RUTH ANN JANTZEN F/K/A RUTH ANN COTNER, APPELLANT,
v.
DONALD R. COTNER, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1987-09-01
No. 86-2633
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and BASKIN and FERGUSON, JJ.
513 So. 2d 683 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1987) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The court held that the alimony provision in the marital settlement agreement was separable from the property division, creating a modifiable obligation terminated by the wife's remarriage.


Headnotes

[1] A marital settlement agreement may contain both separable modifiable and non-modifiable provisions.

[2] The separability of alimony provisions from property division in a marital settlement agreement is determined by whether the payments were given in exchange for a recipro…

Previewing 2 of 5 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

The parties' marital settlement agreement contained provisions for property division and alimony. The wife remarried, and the husband sought to termin…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.

SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.

We find no error in the lower court’s determinations, made after trial upon conflicting testimony of the intentions of the parties, that the provision for the wife’s alimony contained in the Cotners’ marital settlement agreement was separable from the non-modifiable portion which divided their property between them, Putnam v. Putnam, 226 So. 2d 30, 31 (Fla. 4th DCA 1969), cert. denied, 234 So. 2d 118 (Fla.1969); see Stevens v. Stevens, 510 So. 2d 332, 333 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987) (“same agreement may contain modifiable and non-modifiable elements”),1 and that it created a non-vested, modifiable obligation which was therefore terminated by the wife’s remarriage. See Boyd v. Boyd, 478 So. 2d 356, 358 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985), review denied, 488 So. 2d 67 (Fla.1986); Pujals v. Pujals, 414 So. 2d 228 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982); Wolfe v. Wolfe, 424 So. 2d 32 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982); Brisco v. Brisco, 355 So. 2d 506 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978); English v. Galbreath, 462 So. 2d 876 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985); Broudy v. Broudy, 423 So. 2d 504 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982).2

Affirmed.

. As we understand the test which governs whether periodic payments are properly deemed to be part of a vested, non-modifiable property settlement, Salomon v. Salomon, 196 So. 2d 111 (Fla.1967) — rather than a modifiable discharge of the other spouse’s support obligation — it is, as Putnam and Stevens make clear, not enough that the provision is in the same document. The question turns on whether the husband’s payments are given in exchange or consideration for a reciprocal transfer of property interests of the wife; whether, in other words, the wife bought and paid for the payments and is therefore entitled to them as written as a matter of contract. See Salomon, 196 So. 2d at 111; Boyd, 478 So. 2d at 356; cf. Karch v. Karch, 445 So. 2d 1077 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984), and cases cited.

Paragraphs A and B of the present contract list the properties to be owned by the husband and wife respectively after dissolution. The clause now in question is not contained in the list of the wife’s assets; it provides, in an entirely separate paragraph, as follows:

C. ALIMONY: The husband hereby agrees to pay to the Wife the sum of ONE THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED SIXTY-SIX DOLLARS & 67/ioo ($1,666.67) per month as alimony; said alimony to commence upon the 19th day of August, A.D., 1983 and to continue for the next consecutive ONE HUNDRED FORTY-FOUR (144) MONTHS thereafter. This payment is tax deductible to the Husband.

The arrangement and content of these provisions — with an obvious distinction between the division of capital assets and the alimony clause now before us, see Clark v. Clark, 79 So. 2d 426, 429 (Fla.1955) — provides a strong indication that the latter was not given in partial exchange for the wife's rights; she had separately received that consideration in paragraph B. For this reason, among others, we cannot fault the trial court for the conclusion reached below.

. Among the items of evidence which support the finding of modifiability is the fact that the wife had herself taken that very position by previously moving for an increase in the alimony award on account of changed circumstances. See Broudy, 423 So. 2d at 506 (”[W]e will not permit the wife to take a position inconsistent with that assumed by her in her cross-petition for modification.”). While the wife’s petition was withdrawn and did not result in an actual order to that effect, so that it cannot be technically said that an estoppel arose against her, Bryant v. Stevens, 313 So. 2d 124, 125 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975) ("A party is not estopped to maintain an inconsistent position in his pleadings unless the previous position has been successfully maintained_”); Salcedo v. Asociacion Cubana, Inc., 368 So. 2d 1337 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979), cert. denied, 378 So. 2d 342 (Fla.1979), her conduct in even filing the motion is highly persuasive of her own interpretation of the agreement. See Child v. Child, 474 So. 2d 299, 301 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985) (“the parties’ own conduct under a contract may provide the best indication of their intent in entering into it”), review denied, 484 So. 2d 7 (Fla.1986); Bassett v. Bassett, 464 So. 2d 1203 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985), pet. for review denied, 476 So. 2d 672 (Fla.1985); 11 Fla.Jur.2d Contracts § 113 (1979).

We also think it significant that the agreement stated — and the parties followed this provision in practice — that, consistent with the tax treatment ordinarily given payments for support, the ones in question here were deductible by the husband — and thus taxable to the wife.

On the other hand, the fact that the payments were to be made over a fixed number of years does not itself show that a vested right has been created. See Paras v. Paras, 262 So. 2d 203 (Fla. 4th DCA 1972).


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Pipitone v. Pipitone, 23 So. 3d 131 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009)
    …nterest A conclusive test to determine whether periodic payments are nonmodifiable property payments or modifiable support payments examines whether they are made in exchange or consideration for a transfer of property interests. Jantzen v. Cotner, 513 So. 2d 683 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987). “For an award of money to be considered a property settlement and not alimony [for support] it must clearly appear to be so from the final judgment.” Goerlich v. Goerlich, 358 So. 2d 895, 896 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978) (citing Brisco v.…
  • Petty v. Eligia Jim Petty, 548 So. 2d 793 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989)
    …v. Morris, 407 So. 2d 372, 373 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). However, a property settlement agreement which also makes provision for periodic alimony is separable and modifiable insofar as the support portion of the agreement is concerned. Jantzen v. Cotner, 513 So. 2d 683 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987); Stevens v. Stevens, 510 So. 2d 332, 333 (Fla. 2d DCA 1987); Kirchen, 484 So. 2d at 1311; 2 H. Clark, The Law of Domestic Relations in the United States § 17.6, at 275 (1987). The nature of the agreement must be determined by an e…
  • Berry v. Lenore H. Berry, 550 So. 2d 1125 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)
    …walked away from the agreement with only half his Navy pension and a Ford truck. Hardly a “bargained-for” or quid pro quo division of property to be taken as consideration to the husband for vested rights in the monthly payments.1 Jantzen v. Cotner, 513 So. 2d 683 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987). But this need not be deemed dispositive. We elsewhere find support for our conclusions herein. To begin with, it is well settled that provisions of a property settlement agreement are interpreted by the courts as in any other co…

Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited (18 total)

View all 18 cited authorities →

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw