My husband and I separated on 3/9/09. I had him served with separation papers i had my lawyer draw up and he would not sign them. Long story short we ended up typing up our own separation agreement. We both signed them but my question is that I never had them notorized. Without them being notorized is it still a legal binding contract? Has has stopped paying the money he said he would and I wanted to know if I took him to court (ie small claims court) would it hold up without it notorized?
Also I have one other question. If this agreement is not binding would I just be able to serve him with new separation papers ( i type up) and this time have them notorized?
Thanks for your help.
Separation Agreements must be notarized in order to be valid, you may of course send him a new proposed separation agreement in hopes that he will sign it and cooperate.
So it would not even hold up in small claims court? He agreed to pay half the mortgage and has not done so in over a month now. Would his signature not mean anything?
Thank you
North Carolina law requires that separation agreements be notarized to be enforceable, the agreement you have now will not be enforced.
OK one more question. Since our seperation agreement is not valid am I able to sell anything from the house (ie grill, couches and things like that) since he is not making any payments anymore I need the money in order to make the house payment on my own.
If you sell the items the money made will count as assets which have already been distributed to you in the distribution. A better option would be to file an action for equitable distribution and schedule a hearing for interim allocation of the martial debt in an attempt to get the court to order your spouse to contribute to the mortgage payments.