My wife and I physically separated June 15, 2008. In September 2008 we signed a separation agreement detailing shared custody, child support, property division, etc. and had it witnessed and notorized.
Now she has obtained a lawyer and told me she wants full custody of our 12 year old. I have honored our agreement to the letter but she has only allowed our daughter to stay with me every other weekend instead of evenly shared custody as we agreed. I believe her motivation is she wants more child support than the amount we agreed upon which was based on North Carolina guidelines. Isn’t our 09/2008 agreement binding? I can think of no reason other than greed that she is pursuing sole custody of our daughter. Thank you.
The Agreement is binding, but your ex can still file suit with the court for custody/support in an attempt to change the arrangement. The court will look to the agreement in place and will presume it was executed with the best interests of the children in mind, but could reach a different result if the court believes that something other than the agreement is in the child’s best interest.
My husband also has not followed the separation agreement concerning selling the house after a year and splitting the equity. It has been three years and now he has decided to file for divorce with all new terms. How binding is this separation agreement?
The separation agreement is a binding contract which can be enforced by the court system. You need to file an action for breach of contract in order to force your ex to comply.