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proceeding culminated in the pendente lite order that required
spousal support payments of $1,200 per month beginning February
1, 2003.
Third, there was no meeting of the minds between petitioner
and Ms. Deluca with respect to any spousal support payments
before the circuit court entered its pendente lite order on
January 24, 2003. Grant v. Commissioner, supra at 822-823. That
order is strong evidence of the failure of the parties to come to
a prior meeting of the minds. Petitioner testified at trial in
the instant case that “he wasn’t going to pay any more”. It was
then that Ms. Deluca went to the Circuit Court of Fairfax County
and sought the pendente lite order for spousal support. If there
had been an existing written separation agreement at that time,
the circuit court would surely have honored and enforced it as a
binding contract. We think petitioner’s declaration to Ms.
Deluca that he would no longer continue making monthly payments
to her shows that there was not a meeting of the minds with
respect to the proposed terms set forth in her attorney’s letter
of December 7, 2001. What triggered the breakdown in their
negotiations for the amount of spousal support was that Ms.
Deluca was seeking more while petitioner wanted to pay less. The
Circuit Court of Fairfax County resolved their controversy, first
by fixing the amount of monthly spousal support at $1,200 in its
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