Court Opinion

ID: 9535459
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:49:43.719204+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:15.543787
License: Public Domain

DONOFRIO, Judge
(dissenting).
I would agree with the majority that this cause should be referred back for further proceedings, but I regret that I must dissent with the analysis and holding that it is clear that the provision of $200 per month to the wife until she “completes her law education and is self-supporting” is not in settlement of property rights and that the sums due thereunder are enforceable by the contempt powers of the Court in that they were intended to be, and were, incorporated in the decree.
I would hold that the question of intent to incorporate in the decree was sufficiently vague and indefinite that the matter should be referred back to the trial court for determination at the time it makes its decision in relation to the enforcement of the provision by contempt and that such enforcement be contingent upon the presence or absence of the intent to incorporate the provision as part of the decree.
The crucial question is whether the provisions for alimony were embodied in the decree as an order which would thereby be the subject of contempt. This becomes vital because in a contempt proceeding the defendant’s intent to violate the Court’s order becomes important. By the reasoning advanced in the majority opinion I would agree that many of the provisions of the agreement were brought under court order, however I would question that the alimony provision was intended to be covered. Were it not for the interlineation in longhand by plaintiff and counsel’s interpretation of this act and the intimations of fact appearing in the briefs which have not been subjected to the test of a trial or hearing, this Court might then properly consider the question as a matter of law, *116but as the record is now made before us I believe the majority is going far afield in its ruling. In Gillespie v. Gillespie, cited by the majority, the Supreme Court stated:
“From 27 C.J.S., Divorce § 301, page 1157 et seq., we quote the following pertinent paragraphs:
“ ‘A divorce court has jurisdiction to approve valid property agreements made between spouses pending or prior to divorce proceedings.’ Miller v. Miller, 33 N.Mex. 132, 262 P. 1007.
“Quoting further from 27 C.J.S., Divorce § 301, supra, page 1159:
“ ‘The mere approval of a property settlement in the divorce decree does not operate to make it a part of, and enforceable as, a decree of the court (Kastner v. Kastner, 90 Colo. 280, 9 P.2d 290); but if the language of the agreement shows an intent to make it part of the divorce decree, and the agreement is actually incorporated in the decree, the provisions of the agreement may be enforced as an order of the court.’ (Emphasis ours.) Lazar v. Superior Court, 16 Cal.2d 617, 107 P.2d 249.”
If the alimony provision is in the nature of a lump sum settlement and the parties intend to not make it a part of the decree and it is not made a part of the decree, then its provisions may not be enforced by contempt as an order of the Court. This would be true of the provision although by its form the payment of a fixed sum is not definite as to the length of time, but definite as to when it terminates and it is specifically agreed that its termination is upon a condition to occur subsequently.
I believe a reading of the agreement and the pertinent portions thereof which are quoted in the majority opinion would show the parties had specifically agreed that the provisions involved were not to be controlled by order of the court, but were part of the property settlement agreement. The agreement starts out with recitals that it is their desire to have “a full and final adjustment of all their property rights * * including claims for support, maintenance and alimony” and that “Each of the parties hereto shall accept the provisions * * * in full satisfaction of their respective rights to any and all property * * * and in full satisfaction of the rights which either may have against the other for support, alimony and maintenance, * * * ”
The agreement does not provide that it is to be made part of the decree, but only states that it is subject to the court’s approval. (Paragraph XIII of agreement quoted in opinion), and that if either party defaults, the other party is given the right to sue for damages, thus negating the intention to make it a part of the decree subject to modification or contempt. Paragraph XIV of agreement quoted in opinion.)
Although I am able to find approval of the agreement regarding the alimony provision in the decree, I am unable to find wherein the Court ordered the payments to be made in accordance therewith. Because of the respective contentions made in the briefs and the lack of a complete hearing, we should not pass on this question as a matter of law. I would remand for further proceedings not inconsistent with this dissent.
NOTE: Chief Judge JAMES DUKE CAMERON having requested that he be relieved from the consideration of this matter, Superior Court Judge DONALD DAUGHTON was called to sit in his stead and participate in the determination of this cause.