IN THE INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS OF WEST VIRGINIA Spring 2024 Term FILED ____________________________ June 11, 2024 released at 3:00 p.m. No. 23-ICA-242 ASHLEY N. DEEM, DEPUTY CLERK INTERMEDIATE COURT OF APPEALS ____________________________ OF WEST VIRGINIA DENNY HARTON, Respondent Below, Petitioner v. TERRI HARTON, Petitioner Below, Respondent ___________________________________________________________________ Appeal from the Family Court of Wood County The Honorable Ellen L. Smith, Judge Civil Action No. FC-54-2020-D-70 REVERSED AND REMANDED ___________________________________________________________________ Submitted: February 7, 2024 Filed: June 11, 2024 Mark W. Kelley, Esq. Katharine L. Davitian, Esq. Ray, Winton & Kelley, PLLC Davitian & Davitian Charleston, West Virginia Parkersburg, West Virginia Counsel for Petitioner Counsel for Respondent JUDGE LORENSEN delivered the Opinion of the Court. LORENSEN, JUDGE: Petitioner Denny Harton (“Husband”) appeals the Family Court of Wood County’s May 10, 2023, Final Order Regarding the Validity of Premarital Agreement in favor of Terri Harton (“Wife”). The family court held that the parties’ June 17, 2000, premarital agreement (the “Agreement”) was invalid and unenforceable. After careful review of the briefs, the appendix record, the arguments of the parties, and the applicable legal authority, we disagree with the family court and therefore reverse its order. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Husband and Wife were married on June 17, 2000. Husband had primary custody of his two children from a prior marriage, and Wife had primary custody of her two children from a prior relationship. At the time of their marriage, Wife was 34 years old and a recent graduate of West Liberty College (now University). Husband at that time was 41 years old and an experienced businessman. Wife and her children moved into Husband’s Wood County home at the inception of the marriage. Prior to their marriage, Husband expressed to Wife a desire to enter into a prenuptial agreement. Husband downloaded a form prenuptial agreement document he located on the internet which ultimately, after revision, became the Agreement. Neither party was represented by legal counsel in connection with drafting the Agreement. Several facts surrounding the execution of the Agreement are contested. Both Husband and Wife reviewed a draft document together, although precisely when they reviewed the document 1 is in dispute. Husband claims they reviewed the draft several months before the wedding, while Wife claims they reviewed it two or three weeks before the wedding. According to Wife, she did not understand the draft document she reviewed but she did not seek legal counsel or otherwise undertake further inquiry about what she did not understand. Nevertheless, Wife testified that she understood that a significant and primary purpose of the Agreement was to protect Husband’s assets he owned prior to their intended marriage in the case of a subsequent divorce. After initial review, changes were made to the draft document to add a provision concerning their children.1 According to Wife, the next time she dealt with the Agreement was on their wedding day when husband presented the Agreement in a sealed envelope and asked Wife to go to a bank alone2 for signature before …
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