Vecchio v. Vecchio

132 So. 2d 771
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 14, 1961
DocketNo. 60-542
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 132 So. 2d 771 (Vecchio v. Vecchio) 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
Vecchio v. Vecchio, 132 So. 2d 771 (Fla. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

The appellant-executor seeks review and reversal of an adverse final decree which nullified an ante-nuptial agreement.

The agreement was executed in 1946, a few days prior to the marriage of the ap-pellee and appellant’s decedent. The appel-lee was 35 years of age and the deceased was 68. The appellant is the son and only child of the decedent. The deceased, a widower at the time of the marriage, owned an interest with his son in a chain of hardware stores as well as several valuable pieces of real property in the District of Columbia.

The appellee met the deceased in 1939 when she, her mother and her two children rented a house from him. She had lived in Washington, D. C., since she was four years old and at the time the parties met, she had been working as a restaurant waitress and cashier. At the time of the marriage, the appellee had approximately $8,-000 which she had derived from the sale of a home in Washington, D. C. The appellee testified that prior to their marriage, she and the deceased had been going together and on two occasions, the first in 1941 and the second in 1945, had stayed together away from Washington, D. C.

By the terms of the ante-nuptial agreement, appellee released her dower and other interests in all real and personal property located in Washington, D. C., of which the deceased was seized or possessed at the time of their marriage. By specific provision, the foregoing release did not apply to property outside of the District of Columbia or that might be acquired after marriage. It was further agreed that the deceased was to convey a home which he had in Washington, D. C., to the appellee as a tenancy in the entireties. After execution of the agreement, the parties, by mutual' consent, substituted other real property in the District of Columbia for the property described in the agreement.

The complaint charged that the agreement was without consideration, inequitable and unfair, procured by overreaching and undue influence, that there had been a failure to disclose to the appel-lee the nature, extent and value of the de[773]*773ceased’s property, and further, that the agreement disclosed such a disproportion between the amount that the appellee was to receive and the value of the deceased’s estate that it amounted to designed concealment on the part of the deceased in derogation of the appellee’s rights.

The chancellor in the decree made certain findings as follows:

“The plaintiff, Josephine Del Vec-chio, then Josephine Gleason, entered into an agreement to marry, one, Domenico Del Vecchio. They had been going together for some time when Domenico was a married man but his wife died and later a prenuptial agreement to marry was entered into on April 10, 1946.
“The son of Domenico Del Vecchio, Sam Del Vecchio, was the moving party in causing the pre-nuptial agreement to be signed by Domenico and Josephine Gleason. The reason being that he had put in considerable time, effort and brains into a chain of hardware stores, which the father had started, and the son had built up into a large and prosperous business and he, the son, wanted protection in this business, in which he owned fifty one percent of the stock and Domenico owned forty eight percent of the stock, the other share being held by another party.
“It is the finding of the court that a full and fair disclosure was not made to Josephine Gleason on or before April 10, 1946, when the pre-nuptial agreement was signed, of Domenico Del Vecchio’s holdings and wealth to such an extent that she could intelligently compute what she stood to lose or gain by signing the contract. See Comments and Summary in 27 A.L.R. (2d) at page 884, and later pages.
“Domenico Del Vecchio, according to the testimony, was worth about one half million dollars at or about April 10, 1946, and the terms of the prenuptial agreement would indicate that the provision made for Josephine Del Vecchio in the agreement was disproportionate to the means of Domenico Del Vecchio. See Weeks v. Weeks 1143 Fla. 686), 197 So. 393.
“Josephine and Domenico were married on April 15, 1946, and lived together apparently happy and contented until May 22, 1958, when Domenico died.
“Domenico and Josephine acquired property during the marriage, it being held by the estate in the entireties, so that she received property of considerable value upon the death of Dome-nico.” [Italics in original decree.]

The ante-nuptial agreement, inter alia, provided :

“It is further agreed that this agreement is entered into by each party with full knowledge on the part of each as to the extent and probable value of the estate of the other by virtue of said proposed marriage * *

The chancellor’s decree appears to be based upon two principles: (1) that there had been a failure to make a full and fair disclosure at the time the agreement was signed; and (2) that the terms of the agreement were such that provisions made for the appellee were disproportionate to the means of the deceased.

Normally the question of whether full and fair disclosure was made constitutes a question of fact, but the establishment of the mere failure to disclose, where the facts and circumstances indicate that the individual knew or should have known of the other’s financial status, would not, in the absence of other factors, render an ante-nuptial agreement void. The establishment of failure to disclose would not, per se, render an otherwise valid agreement invalid, particularly where such failure was not shown, nor does it appear, to have op[774]*774erated to the wife’s detriment or rendered the agreement as to her inequitable.

The primary purpose of these agreements is to restrict and circumscribe the right of one to participate in the estate of another. In this instance, the agreement recited that the contracting parties had full knowledge of the extent and probable value of each other’s estates. The deceased was a man 68 years of age who became a widower by the death of his wife approximately four months prior to his marriage to the appellee. The appellee had known the deceased for some seven years, had rented a house from him for nearly five years, and although not conversant with his actual net worth, knew or should have known that he was a man of considerable material substance. She knew he was the owner or part owner of a chain of hardware stores in the District of Columbia and that he was the owner of at least two parcels of real property in the District of Columbia. The purpose of the agreement, as represented to her, was so that she could not interfere in the hardware business, then being conducted by the appellant. All of these factors, when considered in the light of what the appellee actually gained as a result of her marriage to the deceased, fail to establish that the alleged failure of the deceased to disclose his exact wealth resulted in any overreaching or imposition upon the appel-lee in the execution of this agreement. There is no proof here that the deceased misrepresented his true worth, unless his silence can be so construed; that he obtained her signature by duress, fraud or undue influence; or otherwise committed any act constituted to deceive the appellee. On the contrary, she charges the appellant as the moving party in the preparation and execution of the agreement with the deceased as no more than a passive participant.

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Related

Del Vecchio v. Del Vecchio
179 So. 2d 400 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1965)
Pozin v. Pozin
133 So. 2d 662 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1961)

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Bluebook (online)
132 So. 2d 771, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vecchio-v-vecchio-fladistctapp-1961.