Maryland Divorce Lawyer Blog
A collaborative divorce can provide many benefits to the spouses, including less expense and less animosity. To make this type of divorce process work its best, you must ensure you have an agreement clearly written and free from any ambiguities. An experienced Maryland divorce lawyer can be instrumental as you negotiate, draft, and execute your divorce agreement.
Ambiguity in an agreement can create substantial problems, such as creating disagreements that send the case back to court.
The divorce case of D.D. and J.D. from Baltimore is a strong example. In 2022, the spouses worked out an agreement dividing all their assets except their marital residence. The spouses placed their asset division terms in a Consent Agreement that stated the wife “shall be entitled to fifty percent (50%) of the marital share portion of Husband’s [Police] Pension, ‘if, as and when’ pension payments are distributed to him.”
Later that year, a dispute arose regarding the wife’s rights related to her husband’s pension, specifically whether her entitlement to payment began on Oct. 4, 2022 (the date of the couple’s divorce judgment) or Dec. 1, 2019 (the date of her husband’s retirement).
The dispute brought the spouses back to the trial court and later to the Appellate Court.
As the Appellate Court explained, consent agreements like this couple’s contract “are construed in the same manner as other written documents and contracts, and if the language of the order is clear and unambiguous, the court will give effect to its plain, ordinary, and usual meaning, taking into account the context in which it is used.”
A contract provision is “ambiguous if ‘when read by a reasonably prudent person, it is susceptible of more than one meaning.’” When a court analyzes a contract for ambiguity, it looks for one of two possible things: an intrinsic lack of clarity or uncertainty regarding the agreement’s “application to a particular object or circumstance.”
Litigating a Dispute Involving an Ambiguous Agreement
A court’s finding that an agreement is (or is not) ambiguous matters greatly regarding evidence. When a contract is clear and unambiguous, the parties can only rely upon the document itself. When ambiguity is present, the law permits the parties to use “extrinsic evidence,” which is relevant proof from sources outside the “four corners” of the agreement itself.
Ultimately, the appeals court determined that the disputed clause in this agreement was ambiguous. A reasonable person could interpret it as directing payments to the wife starting in December 2019 or October 2022. This meant that the case would return to the trial court, where the judge would hold a new hearing in which the spouses could use extrinsic evidence to support their positions.
One critical lesson from this Baltimore couple’s case is the high importance of a well-written settlement agreement. An agreement with ambiguities can cost the spouses money and time, while an unambiguous contract can give them clarity and certainty.
Whether your divorce lends itself to a collaborative solution or requires litigation, you can count on the knowledgeable Maryland family law attorneys at Anthony A. Fatemi, LLC, to guide you through the process and provide the advice and advocacy you need. Contact us today at 301-519-2801 or via our online form to set up your consultation.