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THE DEFENDANT’S SIGNATURE ON THE PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT WAS NOT ACKNOWLEDGED UNTIL RIGHT BEFORE THE DIVORCE PROCEEDINGS, SEVEN YEARS AFTER PLAINTIFF’S SIGNATURE ON THE AGREEMENT WAS ACKNOWLEDGED; IN THIS CIRCUMSTANCE, THE PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENT MUST BE MUTUALLY REAFFIRMED TO BE VALID (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing Supreme Court, over a two-justice dissent, determined the prenuptial agreement was not valid and enforceable. The agreement was not acknowledged in front of a notary in 2011 by the defendant. Plaintiff had signed and acknowledged the agreement in 2011. Seven years later, right before the divorce proceedings, defendant had his signature acknowledged and he filed the agreement:

… [W]e conclude that, when an acknowledgment is missing from a nuptial agreement, an acknowledgment and a reaffirmation by the parties is required to cure the defect. To hold otherwise would permit a spouse to act unilaterally to cure the lack of his or her acknowledgment at some later date, and would thereby permit that spouse to choose, based on circumstances that may have changed in ways unanticipated by the other spouse at the time of the initial signing of the agreement, whether to acknowledge the agreement and make it enforceable or to leave it unacknowledged and defective. When the parties mutually sign and acknowledge the agreement, it is clear that they are mutually binding themselves to the weighty decisions that they deliberated on. Thus, in order for the acknowledgment to have true significance and purpose, it must be done contemporaneously with the parties’ signatures or, if the acknowledgment occurs at a later date, the agreement must be mutually reaffirmed by the parties … . Anderson v Anderson, 2020 NY Slip Op 04640, Fourth Dept 8-20-20

 

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TO FACILITATE APPELLATE REVIEW THE JUDGE WHO AWARDED PLAINTIFFS SUMMARY JUDGMENT, ATTORNEY’S FEES AND COSTS SHOULD HAVE WRITTEN A DECISION EXPLAINING THE BURDENS OF PROOF AND REASONING; ISSUING ORDERS WITHOUT AN EXPLANATORY DECISION IS AN “UNACCEPTABLE PRACTICE;” PLAINTIFFS DID NOT SHOW THEIR INTERPRETATION OF THE CONTRACT WAS THE ONLY REASONABLE ONE; THE FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION CAUSE OF ACTION CANNOT BE BASED UPON AN ALLEGED INTENT TO BREACH THE CONTRACT AND WAS NOT SUFFICIENTLY PLED (FOURTH DEPT).
QUESTION OF FACT WHETHER SAFETY DEVICES FOR LIFTING HEAVY MOTOR WERE AVAILABLE, PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION OF SUMMARY JUDGMENT ON THE LABOR LAW 240 (1) CAUSE OF ACTION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (FOURTH DEPT).
DEFENDANT TOLD THE POLICE HE DIDN’T WANT TO TALK, HIS STATEMENT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SUPPRESSED BUT THE ERROR WAS HARMLESS; CONSECUTIVE SENTENCES FOR POSSESSION OF THE KNIFE AND MURDER BY STABBING FOUND PROPER (FOURTH DEPT).
WALMART DID NOT OWE A DUTY OF CARE TO PLAINTIFF, AN OFF-DUTY POLICE OFFICER INJURED BY ANOTHER POLICE OFFICER AFTER RESPONDING TO A THEFT AT A WALMART STORE (FOURTH DEPT).
AT THE TIME OF THE COLLISION, THE SHERIFF’S DEPUTY WAS ENGAGED IN AN EMERGENCY OPERATION AND DID NOT ACT WITH RECKLESS DISREGARD FOR THE SAFETY OF OTHERS; TWO-JUSTICE DISSENT (FOURTH DEPT).
DEFENDANT WAS NOT IN CUSTODY WHEN HIS STATEMENTS WERE MADE, SUPPRESSION MOTION SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN GRANTED (FOURTH DEPT).
DEFENDANT’S STATEMENTS DURING THE PLEA COLLOQUY DENYING THAT HE SOLD COCAINE AND DESCRIBING THE PROCEEDINGS AS CORRUPT WARRANTED FURTHER INQUIRY BY THE COURT, CONVICTION REVERSED DESPITE FAILURE TO PRESERVE THE ISSUE FOR APPEAL (FOURTH DEPT).

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