Law Lessons from ROBERT DELL’OSA V. MONA DELL’OSA, n/k/a MONA MIKHAIL, App. Div., A-3184-08T1, December 1, 2009:

As stated in Massar v. Massar, 279 N.J. Super. 89, 93 (App. Div. 1995), the law as it applies to marital agreements is:

This State has a strong public policy favoring enforcement of agreements. See Dep’t of Pub. Advocate v. N.J. Bd. of Pub. Utils., 206 N.J. Super. 523, 528 (App. Div. 1985). Marital agreements are essentially consensual and voluntary and as a result, they are approached with a predisposition in favor of their validity and enforceability. Petersen v. Petersen, 85 N.J. 638, 642 (1981); Dworkin v. Dworkin, 217 N.J. Super. 518, 524, (App. Div. 1987). Marital agreements, however, are enforceable only if they are fair and equitable. Petersen, supra, 85 N.J. at 642; Carlsen v. Carlsen, 72 N.J. 363, 370 (1977); Guglielmo v. Guglielmo, 253 N.J. Super. 531, 541 (App. Div. 1992); Capanear v. Salzano, 222 N.J. Super. 403, 407 (App. Div. 1988). Any marital agreement which is unconscionable or is the product of fraud or overreaching by a party with power to take advantage of a confidential relationship may be set aside. Guglielmo, supra, 253 N.J. Super. at 541; Dworkin, supra, 217 N.J. Super. at 523. In fact, the law affords particular leniency to agreements made in the domestic arena and similarly allows judges greater discretion when interpreting these agreements. Guglielmo, supra, 253 N.J. Super. at 542. Such discretion is based on the premise that, although marital agreements are contractual in nature, “contract principles have little place in the law of domestic relations.” Id. [(]citing Lepis v. Lepis, 83 N.J. 139, 148 (1980)[)]. Nevertheless, the contractual nature of such agreements has long been recognized and principles of contract interpretation have been invoked particularly to define the terms of the agreement and divine the intent of the parties. Capanear, supra, 222 N.J. Super. at 407. In interpreting the agreement, the court will not draft a new agreement for the parties. Aarvig v. Aarvig, 248 N.J. Super. 181, 185 ([Law] Div. 1991).

As stated in Driscoll Constr. Co., Inc. v. State, Dep’t of Transp., 371 N.J. Super. 304, 313 (App. Div. 2004):

[w]hen interpreting a contract, the court’s goal is to ascertain the intention of the parties to the contract as revealed by the language used, taken as an entirety; and, in the quest for intention, the situation of the parties, the attendant circumstances, and the objects they were thereby striving to attain . . . .

The interpretation or construction of a contract is usually a legal question for the court unless the meaning is ambiguous or there is a need for parol evidence in aid of interpretation. Id. at 313-14.

A court may not make a better contract for either party than the one the parties drafted. Graziano v. Grant, 326 N.J. Super. 328, 342 (App. Div. 1999).

NOTE: My legal services include family law, divorce, child support, litigation, arbitration, mediation, child custody and visitation, alimony, equitable distribution, separation agreements, palimony, PSA, property settlement agreement, premarital and prenuptial agreements, midmarriage and marital agreements.

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