Harmer v. Harmer

36 Pa. D. & C.4th 146, 1997 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 83
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Montgomery County
DecidedFebruary 5, 1997
Docketno. 94-06967
StatusPublished

This text of 36 Pa. D. & C.4th 146 (Harmer v. Harmer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Montgomery County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harmer v. Harmer, 36 Pa. D. & C.4th 146, 1997 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 83 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1997).

Opinion

ALBRIGHT, J.,

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On July 20, 1992, the parties entered into a property settlement agreement, and said agreement was subsequently incorporated into a decree divorcing the parties, effective September 10, 1992. With regard to support for their two children, the parties agreed as follows:

“Child Support/College Expenses for Children
“(11) Husband agrees to pay to Wife the amount of $300 per week as child support for the parties’ two minor children: JOHN K. HARMER, age 16, born May 20, 1975; and KATHERINE P. HARMER, age 14, born December 20, 1977. Husband’s obligation will continue until child attains the age of 18 and graduates from high school.
“If the child shall enroll as a full-time student at an accredited college or university, Husband agrees to continue the support at the rate of $150 per week per child, until such time as the child graduates from college.
“(12) Husband and Wife shall share the expense of college tuition and costs. Husband shall pay fifty percent of such expense and Wife shall pay fifty percent of such expense.”

[149]*149On February 18, 1993, after defendant’s alleged failure to make the aforementioned child support payments, plaintiff filed a complaint for support, in which she specifically referenced the parties’ property settlement agreement and sought to receive the monies which were due thereunder. One month later, on March 18, 1993, plaintiff filed a petition for enforcement of the parties’ property settlement agreement, and following a conference with the parties’ respective attorneys, this court entered an order on June 11, 1993, in which the parties agreed, in pertinent part, that (1) defendant’s obligation for child support would be reduced from $300 to $210 per week, and (2) all other terms of the parties’ property settlement agreement would remain in effect. On August 23, 1993, this court entered a support order consistent with the parties’ agreed order of June 11, 1993.

On August 4, 1993, following John K. Harmer’s graduation from high school, defendant filed a petition to modify support, and on April 14, 1994, this court entered an order approving die support conciliator’s recommendation that defendant’s petition be denied, as “[t]here has been no significant change of circumstances since the earlier order of June 11, 1993 which was reaffirmed by order of August 23, 1993.” Defendant filed exceptions to the support conciliator’s recommendations, and, following oral argument, an order was entered on August 22, 1994, wherein the court found that the order of June 11, 1993 and the parties’ property settlement agreement were still controlling with regard to the parties’ child support obligations.

Defendant then filed another petition to modify support in June 1995, after Katherine’s graduation from high school, in response to which the parties, on September 7, 1995, agreed that: (1) support for John K. should be terminated since he had withdrawn from col[150]*150lege; and, (2) as memorialized in an order dated September 7, 1995, defendant would pay $125 per week for the support of Katherine, allocated as “$105 support pursuant to the p.s.a. [property settlement agreement] and $20 college expenses.”

On December 28, 1995, defendant filed a petition to vacate support as to Katherine, based upon the Supreme Court’s decision in Curtis v. Kline, 542 Pa. 249, 666 A.2d 265 (1995). Shortly thereafter, on January 16, 1996, plaintiff filed a petition to recover counsel fees and expenses that were allegedly incurred while enforcing the terms of the property settlement agreement. On March 26, 1996, this court entered an order approving the following recommendation of the support conciliator:

“Defendant’s petition to vacate of December 28,1995 is denied. The support terms of the parties’ property settlement agreement of July 20, 1992 remain enforceable through the existing domestic relations order.”

Defendant filed exceptions to this recommendation, and, following a hearing before the undersigned on July 22, 1996, this court entered an order, dated September 19,1996, denying defendant’s petition to vacate order of support and directing defendant to reimburse plaintiff for $1,500 in counsel fees.

On October 3, 1996, defendant filed a motion for reconsideration of this court’s order of September 19, 1996, and, upon consideration of said motion, this court entered an order on October 11, 1996, affirming its denial of defendant’s petition to vacate, but reversing the former finding that plaintiff was entitled to counsel fees. From the order of October 11, 1996, defendant has taken the instant appeal, and, in his statement of [151]*151matters complained of on appeal, raises the following issues:

(1) Did plaintiff’s filing of a complaint for support constitute a waiver of her right to enforce the child support provisions contained in the parties’ property settlement agreement?

(2) Did the trial court err by not holding that Curtis v. Kline, supra, eliminated defendant’s contractual obligation to contribute to the post-secondary education support of his children?

DISCUSSION

I. The Trial Court Properly Enforced the Parties’ Property Settlement Agreement

On appeal, defendant argues that by filing a complaint for support on February 18, 1993, plaintiff has waived her right to enforce the terms of the property settlement agreement, and more specifically, defendant’s agreement to provide post-secondary education expenses for the children. As support for this argument, defendant cites the Supreme Court’s decision in Knorr v. Knorr, 527 Pa. 83, 588 A.2d 503 (1991).

In that case, the parties also had a property settlement agreement outlining their respective child support obligations, and, upon the husband’s failure to make required payments, the wife filed a complaint for support. As a result, an order was entered, by consent of the parties, in which the court merely directed the husband to pay what was required of him under the agreement. Thereafter, the wife filed a petition to increase the support order, the husband filed a petition to reduce the order, and ultimately, the Supreme Court had to decide [152]*152the extent to which the court was bound by the parties’ property settlement agreement.

Initially, citing Sonder v. Sonder, 378 Pa. Super. 474, 549 A.2d 155 (1988), the Supreme Court noted that, even when agreements regarding child support are incorporated, but not merged, into a final divorce decree, “visitation and custody matters would be enforced according to the best interests of the child and that as with support orders, only advisory effect would be given to the agreement but without binding effect on the court when it is not in the best interest of the child. ” Knorr, supra at 86, 588 A.2d at 504. (emphasis added)

The court then went on to state that, while parties to a divorce had the right to bargain between themselves, such parties “cannot in that process set a standard that will leave their children short.

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Related

Simeone v. Simeone
581 A.2d 162 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1990)
Knorr v. Knorr
588 A.2d 503 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1991)
Sonder v. Sonder
549 A.2d 155 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1988)
Curtis v. Kline
666 A.2d 265 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
36 Pa. D. & C.4th 146, 1997 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 83, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harmer-v-harmer-pactcomplmontgo-1997.