Opinion ID: 2570587
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Heading: fair and reasonable disclosure of miller's property

Text: The district court ruled that Miller fairly and reasonably disclosed his assets to Davis in accordance with K.S.A. 23-807(a)(2)(A). Kansas courts have held that parties disclosing assets do not need to provide an exact dollar amount if there is a general knowledge of the nature and extent of the property involved. 1 Elrod and Buchele, Kansas Family Law § 2.31(3), p. 104. See also Johntz, Premarital & Nonmarital Contracts in Practitioner's Guide to Kansas Family Law § 13.10 n.56 (Leben ed. 1997) (noting that Kansas courts have upheld marital agreements where there is general knowledge of the assets of each party but where there may not be actual knowledge of the exact dollar amount). Professor Homer Clark, Jr., states in his article on marital contracts: [W]here the wife is fully advised of her rights and of the effect upon them of the antenuptial agreement, or where she is experienced in business and accustomed to handling her own financial affairs, the agreement should be upheld even though the details of the husband's finances are not disclosed to her. In such a case it is sufficient that she knows her husband is rich, even though she does not know the exact extent of his wealth. .... [T]he full disclosure may best be made by attaching to the agreement itself a complete and accurate account of each party's property. This is especially important in those cases where the parties wish to make an agreement which might later be considered to provide inadequately for one of them. Clark, Antenuptial Contracts, 50 U. Colo. L. Rev. 141, 145-46 (1979). In In re Cantrell's Estate, 154 Kan. 546, 119 P.2d 483 (1941), this court considered an antenuptial contract where the spouse claimed that she had not been fully informed as to her husband's assets and stated: `The mere fact that he may not have disclosed his assets and liabilities in detail to her, will not, in the absence of anything showing fraud or deceit, invalidate the contract, nor will it raise a presumption of fraudulent concealment; ...' 154 Kan. at 552 (quoting Hafer v. Hafer, 33 Kan. 449, 462-63, 6 Pac. 537 [1885]). See also Adams, 240 Kan. at 320 (holding that there had been adequate disclosure where wife had been advised generally of the nature and extent of her husband's assets and knew he was a multimillionaire where wife knew husband more than 20 years before signing agreement); In re Estate of Broadie, 208 Kan. 621, 627, 493 P.2d 289 (1972) (holding that the husband did not need to give a detailed disclosure of his property where his wife had a general knowledge of the nature and extent of his property interests); In re Estate of West, 194 Kan. 736, 745-46, 402 P.2d 117 (1965) (upholding marital agreement where party knew that future husband was wealthy but did not know the extent of his wealth, nor did she know the particular property interests held by him); In re Estate of Ward, 178 Kan. 366, Syl. ¶ 1, 371, 285 P.2d 1081 (1955) (holding that husband did not need to disclose in detail the nature, extent and value of his property to his wife prior to her signing the antenuptial contract where she knew that he was a man of some means and that husband had not fraudulently concealed his assets); In re Estate of Schippel, 169 Kan. 151, 165, 218 P.2d 192 (1950) (husband does not need to give a detailed disclosure of his assets where his wife has a general understanding of the nature and extent of his property). Other courts have similarly held. See Hartz v. Hartz, 248 Md. App. 47, 51, 234 A.2d 865 (1967) (upholding premarital agreement where plaintiff knew more or less what property her fiance had and that he was very wealthy although she did not know in detail his financial position); Schutterle v. Schutterle, 260 N.W.2d 341, 349 (S.D. 1977) (upholding postnuptial agreement where wife had sufficient knowledge of the nature and extent of husband's property); In re Borton's Estate, 393 P.2d 808, 814 (Wyo. 1964) (upholding premarital agreement where party knew that fiance had a goodly amount in the bank and that he was well to do although she did not know exactly how much wealth he had until after he died). Furthermore, disclosure of assets in a premarital context is much different than disclosure of assets in a mid-marital context, especially in the present case where Davis and Miller were married for more than 20 years. See 50 U. Colo. L. Rev. 152 n.51 (noting that changed circumstances after a marriage may put the parties in a different position from the time they may have signed a prenuptial agreement several years prior). Miller divulged the nature of his assets to Davis and did not hide or conceal any assets from her. Davis' sole contention is that she was misled as to the value of one of the assets, GFS. There has been no allegation that Miller has hidden any assets or failed to divulge the existence of any particular assets. GFS was valued on the December 31 financial statement based upon its book value. Book value of a share of stock is the corporation's assets minus its liabilities divided by the number of shares outstanding. 1 O'Neal's Close Corporations § 7.27 (1996 Supp.). Book value gives a snapshot of the value of a corporation and is not intended to represent the fair market value of a corporation. Davis now alleges that she was led to believe that the book value and the fair market value were the same and asserts that if she had known that the fair market value was significantly greater than the book value, she would have never signed the agreement. It will never be known whether Davis would have or would not have signed the settlement agreement had she been given a different figure estimating the fair market value of GFS. We do know that Davis was fairly appraised of the property interests held by Miller and, moreover, due to the lengthy marriage, she was in a position of knowledge that is far superior to that of a young bride signing an agreement before the marriage. The district court did not err in finding that Miller fairly and reasonably disclosed his property to Davis pursuant to K.S.A. 23-807(a)(2)(A).