Opinion ID: 1291731
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Consent Decree Exception to the Sum Certain Requirement

Text: ¶ 9 A consent judgment [6] is the agreement of the parties entered upon the record with the sanction of the court. McRary v. McRary, 228 N.C. 714, 719, 47 S.E.2d 27, 31 (1948). A consent decree in a divorce is the result of negotiations between the parties and subsequent settlement of the issues involved, which settlement is then presented to the court as a proposed judgment. Although it is not a judicial determination of the rights of the parties, it acquires the status of a judgment through the approval of the judge of the pre-existing agreement of the parties. McRary, 228 N.C. at 719, 47 S.E.2d at 31. The law and public policy favor settlements and compromises, entered into fairly and in good faith between competent persons, as a discouragement to litigation. St. Louis & S.F.R. Co. v. Chester, 41 Okla. 369, 138 P. 150 (1914). ¶ 10 Judgment by consent must appear on the face of the record, but the fact of the consent may be established by other evidence. Stuart v. Stuart, 1976 OK 107, ¶¶ 8, 10, 555 P.2d 611, 614. If the agreement between the parties regarding support and maintenance is intended as final and binding, leaving nothing for determination by the court on the question of the amount of the allowance, such decree is not subject to modification without the consent of both parties. Stuart, 1976 OK 107, ¶ 14, 555 P.2d at 615. Such an agreement between the parties is enforceable and valid even though it does what a trial court cannot do, provided the agreement does not contravene public policy. Perry v. Perry, 1976 OK 57, ¶¶ 7-8, 551 P.2d 256, 258. In Perry, the Court held that the legislature did not intend to preclude parties, in contemplation of divorce, from freely contracting with respect to disposition of their property and alimony for support. Perry, 1976 OK 57, ¶ 8, 551 P.2d at 258. ¶ 11 In Murphy v. McElroy, 185 Okla. 388, 92 P.2d 369 (1939), the wife had filed an action against the husband for divorce, and the parties subsequently entered into a contract providing for payment by the husband to the wife for $87.50 on the third and nineteen days of each month so long as both of the parties were living, and so long as the wife remained unmarried. The divorce decree itself made no reference to settlement of property rights or alimony. The defendant performed his part of the contract for ten years, but then discontinued payments. When the wife sued upon the contract for recovery the trial court rendered judgment for the defendant. The defendant contended on appeal that the contract was invalid because it was indefinite as to termination and uncertain as to amount. The Court cited the long line of decisions holding that where a divorce decree provides for alimony to the wife at a certain sum per month without fixing a definite amount ultimately to be paid, the decree was void as to the alimony. [7] But the Court observed that this rule applies only to judgments and decrees of courts, and rests upon the sound public policy that judgment liens should be definite and certain as to amount. Murphy, 92 P.2d at 371. The Court continued that the statutes contained no prohibition against contracts between spouses to pay a sum of money, at intervals, over the life of one or the other of the parties, for a proper and lawful consideration. Murphy, 92 P.2d at 371. Citing §§ 1655 and 1656 of the 1931 statutes [8] the Court held that contracts between husband and wife, after separation and pending a divorce, are authorized by statute and lawful, and that the statutes do not require that the sums of money paid as future maintenance be in a fixed sum. Murphy, 92 P.2d at 373. The Court commented that settlements in civil controversies were to be encouraged, and that the general rule favoring settlement of controversies between those actually in, or about to be brought into litigation, applied to settlement of property rights, future support and alimony between husband and wife who are, or are about to immediately become separated. Murphy, 92 P.2d at 373.