{"id":2800,"date":"2024-01-31T15:34:19","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T21:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/?p=2800"},"modified":"2024-01-29T15:36:59","modified_gmt":"2024-01-29T21:36:59","slug":"texas-divorce-decree-must-generally-comply-with-mediated-settlement-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-divorce-decree-must-generally-comply-with-mediated-settlement-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Divorce Decree Must Generally Comply with Mediated Settlement Agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If the parties in a Texas custody case reach a Mediated Settlement Agreement (\u201cMSA\u201d), the court must enter judgment on the MSA.\u00a0 The MSA is binding if it meets the three requirements set out in Tex. Fam. Code \u00a7 153.0071(d).\u00a0 First, it must prominently state that it is not subject to revocation. It must also be signed by the parties.\u00a0 Finally, it must also be signed by any party\u2019s attorney who is present at execution.\u00a0 The court may, however, decline to enter judgment on an MSA if it finds that a party was the victim of family violence which impaired their ability to make decisions and that the agreement is not in the best interest of the child.\u00a0 Tex. Fam. Code \u00a7 153.0071(e-1). Unless this exception applies, the trial court generally does not have the discretion to deviate from the MSA and a party is entitled to judgment on the MSA. \u00a0A court\u2019s order may include terms that are necessary to implement the MSA, but it may not substantially alter the MSA. A father recently <a href=\"https:\/\/cases.justia.com\/texas\/fourteenth-court-of-appeals\/2024-14-22-00950-cv.pdf?ts=1704979717\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">challenged<\/a> a divorce decree that did not compart with the parties\u2019 MSA with regards to where exchanges were to occur.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mediated Settlement Agreement<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The parents had two children together during their marriage. They separated in 2020 and signed an MSA in October 2021.\u00a0 Pursuant to the MSA, the parents would be joint managing conservators and the mother would have the right to determine the children\u2019s primary residence.\u00a0 The MSA further gave the father a standard possession order which would be an expanded standard possession order if he lived within 50 miles of the children.\u00a0 It also provided that the exchange location would be at a particular McDonald\u2019s in Huntsville with a pickup time of 8 p.m. and a drop-off time of 5 p.m. as long as the father and children lived in the current locations, with provisions for changing the location if the parents lived in the same county.<\/p>\n<p>At the hearing, the mother\u2019 attorney claimed that the MSA was intended to state that the parties would only meet in Huntsville once a month instead of for all the exchanges. The father\u2019s attorney argued, however, that the provision stated what the father wanted with regard to exchanges.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-divorce-decree-must-generally-comply-with-mediated-settlement-agreement\/#more-2800\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If the parties in a Texas custody case reach a Mediated Settlement Agreement (\u201cMSA\u201d), the court must enter judgment on the MSA.\u00a0 The MSA is binding if it meets the three requirements set out in Tex. Fam. Code \u00a7 153.0071(d).\u00a0 First, it must prominently state that it is not subject to revocation. It must also [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,234,235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-child-custody","category-mediation","category-settlement"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Texas Divorce Decree Must Generally Comply with Mediated Settlement Agreement &#8212; Texas Divorce Attorney Blog &#8212; January 31, 2024<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If the parties in a Texas custody case reach a Mediated Settlement Agreement (\u201cMSA\u201d), the court must enter judgment on the MSA.\u00a0 The MSA is binding if it &#8212; January 31, 2024\" \/>\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-divorce-decree-must-generally-comply-with-mediated-settlement-agreement\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Texas Divorce Decree Must Generally Comply with Mediated Settlement Agreement &#8212; Texas Divorce Attorney Blog &#8212; January 31, 2024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"If the parties in a Texas custody case reach a Mediated Settlement Agreement (\u201cMSA\u201d), the court must enter judgment on the MSA.\u00a0 The MSA is binding if it &#8212; January 31, 2024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Francesca Blackard\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Texas Divorce Decree Must Generally Comply with Mediated Settlement Agreement &#8212; Texas Divorce Attorney Blog &#8212; January 31, 2024","description":"If the parties in a Texas custody case reach a Mediated Settlement Agreement (\u201cMSA\u201d), the court must enter judgment on the MSA.\u00a0 The MSA is binding if it &#8212; January 31, 2024","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-divorce-decree-must-generally-comply-with-mediated-settlement-agreement\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Texas Divorce Decree Must Generally Comply with Mediated Settlement Agreement &#8212; Texas Divorce Attorney Blog &#8212; January 31, 2024","twitter_description":"If the parties in a Texas custody case reach a Mediated Settlement Agreement (\u201cMSA\u201d), the court must enter judgment on the MSA.\u00a0 The MSA is binding if it &#8212; January 31, 2024","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Francesca Blackard","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-divorce-decree-must-generally-comply-with-mediated-settlement-agreement\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-divorce-decree-must-generally-comply-with-mediated-settlement-agreement\/"},"author":{"name":"Francesca Blackard","@id":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/99f9f1e83401bfe81629c93e6c6c0cc2"},"headline":"Texas Divorce Decree Must Generally Comply with Mediated Settlement Agreement","datePublished":"2024-01-31T21:34:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-divorce-decree-must-generally-comply-with-mediated-settlement-agreement\/"},"wordCount":764,"articleSection":["Child Custody","Mediation","Settlement"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-divorce-decree-must-generally-comply-with-mediated-settlement-agreement\/","url":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/texas-divorce-decree-must-generally-comply-with-mediated-settlement-agreement\/","name":"Texas Divorce Decree Must Generally Comply with Mediated Settlement Agreement &#8212; 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