Stackhouse v. Zaretsky

900 A.2d 383
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 12, 2006
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 900 A.2d 383 (Stackhouse v. Zaretsky) 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
Stackhouse v. Zaretsky, 900 A.2d 383 (Pa. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION BY

KELLY, J.:

¶ 1 The instant matter is before us after remand by this Court to the trial court for reconsideration in light of significant changes in the controlling case law. The parties to this equitable distribution action appeal and cross appeal from an order concluding that their ante nuptial agreement contemplated division of property questions arising in circumstances of both divorce and death, and that the agreement acted as a waiver of marital claims other than those relating to the prior award to Appellant of alimony pendent lite, which was terminated by the order. Appellant’s request for alimony was also denied, but an award to her of attorneys’ fees in the amount of $80,000 was sustained. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.

[385]*385¶ 2 The parties to this matter, who met when they were co-workers at an engineering firm which used their services as translators in connection with a project in Russia, were married in June of 1981. Ap-pellee, a Russian immigrant who arrived in this country in 1969, had been divorced from his first wife in 1976. Appellant’s prior romantic relationship had dissolved in a dispute over money.

¶ 3 Shortly before the marriage, the parties met with a mutual friend and coworker, corporate attorney Eli Krivoshia, seeking advice on the preparation of an ante nuptial agreement they both wanted.1 He represented neither party, but provided them with a form agreement as a starting point, and advised them to consult another attorney competent in matrimonial law. Neither party followed his advice. Rather, Appellant retyped the form, filling in the blanks, and attached the schedules of their respective assets. The agreement was signed in front of the guests at their wedding ceremony in June of 1981. In June of 1983, a postnuptial agreement was also executed.

¶ 4 In 1979, after Appellee’s job was terminated, he began his own translation firm, The Corporate Word, which grew to the point that in March of 1996 it was sold for $4.2 million. Appellee retired, although Appellant continued to work, taking a job as vice-president of a public relations firm in early 1999. Later that year, after discovering that Appellant was conducting an affaire with her new employer, Appellee commenced divorce proceedings.

¶ 5 Prior to entry of the divorce decree in November of 2001, Appellant instituted proceedings for support, APL, counsel fees, and costs, disputing the disclosure of assets and the validity of the pre and post nuptial agreements. After a hearing, the trial court entered an order on July 25, 2001, concluding that full disclosure had, in fact, been made and that the agreements were valid, binding, “and preempt the parties’ rights under the Divorce Code, but only to the extent that those statutory rights relinquished are specified in the Agreements. See Ebersole v. Ebersole, 713 A.2d 103, 104 (Pa.Super.Ct.1998); Mormello v. Mormello, 452 Pa.Super. 590, 682 A.2d 824, 828 (1996).” (Order, dated 7/25/01, at 1-2). An equitable distribution hearing was scheduled, and both parties’ exceptions to the master’s report disposing of their economic claims were denied. The order adopting the master’s recommendations 2 made final and appealable the July 25, 2001, order. Both parties appealed, challenging the validity of them agreements.3

¶ 6 Prior to the trial court’s preparation of an opinion, however, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Stoner v. Stoner, 572 Pa. 665, 819 A.2d 529 (2003), overruled Ebersole and Mormello. We accordingly vacated the order making final the master’s recommendations, determined to be nullities certain other orders requiring Ap-pellee to post bond, and remanded for further proceedings in consideration of Stoner. After trial in December of 2004, [386]*386the trial court entered the order underlying the instant appeals.

¶ 7 Appellant now contests the trial court’s: 1) finding that both the parties’ agreements were made in contemplation of divorce as well as death; 2) termination of her APL; 3) failure to award her alimony and a greater share of the marital estate; 4) failure to order that certain funds, plus interest, which Appellee withdrew from one of his accounts be included in the assets subject to equitable distribution; and 5) failure to order that she receive 6% interest on her share of the marital estate from the date of the master’s report to date of distribution.

¶ 8 The resolution of Appellant’s first issue, that the trial court erred in refusing to construe the agreements as pertinent only to the death of a party, affects most of her remaining claims. In addressing it, we first note that

[b]oth premarital and post-nuptial agreements are contracts and are governed by contract law. Moreover, a court’s order upholding the agreement in divorce proceedings is subject to an abuse of discretion or error of law standard of review. An abuse of discretion is not lightly found, as it requires clear and convincing evidence that the trial court misapplied the law or failed to follow proper legal procedures. We will not usurp the trial court’s fact finding function.

Paroly v. Paroly, 876 A.2d 1061, 1063 (Pa.Super.2005) (quoting Holz v. Holz, 850 A.2d 751, 757 (Pa.Super.2004), appeal denied, 582 Pa. 700, 871 A.2d 192 (2005) (internal citations omitted)).

¶ 9 Further, “[a]bsent fraud, misrepresentation, or duress, spouses should be bound by the terms of their agreements.” Simeone v. Simeone, 525 Pa. 392, 581 A.2d 162, 165 (1990). “[T]he principles applicable to antenuptial agreements are equally applicable to postnuptial agreements, although the circumstances may slightly differ.” Stoner, supra at 533 n. 5. In both instances, the rules of contract interpretation require that the intent of the parties be ascertained and given effect. Lang v. Meske, 850 A.2d 737, 739 (Pa.Super.2004). “When the trier of fact has determined the intent of the parties to a contract, an appellate court will defer to that determination if it is supported by the evidence.” Id. (citation omitted).

¶ 10 The crux of this action is whether the language of the ante nuptial agreement contemplates only procedures to be applied in the event of a party’s demise, as Appellant contends and as the master found, or whether its provisions are also germane to divorce, as the trial court concluded. The burden of Appellant’s song is that “the parties did not identify the equitable distribution of marital property, alimony, counsel fees and other legal rights arising under the Divorce Code as rights which they intended to waive in their Agreements.” (Appellant’s Brief at 17). In support she relies on the irrelevancy of the parties’ subjective state of mind in the determination of their intent, and on the master’s finding that because there was no specific waiver of the economic.claims appurtenant to divorce, none occurred.

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Bluebook (online)
900 A.2d 383, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stackhouse-v-zaretsky-pasuperct-2006.