Opinion ID: 1966550
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: As Contracts Generally

Text: In its broadest sense, an antenuptial agreement is, of course, a contract. Thus, from the earliest reported cases of this Court on the subject to the present time, we review antenuptial agreements under the objective law of contract interpretation. Herget v. Herget, 319 Md. 466, 470, 573 A.2d 798, 800 (1990) (holding that the terms of antenuptial agreements are subject to the objective law of contract interpretation); Naill v. Maurer, 25 Md. 532, 538-39 (1866) (holding, in an appeal regarding a widow's right for an allowance of dower, that an antenuptial agreement is a question of contract interpretation that, as a contract validly entered, barred the widow's claim); Ward v. Thompson, 6 G. & J. 349, 356-57 (1833) (holding valid an antenuptial agreement compelling the husband to surrender all rights to his wife's personal and real property in trust, even upon death of the wife, where the antenuptial agreement had no language limiting the power of the trustee to distribute the property upon death of the wife). We examine the terms of antenuptial agreements for good faith, consideration, and the parties' objective intent, even as to provisions barring or preventing accrual of the legal and equitable rights to property of the soon-to-be-wed spouse upon the death of the other. Naill, 25 Md. at 538. Although perhaps based in part on legal fiction and part societal norm, we have stated that the consummation of the marriage is itself sufficient consideration for the antenuptial agreement (but not because it constitutes partial performance). Id. ; Busey v. McCurley, 61 Md. 436, 442-45, 48 Am.Rep. 117 (1884) (antenuptial agreement valid on its face with marriage as consideration); Crane v. Gough, 4 Md. 316, 333-34 (1853) (holding that marriage is sufficient consideration for an antenuptial agreement, but not as part performance); see also Schnepfe v. Schnepfe, 124 Md. 330, 337, 92 A. 891, 893-94 (1914) (observing that courts of equity long had exercised jurisdiction over antenuptial agreements based on marriage as consideration) (citing Naill v. Maurer, 25 Md. 532 (1866)). Like other contracts, antenuptial agreements also are assailable by a contesting party for fraud, duress, coercion, mistake, undue influence, or a party's incompetence. See Wlodarek v. Wlodarek, 167 Md. 556, 560-67, 175 A. 455, 456-59 (1934) (affirming overruling of demurrers by estate of deceased father and his daughter where evidence of fraud and misrepresentation in signing an antenuptial agreement was presented); Scher v. Becker, 163 Md. 199, 202-203, 161 A. 167, 168 (1932) (demurrer by the estate of the husband overruled where the widow sought to claim her marital rights barred by an antenuptial agreement entered based on fraudulent misrepresentation); Naill, 25 Md. at 538 (antenuptial agreement showed no evidence of fraud or incompetence). A party seeking to invalidate an antenuptial agreement also could attempt to prove unconscionability at the time the contract was entered. See Martin v. Farber, 68 Md.App. 137, 143-45, 510 A.2d 608, 611 (1986) (holding antenuptial agreement not unconscionable because trial judge palpably relied on circumstances arising after the execution of the agreement). Ordinarily, [t]he law presumes every [person] to be capable of making a valid deed or contract. Williams v. Moran, 248 Md. 279, 285, 236 A.2d 274, 278 (1967) (quoting Williams v. Robinson, 183 Md. 117, 121, 36 A.2d 547, 549 (1944)). When a party attacks the validity of a contract as invalid under fraud, duress, coercion, mistake, undue influence, or incompetence, normally that party bears the burden of proof. [7] Dreisonstok v. Hoffman, 209 Md. 98, 102, 120 A.2d 373, 376 (1956) (holding that the burden of proof lies upon party alleging fraud by clear and indubitable proof); Williams v. Moran, 248 Md. at 285, 236 A.2d at 278-79. If the attacking party meets its initial burden of production, the burden of production may shift to the party seeking to enforce the contract. Thus, when the party seeking to enforce a contract files the initial complaint, shoulders the burden of proving that the contract is valid and generates a prima facie case to that end, the defending party (the party seeking to invalidate the contract) bears the burden of production as to the defenses of fraud, duress, coercion, mistake, undue influence, or incompetence. In any scenario, the burden of proof by which the responsible party must satisfy the finder-of-fact in order to win a verdict in its favor does not shift during the trial. Lynn McLain, Maryland Practice, Vol. 5, Maryland Evidence State & Federal, 244, 324 (2001). In a generic contract dispute, regardless of who initiates litigation, a party seeking to invalidate a contract who demonstrates that a confidential relationship existed between the parties thrusts the burden of proof to establish the validity of the contract on the party attempting to enforce the contract. Williams v. Moran, 248 Md. at 285, 236 A.2d at 278-79 (citations omitted).