Ford v. Hanna

At issue is whether the trial court properly ratified and made the order of the court an agreement between Robert Hanna and Kelli Ford to settle child custody, support, and other issues raised by Hanna’s petition to modify the parties’ divorce decree. For the following reasons, we affirm the court’s order in part, vacate in part, and remand with directions. The June 2005 divorce decree granted to Hanna and Ford awarded Ford physical custody of the two minor children of the parties and established visitation rights, child support, and other obligations. In July 2007, after one of the children reached 14 years of age and expressed a desire to live with Hanna, Hanna filed a petition which sought physical custody of the 14-year-old. Ford filed a pro se response and counterclaim seeking an order requiring Hanna to make certain payments due under the divorce decree.

Each party appeared at the September 19, 2007 hearing on the petition accompanied by an attorney. When the case was called, the attorney accompanying Ford made an oral statement of appearance for Ford, and along with Hanna’s attorney asked for and received permission from the court to meet before the hearing to determine if the parties could reach a settlement. After the parties and their attorneys met for about two and a half hours, they jointly announced to the court that they had reached a settlement of all issues and that Ford’s attorney would prepare an order for the court incorporating the settlement agreement. No evidence was presented.