¶ 1 Appellant, Carolyn Bullotta, (“Wife”) appeals from the Order dismissing her Exceptions to the Memorandum Opinion and Order of Court dated October 24, 2000, 1 in which the trial court held that the Order entered in the parties’ divorce proceeding adopting the marital settlement agreement shall remain in full force and effect and is controlling in the distribution of the estate of James A. Bullotta, Jr. (“Husband”). For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
¶ 2 The facts of this case were aptly set forth by the trial court as follows:
James A. Bullotta, Jr., and Carolyn Bullotta were parties to a divorce action commenced on August 11,1998. During the course of the divorce proceedings, the parties reached an agreement concerning the division of marital assets, and on October 19, 1999, a consent Order of Court was entered setting forth the terms of their property settlement. The agreement provided for an award of the marital residence to Mrs. Bullotta, and an award of the parties’ Westmore-land County real estate to Mr. Bullotta. Both parties agreed to execute and deliver a deed conveying his and her interest in the real estate to the other. The agreement further provided for the allocation of various other assets between the parties, including a pension, an annuity, various securities, automobiles, and other personal property.
On December 4, 1999, James A. Bul-lotta, Jr. died, the decree in divorce having not yet been entered, and all the terms of the property settlement not yet carried out. A petition for Probate of the Estate of James A. Bullotta, Jr. was filed with the Register of Wills, and Letters Testamentary were granted on *773 December 9, 1999. Thereafter, the Executrix obtained a citation directed to Carolyn Bullotta to Show Cause Why assets should not be turned over to the estate in accordance with the terms of the October 19, 1999 Order of Court.
Trial Court Opinion, 10/21/00, at 12.
¶ 3 On appeal, Wife raises the following issues for our review:
1. Is a Tenancy by the Entireties severed by a signed, but unfulfilled marital settlement agreement where the non-performing spouse dies and no divorce decree issues?
2. A marital settlement agreement in a non-bifurcated divorce action is a form of executory contract; if one spouse does not fulfill his terms of the agreement before his death, is the agreement a nullity?
Appellant’s brief at 3.
¶ 4 Initially, before we may address the substance of Wife’s assertions, we must determine if this appeal is properly before us. Generally, unless otherwise permitted, only appeals from final orders disposing of all claims or all parties may be the subject of appellate review.
Commonwealth v. Sartin,
A collateral order is an order separable from and collateral to the main cause of action where the right involved is too important to be denied review and the question presented is such that if review is postponed until final judgment in the case, the claim -will be irreparably lost.
Pa.R.A.P. 313(b), 42 Pa.C.S.A.
¶ 5 Here, the issue before us essentially deals with whether assets listed in and divided pursuant to a marriage settlement agreement entered as an order in the parties’ divorce action must be included in Husband’s estate. This Court concluded that a similar issue could be reviewed on appeal as a collateral order in
In re Estate of Petro,
¶ 6 Similarly, we conclude we have jurisdiction over Appellant’s claims in this matter because all elements for a finding of a collateral issue are met. First, the issue of whether the assets subject to the marital property settlement agreement encompassed in the October 19, 1999 Order should be subject to distribution as part of Husband’s estate is an issue separable from and collateral to the administration of Husband’s estate. Second, the right involved is too important to be denied review. Further, the question is such that *774 the claim may be irreparably lost because there is the possibility that funds or real property that may be included in the estate may be transferred, sold, or dissipated before a final accounting occurs. As such, we will address Wife’s claims.
¶7 Essentially, Wife asserts that the trial court erred in holding that the marital settlement agreement entered as an Order on October 19, 1999 in the parities’ divorce action remained in effect after husband’s death. Specifically, Wife argues that the property held by Husband and Wife in the entireties passed to Wife upon Husband’s death. Also, she contends that in a non-bifurcated divorce proceeding, a marital settlement agreement becomes a nullity where one spouse dies before a final decree is entered.
¶ 8 Initially, we note that “[t]he death of a spouse during the pendency of a divorce proceeding abates the divorce action and any and all claims for equitable distribution.”
In re Estate of Cochran,
¶9 When property is held by parties in the entireties, the tenancy by the entireties can be severed by joint conveyance, express or implied agreement, or divorce.
Clingerman v. Sadowski,
¶ 10 In this case, we are presented with an express agreement purporting to sever the entireties nature of property held by Husband and Wife in the entireties.
2
In
*775
Stop 35, Inc. v. Haines,
¶ 11 Our analysis in this case, however, does not rest upon whether the entireties nature of the property was destroyed by the parties’ agreement. In
Reese v. Reese,
¶ 12 This Court concluded that as the husband received the relief he requested and acted in accordance with the court’s order, he could not then argue that the divorce court had no jurisdiction to act. Id. at 474. We noted that the trial court had determined that both parties agreed to bifurcate the economic claims from the remaining divorce action and allow the equitable distribution to occur prior to the issuance of a divorce decree. Id. at 475. Further, we noted that the trial court ob *776 served that neither party requested that the finality of the equitable distribution order be contingent upon the issuance of the final decree. Id. In sum, we concluded: “one who requests pre-divorce equitable distribution, who receives the relief he has requested and who acts to receive the benefits of an order distributing marital property is thereafter estopped from denying the jurisdiction of the court to enter the order prior to divorce.” Id.
