ADAM GORT and LISA FORMAN, Appellants, v. WILLIAM GORT, Appellee.

Summary

In Gort v. Gort, 194 So. 3d 540 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016), the court held that a petitioner may voluntarily dismiss a petition to determine incapacity before an adjudicatory hearing because the governing statutes and rules are silent on the issue. The court also enforced a settlement agreement reached in mediation, finding no duress, no violation of public policy where there was no adjudication of incapacity, and that the agreement’s lack of a termination date did not make it perpetual. The summary judgment and attorney’s fee award were affirmed.

Holdings

1. A petitioner may voluntarily dismiss a petition to determine incapacity prior to an adjudicatory hearing.
2. The settlement agreement was not signed under duress because there was no evidence of improper or coercive conduct by the petitioner; the agreement was reached at mediation with all parties represented by counsel.
3. The agreement is enforceable; the trial court properly determined the parties intended the agreement to terminate upon the brother's death, based on the surrounding circumstances and construction of the agreement as a whole.
4. No merit.
5. No merit.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court erred in enforcing the settlement agreement when the petition to determine incapacity was voluntarily dismissed without a statutorily required adjudicatory hearing.
2. Whether the brother signed the settlement agreement under duress.
3. Whether the settlement agreement is unenforceable because it lacks a termination date.
4. Whether the trial court erred in awarding attorney's fees.

Disposition

affirmed