{"id":1172,"date":"2018-11-21T16:05:34","date_gmt":"2018-11-21T22:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.texasdivorceattorneyblog.com\/?p=1172"},"modified":"2021-09-30T13:38:46","modified_gmt":"2021-09-30T18:38:46","slug":"texas-appeals-court-finds-challenged-order-reflects-mediated-settlement-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-appeals-court-finds-challenged-order-reflects-mediated-settlement-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Appeals Court Finds Challenged Order Reflects Mediated Settlement Agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a Texas divorce, the parties are sometimes able to reach a mediated settlement agreement (MSA).\u00a0 Texas Family Code Section 6.602 sets out the requirements for an MSA to be binding.\u00a0 To be binding the MSA must include a \u201cprominently displayed statement\u201d that it is not subject to revocation.\u00a0 It must be signed by each party and by the party\u2019s attorney if the attorney is present at the time the agreement is signed.\u00a0 Sometimes, however, after reaching agreement on the terms of an MSA, the parties do not agree on what those terms really mean.<\/p>\n<p>A wife recently <a href=\"https:\/\/cases.justia.com\/texas\/thirteenth-court-of-appeals\/2018-13-17-00014-cv.pdf?ts=1542722703\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">appealed<\/a> an amended Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) on the grounds it did not accurately reflect the parties\u2019 MSA.\u00a0 The parties had agreed on a MSA and were divorced in 2012.\u00a0 The MSA set forth distribution of the husband\u2019s Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS) retirement plan.\u00a0 It provided he would keep the retirement through his employment.\u00a0 If the retirement exceeded $100,000 as of the date of the MSA, the excess was to be divided equally between the parties.<\/p>\n<p>The divorce decree stated that if the amount exceeded $100,000 as of January 12, 2012, the excess was to be divided equally between the parties.\u00a0 The trial court signed a QDRO on July 10, 2013, but TMRS rejected it.\u00a0 The trial court signed an amended order that stated the wife was awarded a portion of benefits payable which the husband may become entitled to receive from the retirement plan through accumulated contributions or annuity.\u00a0 The order set forth the calculation for determining the wife\u2019s portion. The court subsequently amended the QDRO again, setting out a specific number for part of the calculation.\u00a0 The husband moved to set aside the Second Amended QDRO, arguing it allowed the wife to receive payment of interest that was not included in the MSA.\u00a0 He also argued that the wife\u2019s share should not include municipal contributions.\u00a0 The trial court changed the calculation to exclude municipal contributions and signed a Third Amended QDRO.<\/p>\n<div class=\"read_more_link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-appeals-court-finds-challenged-order-reflects-mediated-settlement-agreement\/\"  title=\"Continue Reading Texas Appeals Court Finds Challenged Order Reflects Mediated Settlement Agreement\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a Texas divorce, the parties are sometimes able to reach a mediated settlement agreement (MSA).\u00a0 Texas Family Code Section 6.602 sets out the requirements for an MSA to be binding.\u00a0 To be binding the MSA must include a \u201cprominently displayed statement\u201d that it is not subject to revocation.\u00a0 It must be signed by each [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-property"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Texas Appeals Court Finds Challenged Order Reflects Mediated Settlement Agreement &#8212; Texas Divorce Attorney Blog &#8212; November 21, 2018<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a Texas divorce, the parties are sometimes able to reach a mediated settlement agreement (MSA).\u00a0 Texas Family Code Section 6.602 sets out the &#8212; November 21, 2018\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-appeals-court-finds-challenged-order-reflects-mediated-settlement-agreement\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Texas Appeals Court Finds Challenged Order Reflects Mediated Settlement Agreement &#8212; Texas Divorce Attorney Blog &#8212; November 21, 2018\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"In a Texas divorce, the parties are sometimes able to reach a mediated settlement agreement (MSA).\u00a0 Texas Family Code Section 6.602 sets out the &#8212; November 21, 2018\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"McClure Law Group\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Texas Appeals Court Finds Challenged Order Reflects Mediated Settlement Agreement &#8212; Texas Divorce Attorney Blog &#8212; November 21, 2018","description":"In a Texas divorce, the parties are sometimes able to reach a mediated settlement agreement (MSA).\u00a0 Texas Family Code Section 6.602 sets out the &#8212; November 21, 2018","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-appeals-court-finds-challenged-order-reflects-mediated-settlement-agreement\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Texas Appeals Court Finds Challenged Order Reflects Mediated Settlement Agreement &#8212; Texas Divorce Attorney Blog &#8212; November 21, 2018","twitter_description":"In a Texas divorce, the parties are sometimes able to reach a mediated settlement agreement (MSA).\u00a0 Texas Family Code Section 6.602 sets out the &#8212; November 21, 2018","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"McClure Law Group","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-appeals-court-finds-challenged-order-reflects-mediated-settlement-agreement\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-appeals-court-finds-challenged-order-reflects-mediated-settlement-agreement\/"},"author":{"name":"McClure Law Group","@id":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cc788ee45d62b5f4a4fd383744a4ce11"},"headline":"Texas Appeals Court Finds Challenged Order Reflects Mediated Settlement Agreement","datePublished":"2018-11-21T22:05:34+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-30T18:38:46+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-appeals-court-finds-challenged-order-reflects-mediated-settlement-agreement\/"},"wordCount":585,"articleSection":["Property"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-appeals-court-finds-challenged-order-reflects-mediated-settlement-agreement\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-appeals-court-finds-challenged-order-reflects-mediated-settlement-agreement\/","name":"Texas Appeals Court Finds Challenged Order Reflects Mediated Settlement Agreement &#8212; 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