Sternlicht v. Sternlicht
Decision Date | 11 March 2003 |
Citation | 822 A.2d 732 |
Parties | Harold C. STERNLICHT, Appellee, v. Lauri Davidson STERNLICHT, Appellant. |
Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Joanne R. Wilder, Pittsburgh, for appellant.
Kerri L. Cappella, Pittsburgh, for appellee.
Before: MUSMANNO, LALLY-GREEN, and KLEIN, JJ.
¶ 1 Appellant, Lauri Davidson Sternlicht ("Mother"), appeals from the order dated August 24, 2001, denying Mother's Petition for Accounting and Petition for Removal of Custodian and denying Mother counsel fees. We reverse in part, affirm in part, and remand.
¶ 2 The trial court found the following facts:
Defendant, Lauri Davidson Sternlicht ("Mother"), appeals this Court's Order dated August 24, 2001, denying certain aspects of her Petition for Accounting and Petition for Removal of Plaintiff, Harold C. Sternlicht ("Father"), as Custodian and for Other Relief. The parties are the natural parents of one minor-child, Jamie K. Sternlicht, born September 12, 1993. They separated in March 1997, and divorced in May 1999.
Trial Court Opinion, 3/6/02, at 1-2.
¶ 3 On January 23, 2001, Mother filed a Petition for Accounting requesting that Father produce records of all transactions relating to a custodial account Father established for daughter under the Pennsylvania Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (PUTMA), 20 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 5301-10.2 Father produced some documents but did not produce any records demonstrating his use of the custodial funds.
¶ 4 On April 10, 2001, Mother filed a Petition for Removal of Custodian and Other Relief.3 On July 24, 2001, Mother filed a Petition for Enforcement.4 On August 20, 2001, the trial court held a hearing on Mother's petitions. Father testified as to transactions within the daughter's PUTMA account at the hearing. On August 24, 2001, the trial court entered an order denying Mother's Petition for Removal of Custodian and Other Relief. This appeal followed.
Mother's Brief at 4. These issues involve the parties' support of daughter and arose during the course of the parties' equitable distribution dispute that was pending before the trial court.
Laws v. Laws, 758 A.2d 1226, 1228 (Pa.Super.2000) (citations omitted).
¶ 7 Mother first complains that the trial court erred in failing to require Father to repay funds that Father removed from daughter's PUTMA account. Mother complains that all of the money that Father put into daughter's PUTMA account constituted an irrevocable gift to daughter and should be repaid, with interest. The trial court held that Father never intended to gift the funds to daughter when he used the PUTMA account as a depository for stock investments.
¶ 8 We will address Mother's first issue concerning Father's use of the funds in the PUTMA account in two parts. We address: 1) whether the funds Father deposited into the PUTMA account constitute property of the daughter; and 2) whether Father's use of a portion of the funds for two separate expenditures, down payment on a house and payment of daughter's private school tuition, were proper PUTMA expenditures. A proper analysis of these issues requires application of several sections of PUTMA.
¶ 9 We first address the issue of whether the funds that Father deposited into the PUTMA account constitute property of the daughter. When the language of a statute is clear and unambiguous, it is not to be disregarded under the pretext of pursuing the spirit of the statute. 1 Pa. C.S.A. § 1921(b); McKelvey v. McKelvey, 771 A.2d 63, 64 (Pa.Super.2001). Only when the language of the statute is ambiguous does statutory construction become necessary. Ramich v. Worker's Comp. Appeal Board (Schatz Electric, Inc.), 564 Pa.656, 770 A.2d 318 (2001).
¶ 10 The purpose of PUTMA is to provide an inexpensive, easy way for giving property to minors. Sutliff v. Sutliff, 515 Pa. 393, 528 A.2d 1318, 1323 (1987). Section 5304 of PUTMA addresses the irrevocable nature of transfers to PUTMA accounts and provides:
A person may make a transfer by irrevocable gift to, or the irrevocable exercise of a power of appointment in favor of, a custodian for the benefit of a minor pursuant to section 5309 ( ).
20 Pa.C.S.A. § 5304. Whatever its source, custodial property that is held pursuant to Section 5304 is the property of the minor child. Sutliff, 528 A.2d at 1323.
¶ 11 Section 5309, which addresses the manner of creating custodial property and effecting transfer, provides in relevant part:
(a) Creation of custodial property.— Custodial property is created and a transfer is made whenever:
...
(2) Money is paid or delivered to a broker or financial institution for credit to an account in the name of the transferor, an adult other than the transferor or a trust company, followed in substance by the words: "as custodian for (name of minor) under the Pennsylvania Uniform Transfers to Minors Act."
20 Pa.C.S.A. § 5309. The plain meaning of Section 5309(a)(2) indicates that a transfer is made and "custodial property" is created when money is deposited into a brokerage account in the name of the parent as custodian for the minor under PUTMA.
¶ 12 Section 5311, which addresses the validity and effect of transfer, provides, in pertinent part:
(b) Irrevocability of transfer. - A transfer made pursuant to section 5309 is irrevocable, and the custodial property is indefeasibly vested in the minor, but the custodian has all the rights, powers, duties and authority provided in this chapter, and neither the minor nor the minor's legal representative has any right, power, duty or authority with respect to the custodial property except as provided in this chapter.
20 Pa.C.S.A. § 5311(b). The plain meaning of Section 5311(b) is that a transfer made into the PUTMA account of the minor is irrevocable and the vesting of the custodial property in the minor cannot be undone.
¶ 13 As the above reflects, the relevant PUTMA provisions are unambiguous on their face and they, therefore, must be given effect in accordance with their plain and common meaning. The plain and common meaning of the relevant provisions of PUTMA is that money transferred into a custodial brokerage account is irrevocably the property of the minor child. 20 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 5304, 5309, 5311(b).5
¶ 14 The trial court determined that the transfer by Father to the PUTMA account did not create property of the child. The trial court addressed this issue as follows:
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