{"id":976,"date":"2018-03-28T13:20:45","date_gmt":"2018-03-28T18:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.texasdivorceattorneyblog.com\/?p=976"},"modified":"2018-03-28T13:20:45","modified_gmt":"2018-03-28T18:20:45","slug":"clarification-of-an-ambiguous-texas-divorce-decree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/clarification-of-an-ambiguous-texas-divorce-decree\/","title":{"rendered":"Clarification of an Ambiguous Texas Divorce Decree"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A final unambiguous divorce decree that disposes of all of the marital property should be final.\u00a0 Under Texas divorce law, such a decree generally cannot be re-litigated.\u00a0 However, the trial court can issue additional orders to help implement or clarify a prior order if they do not alter the substantive property division.\u00a0 The court may issue an order of clarification if the decree is ambiguous, as determined by using the rules of contract construction.\u00a0 A contract is ambiguous if its meaning is uncertain or doubtful, or if it is reasonably subject to more than one meaning.\u00a0 The court will consider the contract as a whole in light of the circumstances surrounding its formation, including parol evidence and the conduct of the parties.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/cases.justia.com\/texas\/seventh-court-of-appeals\/2018-07-16-00143-cv.pdf?ts=1521721726\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recent case<\/a>, a wife challenged an order clarifying the division of property.\u00a0 The parties had signed a mediated settlement agreement.\u00a0 The settlement included improved property that was described in two ways, a map in Exhibit A and a reference to the metes and bounds descriptions with separate exhibits describing each party\u2019s share.<\/p>\n<p>The parties agreed the husband would be awarded 26 additional acres because the improvements on the wife\u2019s share were of a greater value.\u00a0 The trial court granted the husband\u2019s motion for clarification of the division of this property, finding the decree was ambiguous.\u00a0 The clarification stated the map controlled, rather than the metes and bounds descriptions.\u00a0 The court also entered findings of fact and conclusions of law supporting the order.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mcclure-lawgroup.com\/blog\/clarification-of-an-ambiguous-texas-divorce-decree\/#more-976\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A final unambiguous divorce decree that disposes of all of the marital property should be final.\u00a0 Under Texas divorce law, such a decree generally cannot be re-litigated.\u00a0 However, the trial court can issue additional orders to help implement or clarify a prior order if they do not alter the substantive property division.\u00a0 The court may [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,140],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-property","category-property-rights"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Clarification of an Ambiguous Texas Divorce Decree &#8212; Texas Divorce Attorney Blog &#8212; March 28, 2018<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A final unambiguous divorce decree that disposes of all of the marital property should be final.\u00a0 Under Texas divorce law, such a decree generally cannot &#8212; March 28, 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\/clarification-of-an-ambiguous-texas-divorce-decree\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Clarification of an Ambiguous Texas Divorce Decree &#8212; Texas Divorce Attorney Blog &#8212; March 28, 2018\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"A final unambiguous divorce decree that disposes of all of the marital property should be final.\u00a0 Under Texas divorce law, such a decree generally cannot &#8212; March 28, 2018\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kelly McClure\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Clarification of an Ambiguous Texas Divorce Decree &#8212; 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