FLEENOR
v.
FLEENOR
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.
A Florida circuit court held that a document labeled 'Property Settlement Agreement' was in substance an alimony agreement, and therefore the defendant husband's obligation to pay support ceased upon the plaintiff wife's remarriage. The court found that the wife had relinquished only a marital right (shelter) rather than any property interest, making the agreement one for support rather than property division.
The agreement was in substance an alimony agreement, not a property settlement agreement. The defendant's liability for alimony ceased upon the plaintiff's remarriage, although the plaintiff was not required to repay payments voluntarily made prior to the suit being filed.
[1] An agreement entitled "Property Settlement Agreement" may be deemed an agreement for alimony if its substance reflects support and maintenance obligations rather than a d…
[2] A wife's relinquishment of the right to marital shelter, such as a trailer residence owned by the husband, may be viewed as a marital right of enjoyment rather than a div…
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“The principal issue relates to whether the so-called 'Property Settlement Agreement' was in substance an agreement for alimony.”
States the central legal question before the court regarding the true nature of the agreement.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceParties separated in 1960 and divided a bank account of less than $300. The defendant husband agreed to pay the plaintiff wife $20 per week for her su…
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Marital Rights cases and more on FLexlaw
This cause came on for hearing on defendant’s petition for release from further liability for support payments to plaintiff based upon a “Property Settlement Agreement” between the parties *136incorporated in their final decree of divorce in 1960. Plaintiff became remarried on September 26, 1970.
The principal issue relates to whether the so-called “Property Settlement Agreement” was in substance an agreement for alimony.
At the time the parties separated, they made equal division of a bank account of less than $300, earned by the defendant husband, and entered into the agreement mentioned above, in which defendant agreed to pay plaintiff $20 per week for her support “as long as the party of the second part [defendant] shall be employed. If, however, the party of the second part becomes unemployed he will pay a lesser amount that he can afford . . .” The agreement contained a release by the plaintiff wife of all claims against the defendant husband, in consideration of the “mutual agreement and the receipt of the monies set aside specifically for her ...” However, plaintiff testified in all candor that all she relinquished and released at the time of the divorce was “the roof over my head,” meaning the roof of the trailer residence which defendant owned prior to his marriage to the plaintiff. The roof over her head could be viewed as a marital right of enjoyment derived from the husband’s duty to provide adequate shelter for his wife, rather than a property right. Thus the plaintiff never had any “special equities” subject to a true division of property interests normally associated with a property settlement agreement.
The terms of the agreement itself purport to “make a complete and final settlement of all property rights and matters of support and maintenance.” Insofar as the plaintiff received one-half of the bank account which was maintained during her marriage to the defendant, she did receive a property settlement.
The only monetary obligation of the defendant to the plaintiff arising from their agreement relates to support and maintenance of plaintiff, clearly related in substance to alimony. It may be observed that in previous litigation involving enforcement of the decree herein through contempt proceedings both the parties and the court treated the payments as being in the nature of alimony.
Upon consideration, it is ordered and adjudged that the agreement between the parties, although entitled “Property Settlement Agreement” was in substance not a property settlement agreement, but an agreement for alimony.
It is further ordered and adjudged that defendant’s liability for alimony to plaintiff ceased upon the date of the plaintiff’s remarriage; provided, however, that plaintiff shall not be required to repay to defendant the payments which were voluntarily made by him prior to the filing of this suit.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Cannon v. Morris, 407 So. 2d 372 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981)…4, 31 So. 2d 253 (1947). However, with regard to modification of the purported property agreement, it is the contents and not the title of a document that determine whether it is in the nature of a property settlement agreement. Fleenor v. Fleenor, 35 Fla.Supp. 135, 136 (Fla. 15th Cir. 1971). In Horn v. Horn, 398 So. 2d 935, 937 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981), a case involving a purported property settlement agreement, the term “exclusive use and enjoyment of the marital home” was viewed as a term of art, awarding possess…