Rachel Alexander, ESQ.
Property Settlement Agreement
Alexander Mediation Group is a professional divorce mediation firm serving couples and families throughout New Jersey, New York City, and the Hamptons. Our mediator can help you work through your divorce's financial, emotional, and legal issues.
Creating a Property Settlement Agreement Through Mediation
Understand What the Agreement Must Accomplish
A Property Settlement Agreement memorializes the decisions reached during mediation and states the provisions that will govern the divorce. A complete agreement does more than recite standard language and legal requirements. It provides facts and specific arrangements specific to each matter, giving spouses a singular, shared reference for their commitments, rights and responsibilities after the divorce.
Length alone does not make an agreement complete. Each provision must state what the parties decided and explain how the responsibility will operate.
Include Every Important Financial and Family Provision
A Property Settlement Agreement covers far more than property division. Financial provisions address treatment and distribution of a marital home and other real estate, personal property, retirement assets, pensions, businesses, debt, all other assets. When required in a matter, resolutions about alimony also set forth in the agreement.
For parties with children, a Property Settlement Agreement includes parenting provisions pertaining to issues such as joint and residential custody, parenting time, extraordinary expenses, and child support. The parties are encouraged resolve their matter through Child Custody Mediation or Child Support Mediation prior to creating a written agreement.
Equitable Distribution Mediation and Alimony and Spousal Support Mediation include other mechanisms for parties to make related financial decisions. The Property Settlement Agreement brings all the parties’ mutual resolutions into one document.
Replace Verbal Understandings with Specific Written Provisions
An important decision omitted from the controlling Property Settlement Agreement may fall outside its protections. A verbal promise or side agreement is largely enforceable. Each obligation on which either party relies should appear explicitly in the written agreement.
Specific language and a comprehensive agreement mitigate any likelihood that either spouse will depend on contradictory recollections or interpretations of what was agreed. A general promise to provide financial assistance “whenever needed,” establishes neither amount, duration, nor actual time of payment; critically, it fails to create an enforceable obligation. The Property Settlement Agreement should specify the actual commitments the parties intend to follow and by which they intend to be legally bound.
Plan for Daily Life with Useful Detail
The agreement can address details that affect how the family functions. A parenting schedule can define holiday arrangements and the exact times for pickups or drop-offs. It can assign transportation responsibilities and identify when a weekend begins or ends. The agreement can also preserve family traditions prized by the children.
Mediation allows parents to continue arrangements that function well and create additional systems when necessary. If a temporary work schedule prevents one parent from sharing holidays equally, the agreement can recognize and the circumstances influencing the current schedule, while stating the parents’ longer-term intention; including a future, balanced holiday schedule. When spouses wish to enter an agreement knowing it will be affected by imminent, unknowable changes, the agreement can include a time and forum to revisit the agreement itself once necessary information is available. With thoughtful drafting, parties facing forthcoming changes can still enter an agreement. A Property Settlement Agreement can preclude a temporary arrangement from erroneously becoming the long-term default.
Build Review and Change into the Agreement
Life does not remain fixed after divorce. When a foreseeable event has an unexpected impact on the parties’ agreement, the Property Settlement Agreement can be revisited and revised.
The agreement can also preserve a tailored arrangement, such as allowing one spouse to remain in the marital home for a defined time period before it is sold. If the parties later need a revision, they may return to mediation and document the change in a Modification Agreement, amendment, or addendum.
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Property Settlement Agreement FAQ
What Is the Difference Between a Property Settlement Agreement, Marital Settlement Agreement, and Stipulation of Settlement?
A Property Settlement Agreement, Marital Settlement Agreement, and Stipulation of Settlement are names used for written divorce agreements. Each document can address the complete set of decisions required for the divorce. The document title and filing requirements depend on the matter.
Regardless of its title, the agreement must state the parties’ new decisions and responsibilities. The spouses should always review the complete document instead of assuming that its title determines what it covers.
How Long Is a Property Settlement Agreement?
A Property Settlement Agreement is commonly between 20 and 50 pages. The length reflects the number of financial, parenting, and practical provisions that must be documented.
The agreement must provide more than a summary of what the spouses decided. It should state each responsibility clearly enough for both parties to understand what they agreed to and how the provisions will operate.
What Is the Process for Drafting and Reviewing the Agreement?
Alexander Mediation Group drafts the Property Settlement Agreement from decisions the spouses made in Divorce Mediation. Spouses review the draft with the mediator, then receive an updated draft and have ample time to review it.
The parties then address any edits and proposed revisions. They also resolve open issues that require additional negotiation. No final divorce documents are signed or filed until the review process is complete.
Should Each Spouse Consult a Review Attorney?
Alexander Mediation recommends that each spouse consult a separate, mediation-friendly review attorney before signing the final Property Settlement Agreement.
The mediator serves as a third-party neutral and works for the collective benefit of both spouses, rather than representing either party. In contrast, a review attorney advises one spouse about that person’s individual rights and interests. If a proposed revision creates a disagreement, the spouses may return to mediation to resolve any conflict before finalizing the agreement.
When Does a Property Settlement Agreement Take Effect?
The Property Settlement Agreement takes effect when the Judgment of Divorce is entered. The agreement is incorporated into the Judgment of Divorce by reference. It then becomes binding on the parties and enforceable by the court.
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