JEAN B. BERTONE, APPELLANT,
v.
ANTONIO M. BERTONE, APPELLEE; ANTONIO M. BERTONE, CROSS-APPELLANT, V. JEAN B. BERTONE, CROSS-APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1990-05-16
Nos. 89-02006, 89-02451
CAMPBELL, C.J., and PATTERSON, J., concur.
562 So. 2d 363 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1990) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 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 an antenuptial agreement's provision for equal division of jointly held assets controlled over the trial court's equitable distribution, even when the assets originated from one party's separate property.


Headnotes

[1] An antenuptial agreement provision stating that assets acquired or held in joint ownership shall be divided equally controls over a general reinvestment clause when joint…

[2] A trial court has discretion in awarding attorney's fees in dissolution proceedings.

Previewing 2 of 4 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 signed an antenuptial agreement before marrying in their late sixties. The agreement stipulated that jointly held assets would be divided …

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
SCHEB, Judge.

SCHEB, Judge.

In these consolidated appeals, we address issues concerning awards of alimony, assets, and attorney’s fees. The central issue focuses on the alleged failure of the trial court to enforce the terms of an ante-nuptial agreement.

In 1981, when the parties married, both were in their late sixties and each had been married previously. The couple signed an antenuptial agreement, which provided that each spouse would retain his or her individual property except:

Any and all assets acquired or held by the parties in the form of joint ownership, as tenants in common, or by tenants by the entirety, or transferred by one party to both so as to result in such form of ownership, shall be divided equally between the parties.

In 1989, the husband filed for dissolution, and both parties requested enforcement of the agreement. After a hearing, the trial court entered a final judgment of dissolution, which specifically found the agreement to be reasonable, equitable, and entered into freely and voluntarily. Apparently, therefore, the trial court intended to enforce the agreement. Nevertheless, it appears the trial judge effectuated an equitable distribution of the parties’ assets. Under the final judgment, the wife received full interest in all property individually owned by her. The remaining properties were held jointly by the wife and the husband. These assets consisted of the marital home, valued between $160,000-$250,000, a mobile home, valued at $13,000, a $35,000 savings account, and a checking account with a balance of $4,600. The final judgment awarded full interest in the marital home and the $35,000 savings account to the husband. The court recognized the wife’s one-half interest in the checking account. The court also recognized the wife’s one-half interest in the mobile home and awarded the husband’s corresponding interest to her as lump sum alimony. Despite the fact that evidence regarding placement of the wife’s name on assets was the same, the court ruled that the husband intended to make a gift of the checking account but not the marital home or the $35,000 savings account.

In appeal number 89-02006, the wife raises two points. First, she argues that all the jointly held assets should have been divided equally as provided in the antenup-tial agreement. We agree. We are not unmindful that the jointly held assets were funded from the husband’s separately owned properties. Indeed, the wife admitted that she did not deposit any of her separate funds into the parties’ joint accounts. As to the marital home, it is unre-futed that the funds to purchase the house originated from proceeds of the sale of the husband’s separately owned properties. These proceeds were first placed temporarily in a three-month certificate of deposit held jointly by the parties, and then used to buy the home, which was titled in both names. Nevertheless, wé find that disposition of these assets is controlled by provisions of the antenuptial agreement.

The husband argues that since the funding for the jointly held assets is clearly traceable to his separate property, the jointly held assets should be considered mere reinvestments and thus, his separate property. He points to the reinvestment provision in the antenuptial agreement that each party shall retain sole ownership of premarital property and that:

any reinvestment of such assets, shall be his or her own separate and absolute property forever, without interference by the other party ... as if said marriage had not taken place.

(Emphasis added). We cannot agree with the husband.

The agreement anticipated and addressed the situation of one spouse putting the other spouse’s name on property. The document provided that if an asset was “transferred by one party to both so as to result in such a form of ownership [joint tenancy], [it] shall be divided equally.” (Emphasis added). We interpret the reinvestment provision cited by the husband to mean that had the husband reinvested his separately owned property into other assets, which he held solely in his own name, the wife would have no claim to those assets, although they had technically been acquired during the marriage.

Second, the wife claims the court erred in directing the husband to pay only one-half of the wife’s attorney’s fees. We find the award to be within the trial judge’s discretion, Canakaris v. Canakaris, 382 So. 2d 1197 (Fla.1980), and we leave that portion of the final judgment undisturbed.

In appeal number 89-02451, the husband challenges the order, dated August 15, 1989, to the extent it grants the wife temporary suit money and attorney’s fees. We find no merit to his contentions in regard to these items.

In summary, in appeal number 89-02006, we reverse that portion of the final judgment granting the husband full interest in the marital home and $35,000 savings account. We also reverse that portion which gives the wife full interest in the mobile home. We affirm all other provisions, including the award to the wife of one-half interest in the checking account and her entitlement to one-half of her attorney’s fees. The trial court is directed to enter an amended judgment dividing the jointly held assets equally, as required by the antenup-tial agreement. We affirm the order appealed in number 89-02451. Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded with directions.

CAMPBELL, C.J., and PATTERSON, J., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Stern v. Stern, 636 So. 2d 735 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993)
    …band receiving $667,485 (exclusive of the $1,900,- [*740] 000 in receivables), and the former wife receiving $627,393, which included the marital home and its contents, the terms of the premarital agreement were not violated. Cf. Bertone v. Bertone, 562 So. 2d 363 (Fla. 2d DCA), rev. dismissed, 569 So. 2d 1278 (Fla.1990). However, the addendum to that agreement expressly provided that, in the event neither party chose to exercise an option to purchase the home, upon divorce the home was to be sold and the “e…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw