FLORIDA APPEALS COURT VOIDS PRENUP– REVERSING FLORIDA DIVORCE COURT !!! — very important Florida divorce case makes major prenup ruling

Just days ago, a Florida appeals court reviewing a Florida divorce case made a        very     important ruling   —  MAJOR ! — affecting Florida divorce law  and Florida prenuptial agreements.

This is a major ruling regarding Florida family law, an attempt to challenge a prenuptial agreement, and a setback for Florida husbands and wives who want a prenuptial agreement validated.

This case is a huge  Florida  legal  victory for someone who wants to attack or challenge a Florida prenup !

Florida family law lawyers and Florida divorce attorneys take note.  Also, Florida probate lawyers, and   Florida    estate    lawyers need to read this case when the dead Florida resident signed a prenup.

Wealthy   Florida   clients: this is a setback for you if you were going to ask your fiancé to sign a Florida prenup.

WHY SHOULD PROBATE BENEFICIARIES AND FLORIDA TRUST BENEFICIARIES CARE?

Why does this even matter for readers of    Florida    estate    and   trust, and Florida    probate, commentary? It matters a lot. Here’s why:

• 1. Many times your parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle died with three things

a. a whole bunch of money in Florida

b. a younger spouse with a lawyer

c. a Florida prenuptial agreement.

• 2. Since Florida prenuptial agreements, or postnuptial agreements, typically limit      inheritance    rights, you need to read the Florida prenup. This affects your inheritance!
• 3. If the spouse with all the money dies first, the surviving spouse, who signed the Florida prenup, may    challenge  the  Florida  prenup    as invalid. Our firm has defended prenups on behalf of Florida estates and executors, and have seen widows and Florida surviving spouses    challenge the prenup,    and to try to attack a Florida prenup as invalid. This can happen to you!
• 4. This case, at least in the Second District Court of Appeals for Florida, prevents a Florida estate, or a    Florida personal representative,   from raising important legal defenses which could make the prenup valid .

WHY IS THIS CASE BAD FOR FLORIDA ESTATE LAWYERS, FLORIDA PROBATE LAWYERS AND DIVORCE ATTORNEYS?

The Florida appeals court did not permit important defenses to be raised in support of the prenup. This is a major legal setback for Florida divorce attorneys who want to defend or uphold prenuptial agreement or postnuptial agreement.

This is also a legal setback for Florida estate lawyers, and Florida probate lawyers, who represent an estate of a rich, dead Florida resident who signed a prenup — where the surviving spouse is trying to challenge the Florida prenup or attack the prenup.

VEGAS WEDDING AND A 2:00 AM PRENUP

In this case, the owner of a pawn shop got married in Vegas. Although they discussed the prenup before getting to Vegas, the next time the wife saw the prenup was when she picked up her fiancé -husband at the Las Vegas airport at 11:30 PM. The wife signed the prenup, in Vegas, and 2:00 a.m., the night (morning) before the wedding.   That didn’t matter to the trial court, but that did matter to the appellate court.

FLORIDA DIVORCE COURT SAYS PRENUP IS VALID  (but wait……)

The Florida trial court, the divorce court, heard the wife’s motion to set aside the prenuptial agreement in December 2009.

The court denied the motion to   set aside the prenuptial agreement   because the wife’s “inaction” served to   ratify   the prenup. Ratification is an important defense to upholding or supporting a prenup which was raised by the pawnshop owning husband.  The court also found that the wife’s six-year delay in challenging the prenup was, in essence, a waiver of her rights to challenge the prenup.   ….what we call the defense of    “laches.”    A second judge assigned to the divorce trial, for some reason, revisited the issue of the Florida prenup. But that new judge reaffirmed the validity of the prenup.

APPEALS COURT REVERSES DIVORCE COURT: PRENUP CHALLENGE IS GOOD  :    FLORIDA PRENUP INVALID !

The appeals court disagreed. Saying that there was a sufficient course of circumstances surrounding the signing of the prenup as to give rise to a presumption of undue influence or overreaching.

The prenup was set aside by the Florida appeals court.

More importantly, from a legal perspective, this appellate district in Florida declines to apply certain equitable defenses that helped enforce or support the prenup. Needless to say, this is a major legal setback for rich Florida clients, like the pawnshop owning husband in this case.

FOR ESTATE AND DIVORCE ATTORNEYS AND LITIGATORS

This is perhaps the biggest Florida prenup case, at least strategically, procedurally, and tactically, in years. Its implications are huge and it will be interesting to see if other Florida districts follow this reasoning and the line of cases from across the countryside cited within this opinion. As we know, when Florida districts (Courts of Appeals) take different approaches to the law, that creates “conflict” — and invites review by Florida’s state Supreme Court. This case is interesting for a couple of reasons. One, findings by the trial court are usually granted great deference and are not overturned if they are based on competent substantial evidence. The appellate court totally reversed the trial court in this regard. The appellate court did not like the circumstances under which the prenup was signed and so they set it aside. Secondly, the Second District is not permitting equitable defenses of ratification or laches to validate a prenuptial agreement. In other words, if a spouse without the money signs a prenuptial agreement, and he or she fails to seek revision, an amendment of it, or seeks to challenge the prenup, or void the prenup during the marriage— those inactions are no longer a defense to the validity of the prenup. This is a major victory for spouses attacking prenups. This is also a major legal setback, for divorce attorneys, and Florida probate lawyers, who uphold a prenup on behalf of a spouse or a deceased spouse’s Florida estate. Our firm has been involved in estate   litigation regarding Florida prenups. We have defended personal representatives and Florida estates, and helped family members, in attempting to uphold a prenup which the dead Florida resident signed. We have raised the affirmative   defenses discussed in this Second District opinion on behalf of the estate.    For Florida estates, family members, and Florida personal representatives who want a prenup upheld, your strategy, and approach, needs to consider this very important, very recent, Florida prenup case. For a complete copy of the opinion or to discuss challenging a prenup, or upholding the prenup, please email Michelle@pankauskilawfirm.com.