McCloskey v. McCloskey

Citations

• 2021 Ohio 4158

Syllabus

This appeal involves the interpretation of an agreed-upon divorce decree provision between appellant/cross-appellee husband (now deceased) and appellee/cross-appellant wife. The husband's estate, for which the parties' daughter serves as executor, has been added as a party to the litigation. The trial court did not err by finding that the contested provision, which defined the assets subject to inclusion into an irrevocable trust for the benefit of the parties' disabled son, was ambiguous. The trial court also did not err by concluding it was the parties' intent that, upon a party's death, the trust would be funded with one-half of the deceased party's total assets, not just the party's probate assets. The trial court also did not err by concluding that neither party, by entering into the agreement, intended to restrict his or her ability, upon the son's death, to convey as desired any residuary trust assets contributed by that party. But, in order to more efficiently implement the parties' intent, the trial court's judgment is modified to order the appellee/cross-appellant to use an already established trust to comply with the agreement, and the husband's estate is ordered to create a new trust to comply with the agreement. Finally, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by not ordering attorney fees to appellee/cross-appellant. Judgment affirmed as modified.