McMILLIAN, Judge.
Heather E. Lowry, as administratrix for the estate of William B. Lowry ("Lowry"), appeals from the trial court's grant of summary judgment to defendant Roberta K. Fenzel f/k/a Roberta K. Lowry ("Fenzel"), directing that Fenzel has the right to funds held in various accounts upon the death of her ex-husband, William B. Lowry ("decedent"). Lowry also asserts as error the trial court's failure to grant her motion to strike the affidavit of a witness submitted by Fenzel in support of her motion for summary judgment. For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part and reverse in part.
"Summary judgments enjoy no presumption of correctness on appeal, and an appellate court must satisfy itself de novo that the requirements of OCGA § 9-11-56(c) have been met." (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Rollins v. Rollins, 329 Ga.App. 768, 772(3)(a), 766 S.E.2d 162 (2014). And in our de novo review of the grant of a motion for summary judgment, we view the evidence, and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom, in the light most favorable to the non-movant. Id.
The relevant facts are largely undisputed. Fenzel and decedent were married on May 6, 1995. On October 1, 2008, Fenzel and decedent executed a "Settlement Agreement" that was incorporated into the "Final Judgment and Decree of Divorce" entered by the Superior Court of Cobb County on October 9, 2008. Decedent died intestate on March 14, 2011, and Lowry, his niece, was appointed the administratrix of his estate. At the time of his death, decedent held several checking and investment accounts with various financial institutions as follows:
The Ameriprise account and three of the certificates of deposit held with APCU — with a subtotal of $60,525.84 — were held solely in decedent's name with Fenzel listed as the beneficiary or transfer-on-death recipient. All other accounts were held jointly in decedent and Fenzel's names. Fenzel admits that she accepted transfer of all funds from the Ameriprise, APCU, and GEMC accounts.
On November 1, 2012, LGE filed an interpleader action in the Superior Court of Cobb County, naming both Lowry and Fenzel as defendants and alleging that Lowry had presented a demand for payment of the funds on deposit in decedent's account and that Fenzel is listed as the joint owner of the account. On December 4, 2012, Lowry filed suit against Fenzel in Fulton County on behalf of decedent's estate to recover all funds from the Ameriprise, APCU, and GEMC accounts after Fenzel refused to return those funds to decedent's estate.
1. In her first and second enumerations of error, Lowry asserts that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to Fenzel as to the accounts held solely in decedent's name, with Fenzel listed as a beneficiary. It is undisputed that decedent never completed any change of beneficiary forms or removed Fenzel's name from the accounts. Rather, Lowry argues that Fenzel waived her interest in any such accounts through the Settlement Agreement entered into by Fenzel and decedent, pointing specifically to Paragraphs 3 and 8. Paragraph 3 is entitled "PERSONAL PROPERTY (GENERAL)" and provides, in toto:
And Paragraph 8, entitled "PERSONAL PROPERTY (SPECIFIC)," includes a specific list of household and personal items to be given to Fenzel and the manner in which she may retrieve those items. Paragraph 8 also states that
"Settlement agreements in divorce cases must be construed in the same manner and under the same rules as all other contractual agreements." Schwartz v. Schwartz, 275 Ga. 107, 108(1), 561 S.E.2d 96 (2002). And, "[c]onstruction of a contract by the court involves three steps. First, if no ambiguity appears, the trial court enforces the contract according to its terms irrespective of all technical or arbitrary rules of construction." (Citations omitted.) Frier v. Frier, 303 Ga.App. 20, 21, 692 S.E.2d 667 (2010). Then, if ambiguity does appear, the existence or nonexistence of an ambiguity is a question of law for the court. Id. Thus, "a jury question arises only when there appears to be an ambiguity in the contract which cannot be negated by the court's application of the statutory rules of construction." Id.
We discern no ambiguity in the language of the Settlement Agreement here. "Ambiguity in a contract is defined as duplicity, indistinctness, or an uncertainty of meaning or expression." (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Frier, 303 Ga.App. at 21, 692 S.E.2d 667. As an initial matter, Paragraph 3 of the Settlement Agreement provides for the division of personal property in the possession of the parties at the time of the agreement and does not apply to the financial accounts at issue here. Rather, the more specific language of Paragraph 8 governs the division of the parties' accounts. See Holland v. Holland, 287 Ga. 866, 868(1), 700 S.E.2d 573 (2010) ("In construing contracts,
Fenzel concedes that Paragraph 8 extinguished any claims she may have had to the accounts held solely in decedent's name that arose by virtue of their marriage. However, she argues that her beneficiary interest in those accounts is not by virtue of her marriage to decedent, but rather through the contractual agreements between decedent and the financial institutions and that she did not waive her expectancy interest in those accounts. Lowry contends, however, that the language of Paragraph 8 is broad enough to waive Fenzel's right to payment as a beneficiary, pointing us to two cases that addressed similar waiver language.
