By: Mike Gora
Q: My wife and I have been involved in a divorce case for over a year. All financial information has been exchanged. A month ago, with our lawyer’s approval, we entered into a mediated settlement agreement, after a two-day mediation.
We have been married for 20 years, and have two minor children. I have been a stay at home dad. My wife is a successful attorney, who makes several hundred thousand dollars a year.
In the mediation agreement, we divided marital property. She agreed to pay permanent alimony and child support. She also agreed to pay private school fees, summer camp fees and college education costs.
A month after the agreement was signed, she had second thoughts. She told the judge she did not know if she could make the payments without increasing her workload to the point where she could spend little time with the children.
She also claimed that she was coerced by the stress of the two-day mediation. She asked the court to reject the agreement, because was not in the best interests of the children.
The judge set a half a day hearing next week to hear evidence regarding whether or not the agreement was in the best interest of the children. He said that he had the right to reject the agreement if it was not in the children’s best interests, or if my wife was coerced into signing it. Can he do that?
Micheal H. Gora
A: Florida law looks favorably on settlement agreements entered into voluntarily, between two adults, represented by counsel, after full disclosure. These agreements are, generally, endorsed and promoted.
Statistics prove that voluntary agreements are more likely to be followed than court imposed agreements. On the other hand, the court’s have the legitimate obligation to make sure that children’s rights are protected. Agreements can be rejected by the court if they do not provide an appropriate level of child support, or in some other way ignore the children’s best interests.
Courts can reject agreements on proven claims that they were entered into fraudulently, based upon misrepresentations of financial information. Agreements can be set aside based on duress or coercion.
An appellate court has set aside an agreement because the wife obtained it by threatening to expose the husband’s business practices to the IRS. The stress of a mediation process is not likely to be grounds to set an agreement aside. Under the circumstances that you describe, it is unlikely that a judge in a circuit court has the discretion to set aside your agreement on the two grounds argued by your wife.
Michael H. Gora has been certified by the Board of Specialization and Education of The Florida Bar as a specialist in family and matrimonial law, and is a partner with Shapiro Blasi Wasserman & Gora P.A. in Boca Raton. Mr. Gora may be reached by e-mail at mhgora@sbwlawfirm.com and at (561) 477-7800.