Incorporating a settlement agreement into a divorce judgment does two things at once. It shuts down inconsistent agreements, and it opens a second route to enforcement.
Inconsistent Side Deals Do Not Survive
Cawley v. Bennett, 293 Ga. App. 46 (2008), shows the first. On the same day the parties signed their settlement agreement, the husband separately signed a note promising to pay his wife $30,000 by their daughter’s tenth birthday. The settlement agreement was incorporated into the divorce decree the following month, and it said it “constitutes the entire agreement between the parties and supersedes any and all other agreements previously made by the parties.”
Neither the agreement nor the decree mentioned the note. When the birthday passed unpaid, the wife assigned the note to her father, who sued and won a jury verdict.
The Court of Appeals reversed. “[I]n light of the settlement agreement, which was incorporated in the divorce decree, there is no evidence that the note thereafter was enforceable.” Assigning it away did not help, since “an assignee takes the assignment subject to defenses against the assignor.”
You Are Not Limited to the Decree
Stone v. Stone, 295 Ga. App. 783 (2009), shows the other side. A husband sued his former wife for indemnification under their incorporated settlement agreement after she ran up a credit line before the divorce. The trial court dismissed the claim as barred by the earlier divorce action.
The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that “[w]here a settlement agreement is incorporated into a final decree of divorce, a suit seeking damages for the violation of its terms need not be initiated solely upon the decree; but an action ex contractu may be maintained due to a breach of the settlement agreement.”
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!