111 Md. App. 278 - Fultz v. Shaffer’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 44 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 46 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Marital property” is merely a term created to describe a status of property acquired during marriage, which, however titled, may give rise to potential inequity upon dissolution of marriage. It is this inequity that is corrected by way of a monetary award. Couples seeking to avoid the vagaries attendant upon such an award often enter into agreements whereby these property issues, as well as matters of alimony and child support, are resolved. The right to make these agreements, sometimes termed property settlement agreements, is without question. Indeed, [Family Law Article] § 8-105 provides the court with power to enforce the provisions of a settlement agreement; an agreement that has been incorporated, but not merged, into the final decree, may be enforced as a judgment or as an independent contract. In the latter instance, a settlement agreement is subject to general contract law. Particular questions must be resolved by looking first to the particular language of the agreement at issue. If that language is clear as to its meaning, there is no room for construction and it must be presumed that the parties meant what they expressed. The court may not rewrite the terms of the contract or draw a new one when the terms of the disputed contract are clear and unambiguous, merely to avoid hardship or because one party has become dissatisfied with its provisions. If, however, a reasonably prudent person would consider the contract susceptible to more than one reasonable interpreta”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 144 Md. App. 494 - Musick v. Musick · 223 Md. App. 599 - Wilson v. Wilson

2. “Because the parties to the instant matter agreed that [the husband’s] retirement benefits constitute marital property that was to be divided upon receipt, the validity of [the wife’s] claim to his disability benefits is pellucid. Moreover, by their agreement, the parties contractually fixed their rights and obligations attendant to the divorce, and [the husband] may not now challenge its terms merely because he is dissatisfied with its effects and/or his failure to define more precisely those benefits in which [the wife] would share. The parties placed their own definition upon the anticipated benefits, and they must abide by that definition. However the payments are characterized, the parties’ Separation Agreement provided that [the wife] share in any and all allowances paid to [the husband] on account of his retirement. The trial court did not err in finding [the wife] was entitled to participate in the disbursement of those benefits.... [W]e also cannot agree that the parties intended that [the wife] would be completely disenfranchised in the event that [the husband’s] retirement arose from anything other than a lengthy period of service. Had that been the case, the parties would have included language in the Separation Agreement duly restricting [the wife’s] right to benefits rendered solely on account of an extended period of service. Moreover, the absence of language specifically excluding disability benefits from the phrase, “pension and retirement benefits,” demonstra”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 223 Md. App. 599 - Wilson v. Wilson