Petracca v. Petracca

In Petracca v. Petracca, 706 So.2d 904 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998), the parties involved in the dissolution action engaged in discovery for two years, with both parties being continuously represented by counsel. The wife also hired an accountant to assess the family finances. Two weeks before trial, the parties announced a settlement agreement. Before the court entered final judgment incorporating the agreement, the wife filed a motion to invalidate the agreement. Rejecting the wife's argument that the Casto standards should apply, the Fourth District noted: Because Casto v. Casto, 508 So.2d 330 (Fla. 1987) really turns on the adequacy of the knowledge of the challenging spouse as a predicate for an unreasonableness challenge, it is restricted to those circumstances in which the adequacy of knowledge might plausibly be raised. The adequacy of knowledge can be plausibly raised only when the agreement was reached by marital parties in conditions of mutual trust and confidence and who were, therefore, not dealing at arm's length. The wife in this case attempts to imply that even when the parties are engaged in contested dissolution of marriage proceedings--when there has been ample opportunity for the party to make use of the procedural rules for discovery of financial resources--a party can still plausibly allege that they were dealing in mutual trust and confidence and not at arm's length or from inadequate knowledge of finances. . . . But, once the parties are involved in full fledged litigation over dissolution, property and support rights, they are necessarily dealing at arm's length and without the special fiduciary relationship of unestranged marital parties. . . . There can be no question of the adequacy of knowledge when an adversary party has had the opportunity of financial discovery under the applicable rules of procedure. The Casto line of cases, therefore, logically has no application when the challenging spouse has had the benefit of litigation discovery through independently chosen counsel to learn the full nature and extent of the finances of the other spouse. The very purpose of litigation discovery is to unearth the other party's assets and income. (Petracca, 706 So.2d at 911-12.)