summer of 2001.

The parties resumed marital life and went to counseling. The wife paid for portions of the home bills. At some point the abuse recommenced, and the wife was required to obtain a domestic violence injunction. In May 2003 the husband filed for divorce. In his petition he requested an equitable distribution of the parties’ assets. The wife answered agreeing to his request for an equitable distribution of marital assets. The proceedings languished until the husband secured a lawyer. He then moved to amend his pleadings to assert that the parties had entered into an oral marital settlement agreement. The wife filed an answer denying many of the alleged terms of the agreement.

Instead of setting the case for a final hearing, the husband moved to enforce the “marital settlement agreement.” At the hearing, the husband appeared with his attorney and the wife appeared without counsel. The court asked whether the wife wanted to go ahead with the dissolution of the marriage, and she did not object. Therefore the proceedings turned into a final trial.

Despite the presence of the husband’s attorney, the court did most of the questioning of the parties. The parties disagreed on what occurred during their nego[318]*318tiations in 2001. The husband contended that the wife agreed to the terms of the settlement which consisted of the following: 1) the wife would quitclaim her interest in the home to the husband, and the husband would refinance the mortgage to pay the wife $50,000 as her equitable share of the home as well as his retirement and savings accounts; 2) the wife was to pay for her share of the refinancing costs incurred by the husband; 3) the wife would obtain the removal of the husband’s name on the family vehicle, or if the wife could not remove it, the loan would be paid off from the wife’s $50,000 equity in the house; 4) upon completion of the refinancing, the wife agreed to move from the property after one year from the refinancing in June 2001, provided that during the interim she would pay half of the household costs.

The wife, on the other hand, testified that she agreed to quitclaim the home to the husband to stop the violence. While she agreed that she was to pay the car loan, she did not agree that it was to be paid from the $50,000, and she vehemently did not agree that the $50,000 payment extinguished all of her rights to future equity in the home or the savings accounts. Instead, her understanding of their agreement was that if in the future they sold the home, her $50,000 payment would be deducted from her half, but she would get the remainder of her share of the equity. By the time of the final hearing, she estimated the additional equity in the home at $100,000. Further, the savings accounts were not part of the agreement. She also did not agree that he was to pay the car off. She had other alternative means of dealing with the car payments, and she felt that she needed the $50,000 in case their reconciliation failed. While the husband claimed that she owed him some payments for her share of the household expenses, she denied owing any, claiming that she had exhausted the remaining $30,000 in paying household expenses and one-half of the mortgage. She denied having any agreement that she should move out of the home.

After the court interrogated the parties regarding the 2001 agreement for a short period of time, it determined that there was an agreement in accordance with the husband’s terms, except the court disagreed with requiring the wife to share 100% of the refinancing costs. The court was also disinclined to find that the wife owed the husband any further sums for home expenses. After indicating how it intended to rule, the court asked the husband’s lawyer if she wanted to talk with her client. After a few minutes, the lawyer announced that her client would agree with the ruling. The wife maintained that it was not consistent with her understanding of their agreement. She then asked about the other uncovered issues, including the husband’s IRA accounts, which she claimed would be divided upon divorce. She also claimed alimony because she could not work.

At that point the husband’s lawyer noted that the mediator could offer testimony on the subject of the mediated agreement. The court called the mediator to the stand and interrogated her. The mediator testified that the parties came to her after they reached an informal agreement which she was to reduce to writing. Although nothing was in fact written down, the mediator thought that the parties came to an agreement. She claimed that by the time the parties came to her, they had agreed on everything, and the agreement included no alimony and “no IRA.” However, later the mediator testified that the savings accounts were “not part of what was brought to me simply because I was told you reached agreement on everything else.” [319]*319Moreover, she stated that she was not a constant participant in the negotiations.

Because the wife complained about other accounts which were not included, the court gave the wife a short period to come up with any further evidence on undisclosed assets. At a second hearing, the wife was represented by an attorney. He demanded mandatory financial disclosure, which had never been made, but the court denied the request. The court heard additional testimony regarding an undisclosed account in the name of the husband’s sister from which the husband began drawing $25,000 shortly after the settlement in 2001. Despite this evidence, the trial court refused to change its ruling, and the court entered final judgment. The wife appeals.

The husband seeks to enforce an oral settlement agreement with his wife on the basis of performance. The wife, on the other hand, disputes the agreement’s exec-utory terms, in particular that it covered the increased equity in the home after its execution, other savings accounts, and the subject of alimony.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
932 So. 2d 316, 2006 Fla. App. LEXIS 1162, 2006 WL 229787, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matos-v-matos-fladistctapp-2006.