Starcevich v. Starcevich

2014 OK CIV APP 100, 352 P.3d 1250
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 19, 2014
DocketNo. 111,085
StatusPublished

This text of 2014 OK CIV APP 100 (Starcevich v. Starcevich) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Starcevich v. Starcevich, 2014 OK CIV APP 100, 352 P.3d 1250 (Okla. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

ROBERT D. BELL, Presiding Judge.

11 In this dissolution of marriage proceeding, Respondent/Appellant/Counter-Appellee, John P. Starcevich (Husband), appeals from the trial court's decree invalidating a portion of a 1978 antenup-tial agreement wherein Petitioner/Appel-lee/ Counter-Appellant, Mary Sue Starcevich (Wife), waived her right to an equitable division of marital property maintained in Husband's name. Husband also contends the court erred in awarding Wife attorney fees. Wife counter-appeals the portion of the decree validating the remainder of the antenuptial agreement. Wife also claims the trial court should have awarded her an equitable share of the enhanced value of Husband's dental practice. We affirm in part, reverse in part and remand for further proceedings.

12 The parties were married August 5, 1978, and remained married for thirty two (82) years. The parties have four grown children. In 1978, Husband, then 27 years old, had recently acquired a dental practice from a bankruptcy estate for $14,000.00. Wife, then 20 years old, was a high school graduate and pregnant with Husband's child. Wife had no assets or resources when she [1253]*1253was married. Two days before the wedding, Husband gave Wife an antenuptial agreement to sign. The agreement provided:

JOHN PAUL STARCEVICH and MARY SUE HILL, agree and covenant with the other in view and consideration of said proposed marriage, that so far as it is legally possible by their private act and agreement, all the property belonging to either of them at the commencement of the marriage, or acquired by or coming to either of them during the marriage, shall be held and enjoyed by him or her, and be subject to his or her disposition as his or her separate property in the same manner as if said proposed marriage had never been celebrated.

No disclosure of assets was attached to the document. Husband did not discuss the agreement with Wife before presenting her with same. Wife was only provided with the agreement to review on the day of execution and she did not consult with an attorney nor did Husband suggest that she do so. Husband admitted it would be difficult for his pregnant girlfriend if he did not marry her.

T3 Wife worked in Husband's dental office, without compensation, for less than sixty (60) days prior to the wedding. She testified she did not know the value of the dental practice and had no knowledge of Husband's other assets. Wife was a housewife and the children's caretaker during the marriage. Husband maintained tight control over the parties'. finances throughout the marriage. Husband would give Wife a set sum of cash each week to spend on family needs. Wife had to seek Husband's permission to withdraw additional monies from bank accounts.

T4 For a few years during the marriage, Wife ran a home day care. Otherwise, Wife relied entirely upon Husband's income from his dental practice for her support. . In the last decade of the marriage, Wife received a vocational technical certificate and worked outside the home as a teacher, pre-school director and summer camp director at a church. With the exception of the marital home and an occasional account, Husband titled the rest of the parties' investments, bank accounts and real property in his name.

T5 Wife filed for dissolution of the marriage in November 2010. The parties' assets included checking and savings accounts, retirement accounts, investment accounts, Husband's dental practice, the marital home, a ranch, numerous vehicles and various other types of personal property. In 2011, the trial court entered an order regarding the validity of the antenuptial agreement. The trial court held Wife could not knowingly waive her rights to property acquired during the marriage under the version of 43 O.S. § 121 (formerly 12 0.8. § 1278) in effect when the agreement was executed. The court held such waiver was contrary to the public policy pronounced in Taylor v. Taylor, 1991 OK CIV APP 126, 832 P.2d 429; therefore, that portion of the agreement is unenforceable. The trial court held the agreement was valid to the extent Wife waived any claims to Husband's dental practice. Implicit in that ruling was the trial court's determination that Wife also waived any claims to the enhanced value of the dental practice accrued during the marriage. The trial court later clarified all income and profits earned and derived from the dental practice during the marriage, which were not reinvested into the practice, and any assets purchased therefrom are a part of the marital estate.

T6 After a merits trial, the trial court awarded Husband the dental practice. The trial court did not award Wife with an equitable share of the increase in value of Husband's dental practice. The trial court awarded separate property to each party and reduced the value of the marital property by the amount of Husband's inheritance. The trial court equally divided the remainder of the property acquired during the marriage and awarded each party with his and her equitable share. The trial court awarded Wife support alimony and attorney's fees. Both parties appealed.

T7 A divorcee suit is one of equitable cognizance in which the trial court has discretionary power to divide the marital estate. Colclasure v. Colclasure, 2012 OK 97, ¶ 16, 295 P.3d 1123. Section 121 of Title 48 mandates a trial court to effect a fair and equitable division of property acquired during the marriage by the joint industry of the [1254]*1254husband and wife. The trial court has wide latitude in determining what part of jointly-acquired property shall be awarded to each party; it does not need to equally divide the marital estate in order for it to be an equitable division. Colclasure at ¶ 16. This Court will not. disturb the trial court's property division absent a finding of abuse of discretion or a finding that the decision is clearly contrary to the weight of the evidence. Id. Questions of law in a dissolution of marriage proceeding are reviewed de novo; this involves a plenary, independent and non-deferential examination of a trial court's legal rulings. Jackson v. Jackson, 2002 OK 25, ¶ 2, 45 P.3d 418.

T8 Husband first argues the trial court erred in holding the prenuptial agreement was unenforceable under the prior version of § 121 to the extent it deprived either party of assets acquired during the marriage. Husband claims he traced existing accounts and assets directly to his separate property, i.e., the proceeds from his dental practice. Based on this evidence, Husband claims the trial court erred in awarding Wife one-half of these assets because she contractually waived her right to same under a valid ante-nuptial agreement.

T9 Husband also submits the trial court erred in relying on Taylor to make its ruling. Taylor held an antenuptial agreement which seeks to prohibit a spouse from being awarded an equitable division of the property acquired by the parties during marriage as a result of the joint efforts of the parties violates the public policy articulated in § 1278 (and consequently 48 O.S. § 121); therefore, it is unenforceable. According to Husband, Taylor's articulation of public policy was non-binding, lacked precedential value and was immediately rejected by the Legislature the following year. In 1992, the Oklahoma Legislature amended § 121 by Laws 1992, c. 252, § 8, eff. Sept.

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Related

Taylor v. Taylor
832 P.2d 429 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1992)
Oklahoma Alcoholic Beverage Control Board v. Moss
1973 OK 45 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1973)
Matter of Estate of Burgess
646 P.2d 623 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 1982)
Reimers v. State Ex Rel. Department of Corrections
2011 OK CIV APP 83 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2011)
Merritt v. Merritt
2003 OK 68 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2003)
Manhart v. Manhart
1986 OK 12 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1986)
Thielenhaus v. Thielenhaus
890 P.2d 925 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1995)
Tom P. McDermott, Inc. v. Bennett
1964 OK 197 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1964)
Jackson v. Jackson
2002 OK 25 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2002)
Neundorf v. Neundorf
2006 OK CIV APP 10 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2005)
Colclasure v. Colclasure
2012 OK 97 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2012)

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Bluebook (online)
2014 OK CIV APP 100, 352 P.3d 1250, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/starcevich-v-starcevich-oklacivapp-2014.