Kreimer v. Kreimer

The trial court properly construed a provision in the parties' divorce agreement which required the transfer of publicly traded stock to the wife as including only those stocks which were held in the parties' non-retirement accounts.

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A discretionary appeal was granted in order to consider whether the trial court erred in its construction of a provision of a divorce settlement agreement obligating the ex-husband to transfer certain “publicly traded stock” to the ex-wife. The trial court construed this provision as referring only to stocks held in the parties’ non-retirement accounts, and not to refer to stocks held in the parties’ retirement accounts. Having reviewed the record as a whole, as we must, we conclude that the phrase “publicly traded stock,” as used in this particular settlement agreement, does apply only to stocks held in non-retirement accounts. Therefore, we affirm.

The divorce action between Stanley and Kathryn Kreimer was scheduled for trial in May 2000. At the calendar call, the trial court requested that the parties attempt to reach a settlement through mediation one final time. As a result, the parties agreed upon a four-page handwritten Memorandum of Settlement “the Memorandum”. The Memorandum’s first paragraph describes the available equity in the marital home, and states that Kathryn would receive the home. The Memorandum’s second paragraph states that: “All other assets will be divided 50/50,” and the paragraph is then broken down into subparagraphs which identify the assets to be divided equally. Subparagraph one specifies a second home; subparagraph two specifies retirement accounts identified as belonging to Stanley; and subparagraph three specifies Kathryn’s retirement accounts. Subparagraph four of paragraph two specifies certain “public accounts,” including “Fidelity, Dean Witter . . . and FUNB.” At its conclusion, paragraph two states that: “Wife keeps her retirement—Husband transfers publicly traded stock to Wife—parties will neutralize tax impact unrealized capital gains based on division of publicly traded stock taking into account basis.”

Kreimer v. Kreimer

The trial court properly construed a provision in the parties' divorce agreement which required the transfer of publicly traded stock to the wife as including only those stocks which were held in the parties' non-retirement accounts.

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