¶ 13 In this case, Wife asserts that the Orphans’ Court cannot order the parties’ property held in the entireties to be divided pursuant to the October 19,1999 Order. She argues that the facts in this case are substantially different from the facts in Reese because this case involves an Order entered by the court adopting the parties’ marital settlement agreement and because an earlier Order prohibited bifurcation. We disagree that the facts of this case are so different from the factual scenario in Reese such that a different result is warranted.
¶ 14 Here, after Wife petitioned the court for an order prohibiting bifurcation the trial court entered an Order on September 25, 1998 specifically prohibiting bifurcation, and also providing that no divorce decree would be issued unless permitted by later Order of Court. 3 Further, the Order directed the parties to file Inventories within sixty days. Subsequent to the entry of said Order, the parties began negotiations concerning their economic claims. On September 27, 1999, Wife filed a Petition to Enforce Settlement Agreement in which Wife asserted that the parties’ correspondence evidenced that a settlement agreement had been reached and that Husband was attempting to repudiate the agreement. Accordingly, on October 19, 1999, the trial court entered an Order specifically setting forth the distribution of the parties’ assets based upon the parties’ agreement. Wife was awarded a portion of Husband’s pension pursuant to a QDRO. She was also awarded fifty percent of Husband’s annuity and savings fund in accordance with a QDRO. The parties’ real estate located in Westmoreland County was awarded to Husband, and Wife was awarded the marital residence. The remaining real estate owned by the parties was to be sold, and the proceeds were to be divided equally. 4 Prior to the sale of the parties’ rental property, Wife was to take over management of said property. The Order also listed several bank accounts, IRAs, mutual funds, and cash values of insurance contracts to be divided equally between the parties. The Order further directed Husband to file an accounting within twenty days and also required that the parties prepare the respective deeds of the property they were to receive and pursue qualification of domestic relations orders for the distribution of Husband’s pension and annuity funds. The Order also specifically stated: “[u]pon acceptance of such orders and qualifications of same by the respective Plan Administrators [sic] s [sic] Qualified Domestic Relations Orders, and recordation of deeds effecting the transfer of the marital residence and Westmoreland County properties, a divorce decree may issue herein.” Trial Court Order, 10/19/99, at 5. Finally, the Order provided that it constituted “a final order settling all claims between the parties pending herein.” Id. at 6.
*777 ¶ 15 Pursuant to said Order, the parties negotiated and executed QDROs regarding Husband’s pension and savings and annuity funds and began receiving payments and proceeds in accordance with those orders. Wife began withdrawing monies from a money market fund. Husband drafted a deed for one of the Westmore-land County properties and changed the beneficiary designation on one of the IRA accounts. Also, pursuant to the Order, Wife notified tenants of the parties’ rental property located in Pitcairn, Pennsylvania to begin paying her their rent. She also changed the locks at the workshop at the rental property.
1116 Accordingly, the facts of this case reveal that both parties began acting in reliance upon the October 19, 1999 Order directing distribution of the parties’ property. While certainly not all of the provisions set forth in the Order were fully effectuated as of the date of Husbands death, it is clear by Wife’s actions that she acted in reliance upon the October 19,1999 Order. Although Husband had not yet provided Wife with a full accounting of the marital estate and not all of the proceeds of the parties’ various accounts had been divided, both parties were taking steps to follow the terms of the Order. Further, the October 19, 1999 Order specifically provided that it represented the final agreement between the parties.
¶ 17 Moreover, we disagree that because the trial court in this case entered an Order based upon an agreement between the parties directing that a divorce decree would be issued upon completion of deed transfers and acceptance of the domestic relations orders by the appropriate plan administrators, the analysis in Reese is inapplicable to the facts of this case. In Reese, after a request by the husband for the court to hear the economic claims of the parties without reference to a master, the trial court issued a decree dividing the parties’ property. Here, after Wife requested and was granted an Order prohibiting bifurcation, she willingly entered into a final agreement with husband to dispose of the marital property. She petitioned the court to enforce said agreement, which was then entered as an Order. Accordingly, she cannot now claim and is estopped from arguing that the Order is unenforceable because of a prior Order prohibiting bifurcation. The October 19, 1999 Order clearly manifests the parties’ intent to finally settle economic claims between the parties. Further, we are unable to discern a practical difference between the fact that the Court in Reese issued a decree disposing of the parties’ property after a hearing on the matter and the fact that the trial court in the instant case entered an Order adopting the agreement of the parties. As such, we find the analysis in Reese controlling in the immediate case and hold that Wife is estopped from arguing that the October 19, 1999 Order is unenforceable. Finding no error in the court’s determination that the October 19, 1999 Order is controlling in the distribution of Husband’s estate, we affirm.
¶ 18 Order affirmed.
Notes
. We note that while the Opinion is dated October 24, 2000, the Opinion was filed on October 26, 2000.
. We note that this case does not present us with a factual scenario whereby the property held in the entireties was severed by implied agreement. Here, there was no misappropriation of the entireties property by one spouse and a request for partition by the other.
See Berhalter v. Berhalter,
. This Order was filed on October 5, 1998.
. The Order also provided that if one spouse died prior to the sale of the property, the surviving spouse would receive sixty percent of the sale proceeds, and the estate of the deceased spouse would receive forty percent of the proceeds.