PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT INTERPRETED TO WAIVE TEMPORARY MAINTENANCE DESPITE ABSENCE OF THE PRECISE TERM.
The First Department, over an extensive dissent, determined the prenuptial agreement waived both parties' entitlement to temporary maintenance during the divorce proceedings. The majority gleaned the intent to waive temporary maintenance from various provisions of the agreement, even though the terms “temporary maintenance” and “interim spousal support” were not used. The dissent argued that the waiver of “maintenance” in the agreement should not be interpreted to waive “temporary maintenance:”
Although the dissent acknowledges that “no particular catechism is required to waive temporary maintenance claims,” it nevertheless finds the agreement ambiguous and suggests that the parties may only have intended to waive a final award of maintenance. No fair reading of the agreement supports that conclusion. When read as a whole, the agreement contains no ambiguity as to whether the parties intended to waive temporary maintenance. As noted, the agreement waives “any and all” maintenance claims, “now and in the future.” Contrary to the dissent's view, there is nothing imprecise about the phrase “any and all.” Indeed, this Court has repeatedly found the use of that phrase to be “clear”… . Further, although minimized by the dissent, the agreement explicitly states that the parties are “fully capable of being self supporting,” which is another indicia that neither intended to seek any kind of maintenance. Anonymous v Anonymous, 2016 NY Slip Op 02016, 1st Dept 3-22-16
FAMILY LAW (PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT INTERPRETED TO WAIVE TEMPORARY MAINTENANCE DESPITE ABSENCE OF PRECISE TERM)/MAINTENANCE (PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT INTERPRETED TO WAIVE TEMPORARY MAINTENANCE DESPITE ABSENCE OF PRECISE TERM)/PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT (PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT INTERPRETED TO WAIVE TEMPORARY MAINTENANCE DESPITE ABSENCE OF PRECISE TERM)