Kruse v. Todd, 260 Ga. 63, 389 S.E.2d 488 (1990), is particularly instructive. In that case, the administratrix of the decedent's estate and the decedent's ex-wife both claimed an interest in a life insurance policy and an IRA in which the ex-wife remained the designated beneficiary at the time of the decedent's death. The divorce settlement agreement provided in part:
(Punctuation omitted.) Id. at 65, 389 S.E.2d 488. The Supreme Court held that the agreement expressed no intent that the wife release her expectancy interest as a beneficiary of the husband's life insurance policy, finding that "up to the date of the execution" the wife had no claim or right against the husband to be named beneficiary of his life insurance policy and he was under no legal or equitable obligation to maintain the wife as beneficiary. Id. at 67(1), 389 S.E.2d 488. Thus, any rights the wife had to the proceeds arose after the husband's death, and any claim to the proceeds was against the life insurance company and not against the husband. Id.
However, in addressing the wife's claim to an IRA account, on which she also remained the beneficiary at the time of the husband's death, the Court found that the language clearly and unambiguously expressed the parties' intent that the wife release any interest in any IRA of which the husband was the designated depositor and was sufficiently broad to include her expectancy interest in the IRA. Id. at 69-70(5), 389 S.E.2d 488.
And in another similar case, Young v. Stump, 294 Ga.App. 351, 353, 669 S.E.2d 148 (2008), the executrix of the decedent's estate and the decedent's ex-wife both claimed an interest in an IRA in which the ex-wife remained the designated beneficiary at the time of decedent's death. The divorce settlement agreement in that case provided:
(Punctuation omitted.) Id. at 351, 669 S.E.2d 148. This Court found the language showed that the wife intended to disclaim any and all interest in the husband's retirement accounts and operated as a waiver of her beneficiary designation. Id. at 353(1), 669 S.E.2d 148.
We are unpersuaded by Fenzel's attempt to distinguish these cases.
(Punctuation omitted; emphasis supplied.) Kruse, 260 Ga. at 65-66, 389 S.E.2d 488. Notwithstanding that clause, the Supreme Court held the agreement's waiver language clearly expressed the intent of the parties and was sufficiently broad to include the wife's expectancy interest in the IRA. Id. at 69-70(5), 389 S.E.2d 488. We reach the same result here and hold that the language in the Settlement Agreement providing that "each party shall be entitled to any and all bank accounts, money accounts, investment accounts, including stock portfolios, in that party's name and the other party shall make no claim whatsoever, legal, equitable, or otherwise, to same" is unambiguous in expressing Fenzel and decedent's intent that the Ameriprise and APCU accounts held solely in decedent's name would remain the personal property of decedent and that Fenzel waived any claim to those accounts, including any expectancy interest therein.
2. In her third and fourth enumerations of error, Lowry contends that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to Fenzel as to the accounts that were jointly held by Fenzel and decedent. As explained in Division 1, Paragraph 8 governs the division of the parties' financial accounts. However, it merely states that each party shall be entitled to all such accounts in that party's name. Nowhere does the Settlement Agreement address accounts that were jointly held by the parties. Thus, "[t]he agreement is
And under Georgia law, "[s]ums remaining on deposit at the death of a party to a joint account belong to the surviving party as against the estate of the decedent, unless there is clear and convincing evidence of a different intention at the time the account is created. OCGA § 7-1-813(a)." (Punctuation omitted.) Trust Co. Bank v. Thornton, 204 Ga.App. 903, 904(1), 420 S.E.2d 817 (1992). See also OCGA § 7-1-815 ("Any transfers resulting from the application of [OCGA § 7-1-813] are effective by reason of the account contracts involved in this article and are not to be considered testamentary.").
Lowry urges us, however, to find that the joint accounts were included within the property settlement as defined by Paragraph 13 of the Settlement Agreement:
But, by its express terms, Paragraph 13 applies to the settlement of all claims arising from the parties' marriage and includes no explicit waiver of any additional interest either party may have arising outside of the marriage. Because Fenzel did not specifically waive her interest in the joint accounts, the funds remaining therein upon decedent's death were transferred to her according to the account contracts. See Frier, 303 Ga. App. at 22, 692 S.E.2d 667 ("although [wife] had no interest in the account by virtue of her marriage, [wife's] expectancy interest (if any) as a death beneficiary was not waived"). See also Floyd v. Floyd, 291 Ga. 605, 612, n. 12, 732 S.E.2d 258 (2012) (divorce decree did not affect title of gold and silver items not sufficiently described therein). Therefore, the trial court did not err in granting summary judgment to Fenzel as to Lowry's claims regarding those accounts held jointly in both decedent and Fenzel's names.
3. In her final enumeration of error, Lowry asserts that the trial court erred by failing to grant her motion to strike the affidavit of Terry Hopkins, which was submitted by Fenzel in support of her motion for summary judgment. However, she failed to support her enumeration with any briefing, much less citation to authority, and it is deemed abandoned. See Court of Appeals Rule 25(c)(2). Moreover, there is nothing in the record to indicate that the trial court issued a ruling either granting or denying her motion to strike. And, "[i]ssues which have not been ruled on by the trial court may not be raised on appeal." (Citation and punctuation omitted.) Forum Group at Moran Lake Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, LLC v. Terhune, 318 Ga.App. 281, 289(8), 733 S.E.2d 808 (2012).
Judgment affirmed in part and reversed in part.
PHIPPS, C.J., and ELLINGTON, P.J., concur.