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Gillette v. Gillette10/13/2005
FOR PUBLICATION
Appellant-respondent Steven L. Gillette appeals the denial of his motion for summary judgment, arguing that a prenuptial agreement (Agreement) that he executed with his former wife, appellee-petitioner Karin D. Gillette, was not applicable in the dissolution proceedings. Specifically, Steven alleges that the trial court should have determined as a matter of law that the Agreement did not exclude certain assets from the marital estate. Karin cross-appeals, claiming that the trial court erred in ordering her to pay a portion of Steven's attorney's fees. Concluding that the trial court properly denied Steven's motion for summary judgment and also determining that the attorney fee award was proper, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
FACTS
Karin and Steven were married on June 9, 1990, and two children were born to the marriage. Approximately three weeks before the marriage, the parties executed the Agreement. Karin had consulted with her legal counsel, Paul Steigmeyer, and informed him that she wanted to preserve her property free from any claims that her potential spouse might have. As a result, Steigmeyer met with Karin and Steven and informed them that the proposed Agreement he drafted would apply in the event of either divorce or death.
While the Agreement did not specifically mention "divorce" or "dissolution," both Karin and Steven agreed that all property owned by a particular spouse that was brought into the marriage would remain his or her individual property, free of any claims that the other might have. The Agreement provided, in pertinent part, as follows:
t is the desire of each of the parties hereto that all property now owned by each of them remain the separate property of each, so that each is free to devise and bequeath such properties to whomever they so desire, free of any claims of the other party, and, further, the desire of the parties that any properties hereafter acquired, including all income and increments upon assets and claims of which each is presently possessed, shall, likewise, pass as they each desire, free of claim of the other that may arise by reasons of the parties' contemplated marriage, including any rights which each might have to any property of the other by virtue of Indiana intestacy statutes, Indiana statutes which grant allowances to surviving spouses, and statutes of like or similar nature in the State of Indiana or in any other jurisdiction in which the parties might hereafter take up residence.
Appellant's App. at 76-77. The Agreement further stated:
1. Property to be Separately Owned. After the solemnization of the marriage between the parties, each of the parties shall separately retain all rights in his or her own property, whether now owned or hereafter acquired, and each of them shall have the absolute and unrestricted right to dispose of such separate property free of any claim that may be made by the other by reason of their marriage, and with the same effect as if no marriage had been consummated between them.
2. Subsequent Acquisition of Property. Entry of the parties into this Agreement in no way precludes the parties from making gifts to each other, from designating the other as beneficiary upon any policies of insurance, from bequeathing or devising property under will to the other, or from hereafter acquiring and titling property in the joint names of the parties with rights of survivorship in the other, each of the parties declaring, however, that there has been no promise or agreement of either of the parties hereto that the other will hereafter give property to the other, leave property to the other under a will, or by benefic
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