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Wright v. Burch

The trial court erred when it enforced the purported settlement of a child support dispute to the extent that it reduced the father's arrearage as to past due child support payments.

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A trial court enforced a purported settlement of a child support dispute between Monica Wright and her ex-husband Thomas Burch and awarded Burch attorney fees under OCGA § 9-15-14 b. On appeal, Wright argues that the trial court erred when it enforced the settlement as to child support. Wright also argues that the fee award was erroneous because the evidence did not support such an award, because it was not accompanied by findings of fact, and because Wright had been asserting a novel legal theory in good faith below. We conclude that although the trial court was authorized to conclude that the parties had agreed to submit the settlement agreement to the court, it was not authorized to enforce the terms of the agreement as to past-due arrearages, or to modify future child support payments without ensuring that such a modification was in the best interests of the child. We therefore reverse or vacate those portions of the trial court’s order modifying child support and awarding fees, and we remand for further proceedings.

The relevant facts are not in dispute. The record shows that the parents were married in 1996, and the child at issue was born in September 1999. Wright and Burch’s divorce was finalized in Tennessee on December 16, 2003. The marital dissolution agreement incorporated into the decree provided that Burch would pay Wright child support in the amount of $600 per month, except when the child was living with Burch, until the termination of the agreement. The agreement specified that

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