Legal Separation Agreement Not Enforceable in Law

[wannabehappy1978]

As I filed my separation agreement with the court, the clerk at the Supreme court clerk desk said that my separation agreement is not enforceable in law for any other reason except for child support. Our separation agreement was mutually signed off on just at the beginning of this year by his own lawyer and my own lawyer.

So with that I have a few questions:

If there is a statement in our separation agreement that states that both parties cannot go after eachother for reasons of undue hardship or spousal support, is that type of statement enforceable? So if any of us tried to ask the court for spousal support it would be a waste of time and money trying and the same goes for trying to claim undue hardship?

[init'sowntime]

wow! not enforceable? what on earth is a separation agreement good for then? especially if there are no kids? i am also interested to know if anyone knows more on this.

[wannabehappy1978]

wow! not enforceable? what on earth is a separation agreement good for then? especially if there are no kids? i am also interested to know if anyone knows more on this.

Ya I was shocked and even teared up when they told me. The held the sa document , which cost me 2000 bucks up in the air , like a raggedy old doll and said this agreement is not enforceable in ...and put up those quotey fingers when they said "in law". sucks. they said only court orders are enforceable except in the case of child support. I handed my sa over to FRO and i'm having them take care child support enforcement by means of automatic deduction from his work or bank account. I submitted my registration application for FRO in the end of may.

btw. got one kid.

[HappyDays]

People make agreements on their own all the time which works for them. Hopefully you will both fulfill the agreement and there will be nothing to worry about, so I wouldn't be disheartened just yet.

That said, if unexpected circumstances change, then settlement agreements and even court orders can be changed anytime. Maybe small changes in income could have been expected at the time of signing, but a tragic accident leaving the payer with zero income would not and could result in a change to cs/ss due to the new undue hardship.

[wannabehappy1978]

People make agreements on their own all the time which works for them. Hopefully you will both fulfill the agreement and there will be nothing to worry about, so I wouldn't be disheartened just yet.

That said, if unexpected circumstances change, then settlement agreements and even court orders can be changed anytime. Maybe small changes in income could have been expected at the time of signing, but a tragic accident leaving the payer with zero income would not and could result in a change to cs/ss due to the new undue hardship.

thank you for your feedback. he already indicated to me that his income for 2012 was about the same but that 2013 is gonna be less. his income is 70k and he works 60 hour weeks. he's been taking around 2 months vacation time in the past year instead of just 2 weeks. as long as he's working with the same company, in the same position as supervisor, I don't expect his income would be that much less. I don't believe the company would agree to pay part of his income in cash so that he can have a lower declared income on his 2013 noa.

[HappyDays]

I'm assuming you just signed the agreement and you both agreed that no one would get spousal support or claim undue hardship?!

Even if his income went down a bit, he still wouldn't qualify for undue hardship and I don't see how he would be entitled to spousal.

You don't mention child support. That is something that would go up and down each year with a change to incomes.

[wannabehappy1978]

I'm assuming you just signed the agreement and you both agreed that no one would get spousal support or claim undue hardship?!

Even if his income went down a bit, he still wouldn't qualify for undue hardship and I don't see how he would be entitled to spousal.

You don't mention child support. That is something that would go up and down each year with a change to incomes.

we are good on child support, he just resents paying it and calls it overpaying because it's more than his friends at work say they pay.

[Moolight]

You have a legal separation agreement not an order. Order are enforceable while agreement just make it difficult near impossible to go after something that you both agreed on with ILA.

You can get the main part of your agreement included in your divorce order which will make it enforceable.

[wannabehappy1978]

that was my intention to include parts of the separation agreement in,my divorce order but it didn't turn out that way. every time I tried to include parts of the sa clauses that my lawyer told me to include, th.ey said....oh...you can't.put this here you have to wait for the second part. so the second part came and they said the same thing and that I could just get a divorce. so I took that. so now I'm filing a custody access order to have clauses from the sa included in the order. our first court date is July 25, which I'm told is just a date to set a court date

[OrleansLawyer]

my separation agreement is not enforceable in law for any other reason except for child support.

By taking your agreement to court, the court will not based solely on the agreement and nothing else do anything to enforce the provisions of the agreement, except FRO enforcement of child support.

However, if you start an application (or motion to change), that agreement is an extremely important piece of evidence for what you want. Effectively, you will look to have the court make an Order that is identical to your agreement. The other party will need to come up with reasons why the agreement should not be followed.

[wannabehappy1978]

By taking your agreement to court, the court will not based solely on the agreement and nothing else do anything to enforce the provisions of the agreement, except FRO enforcement of child support.

However, if you start an application (or motion to change), that agreement is an extremely important piece of evidence for what you want. Effectively, you will look to have the court make an Order that is identical to your agreement. The other party will need to come up with reasons why the agreement should not be followed.

what would I be motioning to change? it's my paranoid assumption that after I remarry Mt ex will start up one of those motions to change to apply for full custody even though we just agreed to joint non physical custody or try to pay less child support

[OrleansLawyer]

what would I be motioning to change?

If you want to change something in the agreement you bring a motion to change the agreement. Otherwise, you would bring an application.

The route is contingent upon your intention. My comment was meant to identify the two routes you may take, not to suggest one over the other.

it's my paranoid assumption that after I remarry Mt ex will start up one of those motions to change to apply for full custody even though we just agreed to joint non physical custody or try to pay less child support

Maybe they will. Cross that bridge when it comes.