Steele v. Steele

Pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 34 4, we granted the application for discretionary appeal filed by Appellant Thomas Jerry Steele Husband seeking leave to challenge the final judgment and decree effectuating his divorce from Appellee Ashley Olivia Steele Wife. Husband contends that the trial court improperly incorporated into the divorce decree a settlement agreement that is unenforceable. We find no error and affirm.

Wife filed her complaint for divorce in 2011. Just before jury selection in their November 2014 specially-set trial, the parties, through their counsel, negotiated a Memorandum of Settlement, which was memorialized in a partially typewritten and partially handwritten document signed by both parties and their counsel. In the Memorandum, the parties agreed, inter alia, that Wife would receive lump-sum alimony, to be satisfied either by a $400,000 cash payment, to be made by November 24, 2014, or else by a deed granting Wife a 40 interest in Husband’s residence in Rosemary Beach, Florida. The Memorandum also provided that Husband would file, or cause others to file, a dismissal with prejudice of certain lawsuits being prosecuted by him and his adult sons against Wife. The parties announced to the trial court their settlement, with each acknowledging, under oath, that they had signed the Memorandum and believed it was fair and reasonable.