Thursday, December 23, 2010

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR SPOUSE DOESN'T SIGN THE MSA THAT SHE AGREED TO

DONALD F. CONVISER, a Certified Family Law Specalist, of Warner Center Law Offices in Woodland Hills in the San Fernando Valley, an effective and aggressive Family Law and Divorce Attorney serving clients in the courts of Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 35 years, offering a free confidential consultation regarding your divorce or family law issues, at 818/880-8990, brings you another informative and educational blog, responding to questions posed to him by members of the public in areas of Family Law and Divorce.

The following is a question posed to me which the inquirer agreed may be publicly revealed, and my answer to the question:

QUESTION: What can I do if my wife and her attorney are not complying with our California Marital Settlement Agreement? My wife and I filed for a divorce and have an MSA. We both have attorneys. I signed the MSA and also paid 90% of equalization payment that was agreed upon to my wife and she accepted it. My wife and her attorney now seem to be dragging their feet on signing it. What would be my next steps to have her comply?

ANSWER: It is impossible to turn back the clock, but you shouldn't have paid your wife before the MSA was fully executed and submitted to the Court with a Judgment to sign.

Since your wife hasn't signed the MSA, you might file a Motion for 1) refund of the amount paid, and/or 2) entry of judgment pursuant to the MSA, alleging 90% performance by you in reliance, addressing the facts. However, it is unlikely that the Court would enforce an MSA that has not been signed by one party.

If you are unable to get the other side to sign an MSA, you may need to have a trial set to resolve the case.

See my December 16, 2009 Blog, entitled: "BEWARE GOING PRO PER [representing yourself] IN A FAMILY LAW CASE. THE DEAL YOU NEGOTIATE MIGHT NOT BE THE DEAL YOU GET" [addressing Marriage of DELARIA and BLICKMAN]. That Blog reveals how an appellate court dealt with a case having facts similar to yours, where a party partially complied with an oral MSA. Unfortunately, the Court in that case held that if the parties didn't have a signed agreement or an oral agreement recited into the record of the Court as required under FAMILY CODE Section 2550 (and Code of Civil Procedure Section 664.6), the Court would not enforce the agreement.

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