O'Connor, R. v. O'Connor, J.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 21, 2017
Docket1666 MDA 2016
StatusUnpublished

This text of O'Connor, R. v. O'Connor, J. (O'Connor, R. v. O'Connor, J.) 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
O'Connor, R. v. O'Connor, J., (Pa. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

J-A20014-17

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

ROBERT O'CONNOR : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA Appellant : : v. : : JANICE O'CONNOR : : Appellee : No. 1666 MDA 2016

Appeal from the Decree Entered September 12, 2016 In the Court of Common Pleas of Centre County Civil Division at No(s): 2014-0011

BEFORE: GANTMAN, P.J., PANELLA, J., and FORD ELLIOTT, P.J.E.

MEMORANDUM BY GANTMAN, P.J.: FILED NOVEMBER 21, 2017

Appellant, Robert O’Connor (“Husband”), appeals from the divorce

decree entered in the Centre County Court of Common Pleas, specifically

challenging the order granting the petition of Appellee, Janice O’Connor

(“Wife”), to enforce a property settlement agreement. We affirm.

The relevant facts and procedural history of this case are as follows.

The parties were married on July 1, 1978. The parties’ primary marital

residence was in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania. Husband, however, has not

resided full-time at the marital residence since 2001. Since approximately

2009, Husband has lived at the parties’ condominium in Arlington, Virginia.

Husband works at the National Science Foundation (“NSF”), a federal agency

in Washington, D.C.

On December 22, 2013, Husband informed Wife he wanted a divorce. J-A20014-17

The following day, December 23, 2013, Husband provided Wife with a

document labeled “Divorce Ideas/Proposal,” which generally set forth

Husband’s suggestions and questions about alimony and dividing the parties’

assets. Husband retained counsel and filed a divorce complaint on January

2, 2014. Wife subsequently retained counsel.

On April 15, 2014, the parties met without counsel and discussed a

property settlement agreement (“PSA”) Wife had drafted herself. The PSA

stated Wife would, as alimony, receive sixty-six percent (66%) of Husband’s

income and sixty percent (60%) of Husband’s consulting income. The PSA

provided the parties would later specify whether Wife would receive a

percentage of Husband’s gross or net income. The PSA specified Wife would

receive sixty-six percent (66%) of Husband’s retirement income and

required Husband to work until age 74. During the April 15th meeting, the

parties executed the PSA. Husband did not consult with counsel before

signing the agreement. Later on April 15, 2014, Husband sent Wife an e-

mail asking her to reduce the percentage of income Husband owed Wife as

alimony under the PSA.

On June 13, 2014, Wife filed a Petition to Enforce Property Settlement

Agreement. Husband filed an answer on July 29, 2014. Husband asserted

no new matter with affirmative defenses in response to Wife’s petition. The

court conducted hearings on Wife’s petition on July 29, 2014, and on August

13, 2014, during which Husband and Wife testified.

-2- J-A20014-17

On July 29, 2014, Wife testified she drafted the PSA based on

Husband’s “Divorce Ideas/Proposals” document. Wife stated the parties

discussed economic settlement conditions from December 23, 2013, until

April 15, 2014. Wife said when she met with Husband on April 15, 2014,

she told him she had given to her counsel an envelope containing

information disparaging to Husband. Wife noted if Husband caused anything

to happen to her, she intended counsel to give the envelope to the police,

Husband’s girlfriend, and Husband’s employer. Wife also stated she believed

she was entitled to sixty-six percent (66%) of Husband’s gross salary.

On August 13, 2014, Husband testified when he drafted the “Divorce

Ideas/Proposals” document, he believed Pennsylvania had no alimony

requirement and Wife would receive fifty percent (50%) of his retirement

funds and income. Husband said he did not threaten Wife and there was no

history of domestic violence incidents between the parties.

Husband explained Wife told him on April 15, 2014, she intended to

use information she had found on a computer at the marital residence to

blackmail Husband. Husband said Wife told him she had provided several

blackmail documents to her attorney. Husband testified Wife claimed she

had obtained an e-mail Husband wrote ridiculing a United States Senator, a

leader of critics of the NSF. Husband added Wife said she found e-mails

demonstrating Husband used his NSF e-mail address to participate in a

NCAA men’s basketball pool and send personal correspondence to his

-3- J-A20014-17

girlfriend. Husband stated Wife also claimed she had obtained gay club

entrance passes and a parking pass to a nude beach from the 1990’s.

Husband testified Wife gave him 24 hours to review and sign the PSA.

Husband added Wife told him not to discuss the PSA with counsel or the

April 15th meeting. Husband explained he signed the PSA for several

reasons: he feared Wife would make good on her threats to blackmail him if

he did not sign the PSA; he hoped the language in the PSA was so vague the

agreement would be unenforceable; and he believed the PSA terms were so

unfair as to render the PSA unenforceable.

Husband testified he contacted his attorney about the PSA after he had

signed the agreement. Husband stated his attorney later contacted Wife’s

attorney to rescind his signature on the PSA. Husband said he believed Wife

was entitled to sixty-six percent (66%) of his net income under the PSA.

Husband explained if Wife received sixty-six percent (66%) of his gross

income, Husband would receive only $347 per month in income. Both

parties testified they were aware on April 15, 2014, that the appraisal for the

marital residence had not yet been completed.

On October 22, 2014, the trial court granted Wife’s Petition to Enforce

Property Settlement Agreement. Husband filed a motion for reconsideration

and a petition to stay enforcement of the PSA pending appeal on November

20, 2014. On March 24, 2015, the court denied Husband’s reconsideration

motion and granted Husband’s petition to stay enforcement of the PSA. On

-4- J-A20014-17

October 16, 2015, Wife filed an answer and new matter to the divorce

complaint.1 The court entered a divorce decree on September 12, 2016. On

October 5, 2016, Husband filed a timely notice of appeal and a voluntary

concise statement of errors complained of on appeal per Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b).

Husband raises three issues for our review:

WAS THE APRIL 15, 2014 TWO-PAGE DOCUMENT WITH SOME OF ITS TERMS HANDWRITTEN SO VAGUE THAT NO MEETING OF THE MINDS OCCURRED BETWEEN [HUSBAND] AND [WIFE], AND THUS NO ENFORCEABLE CONTRACT EXISTS BETWEEN THE PARTIES?

WAS A FULL AND FAIR DISCLOSURE OF THE PARTIES’ FINANCIAL POSITIONS EVER MADE, AS IS REQUIRED FOR ANTENUPTIAL AGREEMENTS IN PENNSYLVANIA?

DID [HUSBAND] SIGN THE TWO-PAGE DOCUMENT UNDER DURESS, RENDING THE EXECUTED DOCUMENT UNENFORCEABLE?

(Husband’s Brief at 4).

Our review of a marital settlement agreement implicates the following

principles:

A settlement agreement between spouses is governed by the law of contracts unless the agreement provides otherwise.

____________________________________________

1We observe the trial court entered an order on November 9, 2015, allowing Husband to appeal from the October 22, 2014 order enforcing the PSA. On December 8, 2015, Husband filed a notice of appeal from the October 22, 2014.

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O'Connor, R. v. O'Connor, J., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oconnor-r-v-oconnor-j-pasuperct-2017.